Can't see it mentioned already, but I suggest Mongol - the story of Genghis Khan's rise to power.

There isn't a huge amount of epic battles or sword fighting, but the ones you do see are damn good. Also got some great scenery, an interesting story and one of the most atmospherically engaging scores I've heard in a film of it's kind.

Also, did anyone mention Alatriste ?

It was decent, I found it forgettable but that might be because I'm a fan of the (magnificent) novels. I don't know how a new eye would recieve it.

Classic viking movies:

The Vikings
The Long Ships
Erik the Conqueror

Oh yeah, i forgot that you didn't mind what kind of stuff so i'll add this one:

Berserk. It has an anime that's a bit old but still pretty good. It's about classic swordfighting (among other fantasy stuff), not samurais.

By the way almost any Korusawa movie would also apply, as does The last samurai.

When the series debuted, I wasn't impressed at first. But I decided to make a final decision after watching a few episodes. It got much better after the 3-4th episode. The second half of the season was excellent.

Rome was another great cable series, so pissed off that HBO cancelled it because it was "too expensive". Like Boardwalk Empire isn't expensive or Game of Thrones.

Wolfhound, a Russian fantasy movie. Not a great movie but an okay movie with some really awesome parts in it that will blow you away.

Did someone mentionned 'Outlander' ? Fits the description given ...