Best Blockbuster of the 2000's!

[Hunter Rider]

Not as many noms this time around, probably due to the holiday's, so instead of a top 10 it's a 4 way shooutout between the only movies that got more than one nomination, vote on!

 

[Mandon Knight]

Right, of those in the final cut, I'd say the one to have most impact on me and mean the most to me would be The Dark Knight.

 

[Batmannerism]

This is really tough. I love TDK, it's certainly one of my top 5 GOAT films but I am an LOTR fan from my childhood.

ROTK raised the bar on epic films - I watched it on NYE ( extended version, of course) as my significant other was working. It's still an utter triumph, 11 academy awards can't be wrong. Really, LOTR should never be adapted again, as it would only fall short of the greatness of Jackson's amazing spectacle - even he couldn't recreate it with the Hobbit trilogy.

 

[HammerDown]

LOTR - ROTK.

The culmination of the best trilogy ever. I don't think or actually remember if any moment from ROTK reaches the highs of the Battle of Helms Deep or the Balrog in the Mines of Morias scene but yeh it's and undeniable masterpiece that perfectly wraps up the trilogy.

 

[Batmannerism]

LOTR - ROTK.

The culmination of the best trilogy ever. I don't think or actually remember if any moment from ROTK reaches the highs of the Battle of Helms Deep or the Balrog in the Mines of Morias scene but yeh it's and undeniable masterpiece that perfectly wraps up the trilogy.

The Moria sequence, from the fight at Balin's tomb with the cave troll right up to the Balrog and Gandalf's fall was the best part of the trilogy IMO.

After that I rate the battle at Amon Hen, and Boromir's fall and redemption as one of the top moments of the films.

ROTJ had some great action sequences, including:

- Sam fights Shelob the Spider
- The charge of the Rohirrim and Theoden's epic speech
- The Rohirrim vs the Giant Elephants
- Eowyn fights the Witch King
- Battle at the Black Gates and Aragorn's epic speech.

For some reason I'm not all that fussed about the Two Towers film, it's good but I'm happy to skip from FOTR straight to ROTK. The books are a different story.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Ooof, this is hard. I adore theatrical LOTR trilogy and Return is a great culmination. But there's also TDK... TDK edges it out for me for two reasons:
1) It's much less dependent on other films and works as a stand-alone, unlike Return;
2) TDK is richer thematically.

There are also other things to consider. TDK, being an original story, is more challenging than adapting an existing story. TDK's version of the Joker became a massive pop culture icon.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I missed the nominations thread, but the best was Lord of the Rings anyways.

 

[Fincher]

Fellowship of the Ring and Casino Royale are above it for me, but Return of the King out of those.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I love all these movies. But, the most important film of them is ROTK, and LOTR is what I would call the true masterpiece of the 2000s. So, I vote ROTK.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I love the LOTR trilogy but ROTK is easily my least favourite of the three films. For me TDK is the best movie on the poll and the most groundbreaking, it stands alone without BB and TDKR needed to enjoy it as well.

 

[Spider-Fan]

TDK is a great movie. No argument. But LOTR is one of the greatest cinematic accomplishments in the history of film. Not just of the 2000s, but of any era. LOTR was considered unfilmmable, and New Line took a major risking doing what they did and so many movies owe taking risks like it to LOTR as well as major advancements they made in CGI working on these films. LOTR was just far more groundbreaking all around.

 

[Hunter Rider]

TDK is a great movie. No argument. But LOTR is one of the greatest cinematic accomplishments in the history of film. Not just of the 2000s, but of any era. LOTR was considered unfilmmable, and New Line took a major risking doing what they did and so many movies owe taking risks like it to LOTR as well as major advancements they made in CGI working on these films. LOTR was just far more groundbreaking all around.

I don't know if I'd say it had a bigger impact personally but that's not the overall question here, the vote is for a singular movie , not a trilogy, and as a movie I think TDK is a comfortably better film than ROTK.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I don't know if I'd say it had a bigger impact personally but that's not the overall question here, the vote is for a singular movie , not a trilogy, and as a movie I think TDK is a comfortably better film than ROTK.

