Review of Highlander

Introduction

I was a Highlander fan along with many of my friends. The first movie sparked the imagination and established a fantasy so tantalising and mystical that fans hungered for more. Yet the first film tied up the loose ends and neatly put paid to the franchise before it could ever start. That wouldn`t hold the producers back though, and sequels and spin-offs followed with alarming regularity. The second film was dire indeed, and the less said about it the better. Highlander III: The Sorcerer wasn`t much better and was little more than a remake of the first film. Then came television, and any pretence to continuity was wholly abandoned as a whole slew of new immortals were created along with a new member of the Clan MacLeod to carry the series, with Connor popping up from time to time. Other spin-offs followed including a dire teatime cartoon that had kids enjoying decapitations (implied) with their fish fingers. Yet I still followed these aspects of the franchise avidly, even going as far to as buying the novelisations of the TV series.

However, coming back to the Highlander franchise after a few years gave me a little perspective. It`s all a bit crap really. There are only so many ways, in which you can make the concept work and once was enough. The sequels were dire, and the television series was worse. When the fourth Highlander movie went straight to video in the UK, I didn`t bother with renting it. Looking to the IMDB today shows that Highlander 5 is in production, and according to the rumours it will follow tradition and completely ignore the continuity of what came before. I couldn`t care less. So when I recently watched Highlander for the first time in years, it was with a sinking feeling that I saw that familiar red caption come up, feeling sure that my disillusionment will be complete.

Russell Nash is a New York antique dealer with a difference. He was born 400 years ago in the Highlands of Scotland as Connor MacLeod and he is different from most men. He was mortally wounded in battle with a rival clan, yet when he didn`t die of his wounds, his clan cast him out as evil. Yet he had to wait for the arrival of Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez to learn of his true potential. As passed down since time immemorial, they and a select few individuals are immortal, destined to live through the ages and battle for the prize. The only way that they can die is through decapitation, when the victor will claim the loser`s Quickening. Legends foretell of a Gathering in a distant land, where the few survivors will meet and fight to the last, the victor will have control over the destiny of man. In New York of 1985, the police are baffled by a spate of decapitation murders and when they capture Nash fleeing from the scene of a killing they assume they have the culprit. But Nash is a cool customer and gives nothing away, and lacking evidence they let him go. However, forensic consultant Brenda Wyatt is tantalised by evidence of the sword used in the crime, a sword that by all rights shouldn`t exist, and she pursues Nash on her own initiative to learn the truth. The truth that she uncovers is beyond her wildest imaginings though and soon she is caught in the middle of a titanic battle for the future of mankind. For Victor Kurgan has pursued MacLeod down the centuries and is the strongest of all immortals. If he would win the prize, mankind would suffer an eternity of darkness, and in New York only two immortals survive but "there can be only one".

Video

The European Version DVD gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. There may be a fair bit of grain at times, but it`s a good clean print. The image is sharp with good definition and the contrast is good as well, especially given the number of darker scenes. The effects haven`t stood up so well to the test of time, and there is one instance of blatant polystyrene door as well as poorly hidden wires. Russell Mulcahy`s direction definitely shows its pop promo roots, but that`s no bad thing as Highlander is certainly a movie that demands style as well as substance. He accomplishes that action well and displays a singular style typified by the segues into the flashback sequences.

Audio

Soundtracks are provided in DD 5.1 English as well as DD 2.0 Italian and Spanish. Subtitles on the other hand cater only for the French and Dutch. This is all despite the incorrect flags assigned to the language tracks. The 5.1 remix is well accomplished, with the effects, music and sound all very well reproduced. The action is quite dynamic with the battles and mayhem putting the speakers to good use. The dialogue is always clear, which is good considering the lack of English subtitles. But what pushes the sound up that extra notch is the absolutely sublime music. Michael Kamen`s score is pretty much your typical action movie stuff with Celtic overtones, but it`s the Queen soundtrack that will have you turning the volume up, and also helps make this film the legend that it is.

Features

Once again region 2 misses out on an extras bonanza and we have to make do with the leftovers. The animated menus are quite nice, and the filmographies are your usual film and year basics. The trailer is presented in letterbox format and there are a collection of posters, concept art and production stills, totalling 35 pictures. The most substantial extra on this disc is the 10-minute interview with Christopher Lambert. Presented in 1.85:1 ratio and in the original French with optional subtitles, this is an affectionate retrospective of the Highlander film and the subsequent phenomenon and is well worth watching.

Conclusion

"There can be only one!" There bloody well should have been. One movie that is. Taken by itself, Highlander is a brilliant piece of eighties cinema, it`s only the subsequent franchise that sullies it. Watching the first Highlander movie again, I was gratified to find that is still pushes all the right buttons and is as fresh and exciting as it ever was. The original Highlander movie should be enshrined if only for one cinematic gem. The incongruity of a Scotsman playing an ancient Egyptian masquerading as a Spaniard asking a Frenchman playing a Scotsman what haggis is? It`s one of those unanswered movie mysteries like why Chewbacca never got subtitles but all the other aliens did.

Highlander itself is merely a reinvention of the vampire myth. To all intents and purposes immortal, they must by their very natures become predators to stay alive, the difference being that they prey on their own kind. They can only be killed in a certain way and like vampires while gifted with certain abilities and strengths, they are also cursed in certain ways. Vampires must stick to the dark, while immortals cannot have families and are cursed to watch their loved ones age and die while they live on unchanged. It is this reinvented myth that is so attractive about Highlander, and the bittersweet melancholy of the MacLeod character shares the same sort of romanticism that certain vampire stories carry. There`s that and the cool sword fights of course.

The cast is top notch, if a little strangely cast. Christopher Lambert (or Christophe depending on which part of the disc you look at) plays the eponymous Highlander and imbues the character with the timelessness and hard earned wisdom that you would expect from an immortal. Sean Connery is the star in all but name as the flamboyant Ramirez and Clancy Brown makes for a meaty villain as the Kurgan and just as Sean Connery fills the screen in the flashbacks, Clancy Brown owns it in 1985 New York. Roxanne Hart makes for a very capable damsel as Brenda (surely the only case in movie history where there is a love interest called Brenda) and she screams with the best of them.

Forget the rest of the franchise, this is the one time that they got the formula right and in Highlander they made a timeless fantasy that will always have its fans. It is one movie that is definitely the sum of its parts, and where Mulcahy`s music video experience and an entertaining story combine to tantalise the senses. The combination of contemporary action coupled with the flashback sequences come together to hook the attention and I`m willing to forgive the tacky effects and eighties hairstyles. This sort of formula still works today, you only have to watch an episode of Angel to realise that. Highlander is a film that positively excels in style over substance, but is none the worse off for it, and it will surely retain a treasured place in my DVD collection.