Review of Highlander: Director`s Cut 10th Anniversary

Introduction

One of that rare breed of films - a film I own on VHS. So that`s probably a good indication of how much I`ve liked this film in the past.

The version presented on this DVD is called the "10th Anniversary Director`s Cut". But before you jump up and down with excitement, there`s nothing new here if you`re not from America. The version presented here is the European version of the film that was released in cinemas and on video all those years ago.

It seems that for once we got to see more of a film than the Americans did. Various scenes were cut from the original movie, some for reasons of violence, others because they were deemed too confusing at the time.

So how does one of my favourite films fare on DVD?

Video

If you`ve ever read anything about this disc, it`s bound to have mentioned the video quality. It`s poor. Very poor. There`s lots of grain everywhere, and loads of artefacts wandering all over the picture.

It`s presented in non-anamorphic 1.85:1 (not 2.35:1 as stated on the box). And it`s supposed to be THX certified. If this is THX quality then I have a monkey for a nephew.

Personally I still prefer the picture over the VHS version, after all there is more of it. But if your interest in this film is only casual, it may count against it.

Audio

Well, at least they got this bit right. A good DD5.1 remix considering the age of the film. And thank god they got it right. It would be criminal not to get those classic Queen songs in the highest quality.

One of the best moments musically is probably "Who Wants To Live Forever", which appears here in a form different to the version on "It`s A Kind Of Magic". The other scoring was provided by soundtrack stalwart Michael Kamen.

A shame that more wasn`t made of the soundtrack, with a separate track or feature on it, as there are some fantastic songs here. Whenever Queen come on, reach for the volume control and turn it up a few notches.

Features

For a 10th anniversary edition, you`d expect quite a bit. And you`re partially rewarded.

There is a full length commentary featuring the director and production team. As this is one of my favourite films then this one had to get a listen. There`s lots of good information in here for fans of the film.
You find out which scenes were deleted from the American version, the team even point out some of their own anachronisms - in the flashback scenes the Scots wouldn`t have been wearing kilts as they didn`t exist at the time. However, having nude fight scenes was not considered to be a viable option.

As well as the commentary you get the original trailer (which is not great quality technically, and is quite painful to watch as a trailer).

There`s also a feature with photos from the film, behind the scenes photos and other bits and bobs like scripts etc. Unfortunately this is broken, so most of it flashes by at a billion miles an hour instead of gently scrolling. You can scroll through it manually on pause, but it would be quite an effort.

Conclusion

So one of my favourite films of all time. It stands the test of time reasonably well, and is still watchable to this day. A good performance from Christopher Lambert, despite his accent being an odd mix of French, English, American English and Scottish. Sean Connery is pretty laid back playing an Egyptian metallurgist who sounds more Scottish than the Highlander himself.

You can also play spot the British actress too, as two of the Highlander`s loves are played by our very own Celia Imrie (a far cry from her work with Victoria Wood) and Beatie Edney (a far cry from Channel 4 sitcom Dressing for Breakfast).

Some great fight scenes, some classic one liners, and some originality from the story line to boot. The sequels and the five seasons of the TV spin-off never reached the heights of this film.

So why have we got such a shoddy video transfer. It really is criminal. I still think it`s better than the VHS, but some may disagree. It`s certainly an improvement sound wise, and is almost worth it for that alone.

But the crunch is that this is available for about 7 dollars now from most region one retailers. So you could get it delivered for around 10 pounds. When set against this, the video quality doesn`t seem so bad.

But there are other versions around, including a French region 2 2-disc set. It might be worth investigating those a little further. If you like this film, then you`ll want to get the best version possible.

Let`s hope that there`s a better version out there, as it would be a shame to have to keep this as the definitive copy of the film.