In the nom's build up I went for FOTR and if that had got through, that'd be my vote, ROTK is an outstanding film and the trilogy is film making royalty but as a singular film I just prefer TDK over it. As a trilogy, LOTR beats TDK for me, but as a one off choice between what's been placed on the list to choose from, TDK wins.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I don't know if I'd say it had a bigger impact personally but that's not the overall question here, the vote is for a singular movie , not a trilogy, and as a movie I think TDK is a comfortably better film than ROTK.

Can't agree with that. TDK is a great movie, but ROTK is the ending to one of cinema's greatest achievements. Watching Batman match wits with the Joker was fun, but ROTK was the payoff to a larger journey that I went on for years (and over 9 hours in screentime) and was more invested in for that reason. Few movies can I remember being more absorbed watching in the theater than ROTK. You really cannot separate ROTK from the other LOTR entries when judging its quality. They're too connected. As far as true cinematic epics go, I cannot think of anything that rivals LOTR. So I gotta say, we're on opposite ends here, LOL! I would say for me, this vote was easy in favor of ROTK. That's not an indictment on TDK's quality. Challenging one of the greatest films ever is not easy (and that is not a label I would toss around lightly).

 

[Hunter Rider]

In the nom's build up I went for FOTR and if that had got through, that'd be my vote, ROTK is an outstanding film and the trilogy is film making royalty but as a singular film I just prefer TDK over it. As a trilogy, LOTR beats TDK for me, but as a one off choice between what's been placed on the list to choose from, TDK wins.

I nominated The Two Towers and it might well have gotten my vote in this poll as it's one of my favourite cinema experience of all time, but as a singular film I don't think ROTK holds up to TDK and you basically can't watch it without the other two films, TDK's greatness stands on it's own two feet, which is why it's the clear winner here for me.

Can't agree with that. TDK is a great movie, but ROTK is the ending to one of cinema's greatest achievements. Watching Batman match wits with the Joker was fun, but ROTK was the payoff to a larger journey that I went on for years (and over 9 hours in screentime) and was more invested in for that reason. Few movies can I remember being more absorbed watching in the theater than ROTK. You really cannot separate ROTK from the other LOTR entries when judging its quality. They're too connected. As far as true cinematic epics go, I cannot think of anything that rivals LOTR. So I gotta say, we're on opposite ends here, LOL! I would say for me, this vote was easy in favor of ROTK. That's not an indictment on TDK's quality. Challenging one of the greatest films ever is not easy (and that is not a label I would toss around lightly).

Eh, I do love the LOTR trilogy and I adored the books, but honestly felt ROTK was a bit of a let down as the finale, it's a very uneven as movie and each time I watch it I am always twitchy as it has long stretches that bore me and feels rushed in other places while none of the big sequences match the level of the big sequences in FOTR ot TTT in my view. The vote has to be seperate from the other 2 films as the vote is for a singular movie, not a a trilogy and for me ROTK just doesn't hold up in a one on one cinematic contest with TDK, it's the same way in reverse that I wouldn't punish Spider-Man 2 in this poll because Spider-Man 3 was so poor, likewise I can't put over ROTK becuase I thought the other 2 movies in the trilogy were great, it's singular film merits that count.

 

[CJ]

Spider Man 2.

TDK had great cinematography, and a terrifying villain, but I thought Spider Man 2 had a better message of self-sacrifice and was just an all around more uplifting film.

I left the theater happy with Spider Man 2, I left the theater depressed and in shock with TDK.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I left the theater depressed and in shock with TDK.

...and there in lies it's beauty. I think it helps I like manic depressive cinema rather than uplift to begin with. In that I'd rather have watched a film and cried my soul out with pain, anguish and hurt than a 'comedy' to which I've laughed. I watch cinema to delve in and process rather than have it 'wash it over me and not affect me', and I'm not saying this is being said by the choice made by yourself here, just that I got more from TDK because it was sad and depressing and that's what attracts me to films MORE than lighter material.

 

[psylockolussus]

Aren't the poll missing a Harry Potter film? Harry Potter was pretty much the top grossing franchise of the 2000s and the most consistent in quality.

