6 Best Epic Movies Released Since 2000

Image via Universal Pictures Published Jul 23, 2026, 7:21 AM EDT Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel. A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated. Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point. Sign in to your Collider account There are many ways to define a cinematic epic. This is a genre that's all about sky-high stakes, elaborate production values, vast stories of heroism and adventure, and huge battles involving the film's many characters. Often, they run for far longer than your average movie. But indeed, there is no strict end-all definition of the genre, which has allowed it to offer a diverse set of masterpieces since the turn of the century. From the year 2000 until the present, there have been several epic movies that have been nothing short of exceptional. Whether it's a galaxy-hopping superhero epic like the groundbreaking Avengers: Infinity War, a blockbuster fantasy epic like Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, or an Oscar-winning masterpiece like One Battle After Another, the best epic films of the last 26 years are proof of just how phenomenal the movies that this genre can deliver can be. Made by some of the greatest filmmakers in the business, winners of the biggest awards, and tremendous financial successes, these films are bound to be remembered as some of the greatest epics of the early 21st century a few decades from now. 6 'Avengers: Infinity War' (2018) Back in 2008, Iron Man may have seemed like just your typical above-average superhero blockbuster, but that post-credits scene involving Nick Fury changed everything. Soon enough, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was well underway; and by the time 2012's The Avengers came out, the Hollywood blockbuster landscape had already been changed for good. From that long journey came Infinity War, which may well be the most ambitious superhero movie of all time. At the very least, it's one of the biggest, most emotionally rousing, and all-around greatest. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, this is a cinematic epic in all of its splendor, and could even be argued to be the last true masterpiece that Marvel ever produced (at least as of the time of writing this article). Each and every one of the dozens upon dozens of characters featured in Infinity War get just the right amount of time under the spotlight, elevating this action-packed space opera to tremendous heights. But what really makes it special is how bold it is in going to places far darker than the MCU has ever seen. Thanos can be argued to be the true protagonist of Infinity War, and his ultimate victory right before the credits roll is still the franchise's most surprising moment. 5 'The Odyssey' (2026) Image via Universal Pictures Homer's The Odyssey is the story of stories, truly the quintessential Hero's Journey tale. The bards and rhapsodes of yesteryear allowed it to change and evolve to adapt to the needs of their audience, and this year, the generation-defining filmmaking bard that is Christopher Nolan has come to offer his own take on Homer's poem. Nolan's The Odyssey isn't a copy-paste of the original in any way, and that's for the better. Driven by Nolan's unique auteurial vision and elevated by his sharp eye for detail, this is perhaps the most fascinating film version of Homer's epic that we've seen to date. Only time will tell whether The Odyssey will age well, but as of now, if one were to rank Christopher Nolan's movies, it would have to be placed near the top. For one, the production values are about as stunning as one could expect from a Nolan film, going from the striking special effects to Ludwig Göransson's all-timer score. Then, there's the absolutely incredible cast, the many edge-of-your-seat action scenes, and the sheer abundance of moments that are likely to stand out as some of Nolan's best even a few years from now. Fantasy epics like this one are simply not seen often nowadays, making The Odyssey all the more special. 4 'Gladiator' (2000) Image via DreamWorks Distribution LLC Ridley Scott has been one of the most revolutionary filmmakers in Hollywood all throughout his career, and his work on Gladiator was no less influential. It's nothing short of one of the greatest historical epics in movie history, a revenge story that never lets up over the course of its engrossing two-and-a-half-hour runtime. It's intense, it's powerfully character-driven, and it has one of the best movie endings of the 2000s. In other words, this Best Picture Oscar-winning masterpiece is the sort of action epic that everyone should watch at least once in their lives. Anchored by what may be the best performances of the careers of both Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator powers through its story with grim violence and a sturdy commitment to the psychological intensity of its character study. It's definitely not a film for the faint of heart, but those with the stomach for its brutal action sequences will be treated to one of the most engrossing revenge stories cinema has ever told. 3 'One Battle After Another' (2025) Image via Warner Bros. Winner of an admirable six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Paul Thomas Anderson's long-overdue Best Director Oscar, One Battle After Another is undoubtedly one of the best action thrillers since 2000. Bolstered by a consistently jaw-dropping cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and breakout star Chase Infiniti, this dramedy masterpiece is one of the greatest satires in recent memory. But as amusing as it may be, it's also incredibly intense and action-packed, perfect for those who love their cinematic epics with a hearty side of nail-biting suspense. Anderson's best film in years, One Battle is a powerful critique of authoritarian power which will likely age like fine wine in the years to come. But aside from being thematically timely, it's also incredibly entertaining, featuring a myriad of standout moments and one of the best movie villains of the 2020s thus far. It's tense, it's subtext-rich, it's full of absurdist humor that never overpowers the terrifyingly dramatic story, and it has a revolutionary edge that's not exactly common to see in epic Hollywood blockbusters nowadays. Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best PictureIs Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one. 🪜Parasite 🌀Everything Everywhere ☢️Oppenheimer 🐦Birdman 🪙No Country for Old Men FIND YOUR FILM → 01 What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind. ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours? AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does. NEXT QUESTION → 03 How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means. AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you? AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like? AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible. AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable. AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you. ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense. NEXT QUESTION → 09 How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately. AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action. NEXT QUESTION → 10 What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want? AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days. REVEAL MY FILM → The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works. ParasiteYou are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image. Everything Everywhere All at OnceYou want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about. OppenheimerYou are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort. BirdmanYou are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all. No Country for Old MenYou are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 2 'Dune: Part Two' (2024) Image via Warner Bros. Pictures For the longest time, you could have asked any fan of Frank Herbert's foundational space opera Dune whether they thought it was possible to make a film adaptation that lived up to the novel's legendary legacy, and they would have very likely said no. That was, of course, before Denis Villeneuve entered the scene; because as incredible as 2021's Dune was, Dune: Part Two is a masterpiece that will very likely be remembered as one of the greatest sci-fi films of the 21st century years from now. It's this generation's The Empire Strikes Back, and easily one of the best blockbuster movies since 2010. It's big, it's loud, it's exciting, it's romantic, it's emotionally stirring, and it's full of the same kind of thematic richness that has allowed Herbert's Dune to remain timeless for as long as it has. It truly is one of the greatest genre blockbusters the 21st century has thus far seen, a true epic with a sense of scale much akin to that of the sort of older classics that make people say "they don't make 'em like that anymore." As it turns out, they do. 1 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003) Image via New Line Cinema J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the single most important and influential fantasy novel of the 20th century, is another book that may have made 20th-century bookworms think that it was impossible to turn into a movie worthy of its legacy. Enter Peter Jackson and his legendary creative team, whose Lord of the Rings trilogy is arguably the greatest fantasy movie franchise in history. And there's really no question as to which installment in the trilogy is the best: It has to be The Return of the King, tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic as the most Oscar-winning film in history, with a whopping 11. It's perhaps the most universally-loved fantasy movie based on a book, a three-and-a-half-hour-long epic (over four hours if watching the extended edition) without a single dead spot in its runtime. It's perfectly-paced, it's incredibly exciting, it's full of emotionally rousing moments, and its many action sequences are absolutely riveting. Full of magic, combat, emotion, and the kind of poetic beauty that any Tolkien fan could have possibly wanted out of a Return of the King film, this Best Picture Oscar-winning masterpiece is the greatest cinematic epic of the last 26 years.