For whatever reason, the opening battle scene in Gladiator has never impressed me much from a demo-your-system standpoint. Visually it's stunning, and I quite enjoy the movie as a whole. There's just not that much sonic impact to that first scene in either DD or DTS. The whole scene has always seemed sonically rather drab or muffled, IMHO, even though it could be magnificent. I almost feel like the sound levels were mastered so high that you lose the detail to sheer volume. I'm not an expert, it's just what I think.
Better 'battle' scenes that I like to demo would include :
- The opening skirmish in 'Master & Commander'. My current top pick to demo a system because of the amazing surround mix that really feels like you're on the HMS Surprise, and for cannon fire that will absolutely test your subs resolve.
- The sieges of Jerusalem in 'Kingdom of Heaven'
- Just about every battle in the LOTR trilogy
- The often-mentioned beach scene in 'Saving Private Ryan', also the scene near the end with the tank is pretty amazing too
- Many parts of the most excellent 'Band of Brothers' series
- The main battle in 'Braveheart', with the English heavy horse
- The opening starship battle with the Borg in 'Star Trek: First Contact' is pretty well done, if you're a trekkie
- The obligatory space battles from episodes 2 and 3 of Star Wars
