Gladiator and Braveheart have long been the two against which I've benchmarked all other epic films (plus, nowadays, the three Lord of the Rings films) - the experience that they provided on first and subsequent viewings being exactly the kind that I look for in the genre. (I don't know whether it's coincidence or dramatic necessity that both end with the deaths of the main protagonist - no doubt along with plenty of other common story beats and structural elements.) I don't know how many times I've watched it; it remains good.
