Will the New Highlander Movie Be Better Than the Rest?

Yes folks, it's back! Four movies that spawned a hit TV series have given the Highlander legend worldwide acclaim. Now it is returning for a fifth movie appearance, but how many fans are really pleased to hear this?

The first movie was released in the theatres in March of 1986. Round about that time I was very close to turning seven years old. Needless to say, at the time I could hardly understand what this movie was about. Something about this movie that appeared on either HBO or Cinemax captured my attention. The images and influences were strong, the bad guy was scary, and the good guy was called MacLeod (Pronounced Mac Cloud). He lives in New York, as an antique dealer under the alias Russell Nash.

Conner McCleod, portrayed by actor Christopher Lambert, sometimes had long hair. Other times he had short hair. I couldn't understand why it would sometimes change. This made me wonder if it was the same person or not. Anyway, I soon forgot about Highlander, and grew up a little.

I was perhaps 13 when I saw the movies Highlander and Highlander II on video in a store. I remembered broken images from my childhood, and I had to have them. My brother told me there was even a show about it. I wanted so badly to understand what all those images were.

I got home and watched both movies. Lets just say learning to use a sword became my favorite pass time in the days to come. The story is essentially about 18 year old Conner MacLeod in the year 1536. He goes into battle, and is killed by a very large black knight. The next day Conner is healthy as a horse, and his clan isn't happy about it. Branded a Devil worshiper, Conner is driven from home. His subsequent journey reveals to him the secrets of his immortality, and the truth, that the black knight will follow him through time until one of them is dead.

The movie also stars Sean Connery, who played a magnificent part as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, a 2437-year-old Egyptian, recently from Spain, who arrives to teach Conner. The story's originality played out expertly as all remaining immortals in migrated to New York in 1986, and battled to the last.

Did I mention that they fight with swords, and can only perish if their head is cut from their neck? Icky, I know, but tradition demands that, "There can be only one," which is a reoccurring line in the movie. The savage be-headings in the garden States are referred to as The Gathering by the immortals, who seek to claim "The Prize" at the very end. Whatever this prize is will give one of them the power to rule humanity forever.

The authorities, however, consider these be-headings to be murder, and it isn't long before Connor MacLeod is on the radar of forensics specialist Brenda Wyatt. The cops are after him too, but none of them are cute women with a fetish for swords.

Anyway, the movie winds down, the black knight, aka the Kurgan portrayed by actor Clancy Brown, kidnaps Brenda, and finally faces off with Connor McCleod. I won't spoil the ending, but the movie was two thumbs up in my estimation. I'll just say that someone won the Prize.

Or did they?

I immediately popped in Highlander II: The Quickening. I'll tell you right off, as a thirteen year old, I was impressed with this movie, though even I thought the first one was better. As I've aged, I still have that videotape I bought, but this movie is just horrendous. Highlander II tried to ride off the success of the first movie. What it did do was take a completely original idea that had run its full course in the first movie, and strayed way off into left field with over the top sci-fi motifs.

Highlander 2 was released in November of 1991, and focuses on the origin of all the immortals. It's funny because the first movie failed to offer an explanation as to why these people lived so long, and why they had to fight each other. You know what I discovered? Ignorance is bliss.

The first movie worked. The second one didn't. Christopher Lambert returns as the sword wielding Conner MacLeod, in the year 2024. He never used his power to rule the Earth. Instead he decided to use them to grow old and die...

That's dumb right there, but there's more. In 1999 the ozone layer was almost completely depleted. MacLeod lead an experiment to produce an artificial shield over Earth. The experiment worked, but not before Brenda, MacLeod's wife, was killed by the sun. On top of that, no one would ever see the stars again.

Back in 2024, the world has become a pit of depression due to the eternal darkness.

MacLeod dreams about his first life. He suddenly remembers that he isn't even from Earth, but instead hails from a world called Zeist. He was sent to Earth as punishment for rebelling against General Katana, portrayed by Michael Ironside.

MacLeod discovers that the ozone layer has repaired itself. In a disgusting gimmick, Sean Connery's character, Ramirez, returns from the dead to help MacLeod shut down the shield. Apparently the shield has become big business, and there are people who would stop at nothing to keep it functional. General Katana journeys to Earth to destroy Conner MacLeod once and for all. Virginia Madsen also stars in this movie as McCleod's new love interest.

The end is where things get really weird. In one version, after the shield goes down, the movie ends. In the version that is generally shown on television MacLeod becomes a spirit type character, and disappears into the stars with Louis Marcus, his new love interest. Apparently they are returning to Zeist in order to live out mortal lives.

The battle choreography of this movie left much to be desired, whereas the first movie delivered spot on. Much of the original fan base sought to ignore this movie altogether, but the creators just couldn't. However they did admit that things needed to be fixed.

In 1995 the creators released Highlander 2: The Renegade Version. I can confidently say that adding the noun Renegade has nothing to do with the story. It was used to make the title sound cool. It failed miserably. This version completely cut out everything concerning the planet Zeist. Though many of the scenes from Zeist were still used, that part of the movie was now set sometime in the unknown past history of Earth.

So now all Immortals are considered to have come from the very distant past...

As punishment for rebelling against General Katana, MacLeod and Ramirez were banished to different eras of the future... Doesn't this premise still stink? Most of the movie was completely the same, though it was cut slightly better. I also wasted money on buying The Renegade Version, but the creators still weren't satisfied. Why should they be, I wouldn't be satisfied with this movie until all copies were captured and burned.

