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| Highlander: The Reviews | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "There can be only one" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 10/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Russell Mulcahy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Immortal warrior Connor MacLeod must battle through the ages against warriors until the time of the Gathering. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: In the opening scene of this film Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) and an older guy Aman Fasil (Peter Diamond) fight in a deserted car park, after a brief fight Connor takes the guys head and then the place explodes. After this you may be going "Huh?", I shall explain. Back in 16th Century Scotland Connor is riding into batte against a rival clan, Connor is killed by a black knight, The Kurgan (Clancy Brown) when, later, Connor isn't as dead as thought he is thrown out by his clan for being "In league with Lucifer!". Connor is found by Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery) and he teaches Connor all about Immortals and the Gathering and the Prize. Some 400 years later the place of the Gathering is New York. Kurgan makes his presence known by killing off one of Connor's old friends Kastagir (Hugh Quarshie), further flashbacks (a staple of the Highlander series) reveal that Kurgan killed Ramirez and raped Connor's first wife Heather (Beatie Edney) Connor finds Kurgan in a church (they can't fight on Holy Ground which leads to some interesting questions which I won't answer here) Anyway lets rock and roll and finish this review off, a woman Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart) is interested in Connor's sword and more interested in Connor himself, Kurgan kidnaps Brenda and so Connor goes off to find Kurgan and when he does the two engage in a climatic sword fight which ends with Kurgan headless. Connor absorbs all the power from Kurgan and recieves the Prize which is being able to read thoughts of all living creatures. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: Great sword fighting, plenty of action, fairly logical storyline. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: Special Effects are somewhat dated (not surprising since it was made in 1986) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander II: The Quickening | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "It's time for a new beginning" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 5/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Russell Mulcahy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Connor and Ramirez team up to destroy a shield that is sucking the life out of Earth. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) looking about 70 visits an opera and there he is visited by the voice of Ramirez (Sean Connery) and suddenly it turns out that he and Ramirez came from another planet called Zeist where they staged an uprising against the tyrant General Katanna (Michael Ironside) the uprising fails and Connor and Ramirez are shot off to Earth where they become Immortal. In the year 1999 Connor helped build a shield that blocks out the Ultra Violet radiation from the sun because the Ozone Layer has been seriously depleted, however it turns the Ozone Layer has regenerated itself but the Shield Corporation want the shield to remain active because it gives them ��� (or $$$ for yanks) so terrorist babe Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen) decides to enlist the age-ing Connor to destroy the shield, before they can do so however Connor is attacked by two extremely GAY asssassins (emphasis on ASS) but of course as soon as Connor gets his hands on a sword he removes their heads and the resulting Quickenings (the snazzy thunder and lightning that an Immortal gets when he beheads an opponent) restore him to his young self and ressurrect Ramirez. So our three heroes get together break into the Shield Corporation and Ramirez again dies when he stops a giant-fan-like thing cutting our heroes to pulp, so Connor and Katanna begin their big sword fight and of course Connor beheads him and uses the power of the Quickening to take the shield down. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: Nice effects, sword fights, plenty of action. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: Incoherent story, none of the cast feel the need to act, enemies are pretty bad. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander: The Gathering | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "There is a new one" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 7/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Ray Austin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Pilot for the Highlander TV series (1992-1997) follows the life of Duncan MacLeod and his quest to win the Prize. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) finds a burglar who he thinks is an Immortal however it turns out the other intruders are, one is Slan Quince (Richard Moll) and the other is Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) after a brief fight Slan escapes and so Connor and Duncan catch up on old times and then Connor begins to train his fellow clansmen to survive in the Game, up to this point Duncan had tried to stay out of it until Slan had shown up and now most Immortals in the area will be after him, Connor goes after Slan and finds him atop a bridge after another brief fight in which Connor slashes Slan's face the bad dude shoots Connor over the bridge and so Duncan shows up to finish Slan off and get the Quickening. Duncan fishes Connor out of the water and then the older Highlander departs to leave Duncan and his girlfriend Tessa (Alexandra Vandernoot) to patch things up. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: Decent effects, good sword fights, Christopher Lambert. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: It's a TV series (lots of episodes to catch up on) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander: The Adventure Begins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "The adventure begins" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 6/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Frederic Dybowski | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Quentin MacLeod must defeat Kortan in a post-apocalyptic future where most Immortals have sworn to end fighting. