10 Most Ambitious War Films Ever Made

Among all the varied film genres, probably the grandest, the most expensive, the most sweeping films made are those about war. This shouldn't be news to anyone. War is raw and ugly and bloody, and it takes place across entire continents at times. Translating the gruesome details of war onto film is both necessary and incredibly tricky.

However, plenty of talented filmmakers have taken up the charge of relaying a glorious battle to all of us civilians. And, a lot of them have done a damn good job of it. Audiences have been amazed by realistic depictions of famous events like D-Day, the Pearl Harbor attack, and the Battle of Dunkirk. Not just in one film, but in many over the years.

Some movies, and some directors, have done it better than others. In fact, some directors have been so ambitious in their execution, it's hard not to sit back in awe of their achievements.

These are films that spanned vast swaths of time and territory, cost millions of dollars to make and demonstrated the realistic nature of war, all whilst influencing the medium as a whole.

The 2000 film, Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay, cost an astounding 140 million dollars to make. The movie actually cost more money to film than the actual Pearl Harbor attack cost. Apparently, Bay wanted even more money to create his drama and walked off the set multiple times due to budget constraints. He eventually took a 4 million dollar pay cut to commit more to the film's budget.

Although Pearl Harbor was one of the earliest movies to take advantage of CGI effects, it actually has more practical effects than you'd imagine. For instance, the film's star Ben Affleck had to take basic flight training. In many of the dogfight scenes, he and other actors are actually flying their planes. The scene featuring the titular attack was also a colossal feat of engineering.

The set of the Pearl Harbor attack was built in Baja, California. The crew actually had to make the world's biggest gimbal so that they could hoist a scale model of the USS Oklahoma's bow to simulate its sinking. Set engineer Nigel Phelps called this one of the biggest set elements ever to be staged.

Alongside this, the film also staged real planes taking off and landing aboard the real-life USS Lexington, a WWII era carrier docked in Texas. They also fitted the Lexington with war era turrets. Disney chairman Dick Cook said of the film, "I think Pearl Harbor was one of the most difficult shoots of modern history."