Also X2, Star Trek 2009 and Iron Man are missing from the poll.

 

[redhawk23]

Of the three LotR films I honestly think Return of the King is the worst one by a long mile.

 

[redhawk23]

Aren't the poll missing a Harry Potter film? Harry Potter was pretty much the top grossing franchise of the 2000s and the most consistent in quality.

Also X2, Star Trek 2009 and Iron Man are missing from the poll.

Pretty sure there have been multiple rounds of polls.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I nominated The Two Towers and it might well have gotten my vote in this poll as it's one of my favourite cinema experience of all time, but as a singular film I don't think ROTK holds up to TDK and you basically can't watch it without the other two films, TDK's greatness stands on it's own two feet, which is why it's the clear winner here for me.



Eh, I do love the LOTR trilogy and I adored the books, but honestly felt ROTK was a bit of a let down as the finale, it's a very uneven as movie and each time I watch it I am always twitchy as it has long stretches that bore me and feels rushed in other places while none of the big sequences match the level of the big sequences in FOTR ot TTT in my view. The vote has to be seperate from the other 2 films as the vote is for a singular movie, not a a trilogy and for me ROTK just doesn't hold up in a one on one cinematic contest with TDK, it's the same way in reverse that I wouldn't punish Spider-Man 2 in this poll because Spider-Man 3 was so poor, likewise I can't put over ROTK becuase I thought the other 2 movies in the trilogy were great, it's singular film merits that count.

This logic doesn't work with the Lord of the Rings. Because the Lord of the Rings is designed as one story. Spider-Man 2 is designed to be its own entity in story with arcs that begin and end with in the confines of that particular story. Lord of the Rings lost some character arcs May complete and such because their place in the story might be over by the first or second installment, The overarching Narrative is not designed to be over. It's designed to keep going. So where we see Frodo Baggins in Two Towers at the end, his arc isn't complete because he didn't have a complete arc within that movie. I hope I'm illustrating this well. But because of this major distinction I cannot separate Return of the King from the other Lord of the Rings installments. And even if I did, I still would vote over The Dark Knight

 

[Hunter Rider]

This logic doesn't work with the Lord of the Rings. Because the Lord of the Rings is designed as one story. Spider-Man 2 is designed to be its own entity in story with arcs that begin and end with in the confines of that particular story. Lord of the Rings lost some character arcs May complete and such because their place in the story might be over by the first or second installment, The overarching Narrative is not designed to be over. It's designed to keep going. So where we see Frodo Baggins in Two Towers at the end, his arc isn't complete because he didn't have a complete arc within that movie. I hope I'm illustrating this well. But because of this major distinction I cannot separate Return of the King from the other Lord of the Rings installments. And even if I did, I still would vote over The Dark Knight

Your last point is fine, if you genuienly think on it's own it's a better movie than TDK, that's cool, but to vote for it based on how good two other films were is not a proper reflection of the concept of these threads IMO, as it's supposed to be individual blockbusters judged on their singular run time merits, competing with each other, it's not a trilogy contest.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Aren't the poll missing a Harry Potter film? Harry Potter was pretty much the top grossing franchise of the 2000s and the most consistent in quality.

Also X2, Star Trek 2009 and Iron Man are missing from the poll.

Well it was the top grossing franchise because it had by far the most movies, but the answer to all of these movies is they didn't get enough nominations to make the poll.

 

[Immortalfire]

I can’t believe Shrek is even on a list with the first three

 

[Spider-Fan]

Your last point is fine, if you genuienly think on it's own it's a better movie than TDK, that's cool, but to vote for it based on how good two other films were is not a proper reflection of the concept of these threads IMO, as it's supposed to be individual blockbusters judged on their singular run time merits, competing with each other, it's not a trilogy contest.

No but I can use it in my criteria since it is part of analyzing Return of the King as a film. This is a thread that says which film is better, right? Meaning you have to analyze it as a whole, and Lord of the Rings had an atypical approach that I don't think can be ignored. So for me, it is perfectly valid. If you're not using that same criteria, that is cool. We just view this differently.