In 2004, Highlander 2: The Special Edition was released. I can't comment on this, as I don't plan to waste two hours watching it.

But back in 1992, William Panzer and Peter Davis, the producers of pretty much everything that concerns Highlander, released the Highlander TV series. British actor Adrian Paul took over the lead role as Duncan MacLeod. He was born in 1592, but now, like Connor, he lives in New York and owns an antique store. That part was sort of predictable, and uncreative, but so what. I was able to look past it.

The worst thing about the show was that it had to disregard some of the best elements of the first movie. Christopher Lambert appeared in the first episode (The Gathering) as Connor MacLoed, and there was sort of a passing of the torch, so to speak. But it was as if the first movie meant almost nothing, and the Gathering never really happened.

That was a disappointment, but the show was a hit, and though it had some weak moments, it was entertaining. It lasted until 1998, but at the end, Duncan MacLeod had still not won the Prize.

In 1994 Panzer and Davis released Highlander 3: The Final Dimension staring Mario Van Peebles as the half crazy antagonist Kane. This movie starred Christopher Lambert in the lead role of Connor MacLeod. Highlander 3 at least attempted to portray a coherent storyline, unlike Highlander 2.

It almost succeeded.

Apparently there was some incompatibility between Highlander 2 and 3. Highlander 3 was set in 1994, but writers wanted to introduce a new love interest for Connor. This called for Brenda, MacLeod's love interest in the first movie, to be killed before the incident in 1999 with the depletion of the ozone layer.

It was stated in Highlander 3 that Brenda was killed in a car accident in 1986 Scotland, probably a few days or so after the end of the first movie. It's convenient how they so often change things in the Highlander storyline. If something doesn't fit, they change it to suit their needs. Good storytelling can never be told under these circumstances, and that is the trap that Highlander 3 fell into.

Apparently Kane was caught in an avalanche in Japan hundreds of years ago, and was unable to participate in the Gathering of immortals in 1986. In 1994 Kane thaws out, and travels to New York to kill Connor MacLeod. Kane has one advantage, magical powers that Connor can't hope to compete against. Several times in the movie Kane turns into a giant crow, sometimes he turns into Conner, and once he even turned into Conner's love interest, Alex Johnson, played by Debra Unger.

All this magical dipody-do-da only served as a distraction. In the first movie no one displayed such power. Immortals were normal men who had the potential to live forever. It was better that way. Although this movie was more closely related the first movie than either Highlander 2 or even the TV show was, Highlander 3 was very anti climactic.

It was sort of a been there done that, sort of deal. It just didn't measure up to the first. None of them seemed to, but Davis and Panzer weren't done yet.

In the year 2000 Highlander Endgame was released, and all the events of Highlander 2, in any version or incarnation, was totally disregarded. For the first time in the movie medium, Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul would star together as equal protagonists.

The MacLeod's faced off against Connor's Immortal Clansmen, Jacob Kell. Kell was a character considered to be far more powerful than either Connor or Duncan. It became inevitable that the two friends would have to square off in order to combine their power and kill Jacob Kell. Well, that's what happened. It was probably the darkest moment in all of Highlander. An aging Christopher Lambert relinquished his role as the true immortal Highlander to the star of the TV series, Adrian Paul.

The movie in itself was disappointing. It carried the atmosphere of the show, and seemed more like it should have been a made for TV movie. The final action scene was unrealistic, but all in all Endgame was better than Highlander 2. The scenes with the two highlanders together failed to display a single sense of fun, as Connor was cast as more of a pitiful wretch throughout the movie, instead of a mighty warrior.

Connor's death completely rendered the events of any version of Highlander 2 null and void, as the setting of those movies took place in 2024. Why they wrote and released Endgame in 2000, when they later released Highlander 2: The Special Edition in 2004 is beyond me....

I thought Endgame would finally spell the end for the franchise altogether. For a long time I forgot about Highlander. I wouldn't even watch the reruns on TV. I didn't buy the DVD sets. I didn't even care about sword fighting anymore.

I guess you can say I grew up, a little anyway.

Just recently I discovered Davis and Panzer are at it again. The advertised title for this new movie, starring Adrian Paul, as Duncan MacLeod, is Highlander: The Source. Apparently it is another attempt to tell a new origin story for immortals. Apparently it is supposed to be set in the near future. I'm wondering if this future is supposed to be near by an immortal's standards, or human standards.

Something tells me it will be a very dark movie, along the lines of Highlander 2, with a lot of special effects. I don't think Davis and Panzer could resist overdoing the special effects in their Highlander movies. I don't think they could face the facts that Highlander no longer has the potential to be a creative story that can be pulled together. It no longer has the potential to be as thrilling and imaginative as hits like The Matrix, or Star Wars.

The biggest problem with releasing sequels of Highlander is that the story was told in its entirety by the end of the first movie. From that point on there was no story left, and continuing to release movies as if there really is story left, is practically robbing people of their money. No Highlander movie can ever again be as fulfilling, and fresh as it was in 1986.

After the first movie, the only conceivable direction a sequel could take was to tell an origin story. Highlander 2 attempted that course. Apparently twelve years later, with the release of The Special Edition, Highlander 2 was still attempting to tell the origin. The writers of these movies have displayed that they really have no coherent view of what the Highlander origin story should be.

Sadly, William Panzer passed away this past March due to a tragic fall. Whatever the quality of that Highlander sequels, the works of Davis and Panzer have touched scores of fans over the last twenty years. For that and more, he will be remembered.