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: Quentin MacLeod (voice of Miklos Perlus) must do battle with the evil Kortan (voice of Lawrence Bayne) who has already killed Connor MacLeod, in a future that has been ravaged by nuclear war, all the other Immortals have sworn to end the fighting to help restore man-kind to its former glory, however this gives Kortan the advantage as he has amassed enough troops to kill all the Immortals and rule the Earth, Quentin MacLeod is trained by Ramirez (I dunno who does his voice) and the training scenes are similar to the ones of the original Highlander movie as are Quentin's reactions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: Decent animation, good sword fights, good action scenes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: No blood, no decapitations, no Connor MacLeod and its a TV series and lots more missed episodes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander III: The Sorcerer/The Final Dimension | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "Throughout time they have hunted each other fulfilling the prophecy, that there can be only one" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 8/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Andrew Morahan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Connor MacLeod must face his newest opponent Kane the Sorcerer who has the power of an ancient Japanese wizard. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: After the death of Connor MacLeod's wife the Highlander moves on trying to find other Immortals, he stumbles upon the cave of Nakano a legendary Japanese sorcerer and Immortal, Connor recieves training from the wizard but before he can learn the secrets of the power of Illusion an evil Immortal Kane (Mario Van Peebles) kills Nakano and recieves the power of Illusion anyway. Connor escapes before a cave-in traps Kane and his followers. 400 years later (Don't ask what they done for 400 years) so with Kane effectively out of the way Connor goes on and wins the prize and so believes his days of head-hunting are over and he retires to Marakesh with his adopted son John (Gabriel Kakon) but when Kane and his followers are freed and Kane kills one of them Connor senses the Quickening and so he must head back to New York to find Kane. Connor is gunned down by a bunch of thugs so he is taken to hospital where his rapid recovery gets him locked up in the psycho-ward. When he escapes he finds and kills the other follower of Kane. So rushing onward, Connor and Kane have their first fight and Connor's sword gets smashed to bits but before Kane can kill the Highlander the police are on their way so he leaves it for another time, Connor returns to Scotland and works on putting his sword back together, this distraction allows Kane to kindap John and hide him in an Industrial type place, Connor and his new babe Alex Johnson (Deborah Unger) head off for more sword swinging. After another brilliantly done sword fight Kane is beheaded and again the Prize is Connor's. Connor, Alex and John return to Scotland so Connor can visit the grave of his first wife. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: More good sword fights, plenty of action, Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: Nothing bad really, but you've seen it all before. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title: Highlander: Endgame | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tagline: "For years they've been told there can be only one, they where lied to" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rating: 9/10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Director: Douglas Aarniokoski | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary: Duncan and Connor MacLeod must face they're deadliest foe to date the ultra-powerful Jacob Kell. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plot: After Connor MacLeod's (Christopher Lambert) adopted daughter is blown to hell the Immortal locks himself up in a place called the Sanctuary to remove himself from the Game, however Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne) who was killed by Connor when his mother was put to death. Kell lets Connor live however and he is being seeked out by his fellow clansmen Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) Kell's followers show up in Connor's old Antique Store at the same time as Duncan is investigating Jin-Ke (Donnie Yen) and Duncan engage in a brilliant sword fight and following that a high speed Kung-Fu fight, it ends with Duncan being blasted out of a window and being impaled on a series of poles, Duncan is taken by the Watchers (watch the series and find out) and is being kept locked up to prevent Kell finding him and taking his head (We'll get to that) Duncan is rescued by his buddy Dawson (Jim Byrnes) and is told that Kell has more than 600 heads to his name while Connor and Duncan only have 300 between them. Duncan visits a graveyard of all the Immortals Kell has killed and he finds Connor, Connor is then attacked by Kell and he realises that he know longer is strong enough to carry on. Later (after the gratuitous sex scene with Duncan and his old, old flame Kate/Faith (Lisa Barbuscia) Duncan and Connor meet on the rooftops Connor explains that only one of them can fight Kell, so Connor wants Duncan to kill him. Duncan refuses so Connor attacks him, in the end however (there can be only ONE) Duncan tearfully takes Connor's head and so recieves a massive power up and then the final fight begins. Duncan tracks down Kell and another big sword fight takes place (the editing of this fight isn't so good but the fight itself kicks ass) finally Duncan removes Kell's head and the massive Quickening blazes from the sky and gives Duncan even more power. Afterwards Duncan visits the grave of Connor who has been buried alongside his first wife Heather (Beatie Edney) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Good Points: Decent effects (some CG shots sucked but what you gonna do?) flashbacks had Beatie Edney reprising her role as Connor's wife, Duncan and Jin-Ke's awesome sword and Kung-Fu battle, Kell as the best villian to date, Christopher Lambert and Adrain Paul give the roles their all. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad Points: Some weak effects, no punishment for Kell for breaking the Game's rules (Gathering followers, fights on Holy Ground) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||