Official Synopsis
Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the original cult classic that inspired movie and TV franchises! An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled “Prize.”
I adored this film when it first came out. Loved it when it first hit premium cable television. Even liked it more when very awkward sequels arrived (not sure there is a worse movie than the second film). The story is a bit goofy in hindsight, the dialogue even more so, but cult classics generally don’t become cult classics because of the technical aspects included in them. Honestly, if that was the case, I’m not sure that The Rocky Horror Picture Show would have ever made it out of the 70s (I’m glad it did, but I’m just saying it wasn’t exactly Shakespeare).
The charm of Highlander isn’t the writing, acting or the insane scenarios of immortals battling each other, rather it’s the lore built from the original, which has out shined every sequel that preceded it, which makes it memorable. Plus the Queen soundtrack. Queen makes everything better, even Flash Gordon.
If you’re not familiar with the story, which some of you young moviegoers may not be, it goes a little something like this.
Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) has lived for hundreds of years after being killed during a Scotsman clan fight with some mean Russian dudes called Krugans. Born to live forever, along with other immortals, they strive to survive until a final fight brings the bunch together in New York City to trim down their kind to only one. There can only be one. As you can imagine, Connor fights his way through friends and foes until he meets the ultimate baddy, the most powerful of the immortal bunch, a Krugan named Victor Kruger (Clancy Brown). The final fight is every bit as epic as an 80s action film can bring, maybe more so.
The movie does a great job of telling two different tales during its duration. One layer focuses solely on McLeod’s journey to the end and his destined fight with Kruger. You get a nice build up towards the final fight with some exposition focusing on Connor’s loneliness and his desire to finalize his journey, one way or another.
The second layer of the journey focuses on Connor’s life up to his final journey. It shows us how he became immortal, what that has meant to his love life and the things that he has experienced along the way, which includes a hilarious fight in the late 1700s. This layer of the story is a perfectly placed compliment to the main body of story. Sometimes it’s difficult to do that in films, just ask David Ayer and Suicide Squad.
Technically speaking, the writing catered well to the editing, as it properly opened doorways for flashbacks to crop up. It did a good job of bringing in flashbacks at the right time, which might be a reason why people love the story so much and forgive the stale dialogue and wooden acting (I love Lambert, but I’ve seen him in better). When you can show beautiful visuals and people get the story, then the dialogue becomes a secondary product. It sounds weird, and I’m a huge fan of a well-written story, but for some odd reason the story works without good dialogue. Again, I think it’s the visuals.
Regardless, it’s nice that Lionsgate has celebrated a cult classic like Highlander properly. It’s a good movie that deserves a bit more recognition than it has received in the past.
On the special features side of this release, here’s what you’re getting after 30 years:
– Interviews with Russell Mulcahy and Christopher Lambert
– Audio Commentary by Russell Mulcahy
– The Making of Highlander
– Archival Interview with Christopher Lambert
– Trailer
– Deleted Scenes
Not bad for a DVD package. Lots of interesting stuff here, if you have never seen the movie.
Anyway, onto the summary!
