vash23n wrote:Highlander 1-5, read at your own risk
*** SPOILERS ***
I just finished watching the 5 Highlander movies last night - not including the animated one, which is up next. I must say that the first is a great film. definitely has some cheesy moments, mostly involving the very Scottish Sean Connery who is supposed to be Spanish.... Anyhoo. Highlander sets up what we expect will be the guidelines any further movies will follow. Immortals are in most regards regular people until they experience a violent death. They are revived and begin their immortal lives - if they fail to experience this violent "first" death, then they live and die as any other mortal. Once immortal they can only be permanently killed by being beheaded. Eventually, any immortals that remain will come together to fight until only one survives. This last immortal gains a prize that apparently is the chance to be mortal again.
This brings us to Highlander 2, which establishes that immortals are, instead, aliens. This is where we hit the brick wall that kept the Highlander series of movies from becoming the great sci-fi epic that they could have been. I seriously feel if a decent sequel had been made (or if no sequel had been made) Highlander would have gone down as one of the best franchises in the sci-fi genre - my opinion of course. Back on track, Highlander 2 sees our hero Connor MacLeod as an old man (from regaining his mortality) who has somehow become an environmental engineer, but not a very good one as he has led the Earth into a sort of pre-apocalypse. Don't fear though because suddenly the planet is filled with immortals again (from the past or from another planet depending on which version you see), Connor regains his youth, regains his immortality, and once again defeats the last immortal while overturning a greedy corporation and saving the planet. I, honestly, feel that if a decent sequel to Highlander had been made, the franchise would have continued to have the money for decent scriptwriters and directors and we would have been saved the horror of the 3 sequels following Highlander 2.
Highlander 3 basically ignores its predecessor and attempts to act as a true sequel to Highlander. Unfortunately, the movie has the feel that the director/writers cared only about returning the Highlander universe to what the original film had created. We basically end up with a close copy of the first movie. More immortals and Connor has a son. I should mention that this son seems to be adopted, which is important because immortals cannot have children. Although being the last immortal standing - once again - at the end of the last film would have allowed MacLeod to regain his mortality - once again - leaving him able to have children if he so desired. Anyhoo... MacLeod fights to the last and wins... blah blah blah. Again, this was a MUCH better film than the 2nd, but still leaves much to be desired.
Finally, we reach Highlander 4 or Endgame. It would seem that someone finally took it upon themselves to kill the beast by creating a final film. In comes Duncan MacLeod, another immortal from the MacLeod clan - what are the chances of that. He is also the Duncan from the TV spinoff that aired for sometime. We follow the antics of Connor and Duncan as they pass through the ages, including some very bizarre flashbacks and your usual softcore porn that has become characteristic of the Highlander universe. Connor has tried to escape from his immortality by being put into a sort of sleep. Bad immortals show up, however, and our two heros are called on to save the world once again. This movie was not as bad as the second, and about on par with the third. There was some well-choreographed swordfighting and, just as we gave the 3rd some leeway for bringing the Highlander franchise back to its roots, we give the 4th some leeway for attempting an end to the madness.
Or so we thought... Highlander 5, the Source... wow. The movie starts by supplying 3 definitions of what an immortal is in the Highlander universe. I can only remember the 3rd, which is that immortals cannot have children. How can I forget these rules so fast being that I just watched the movie last night? Because, just as each movie has ignored the one that came before it, in this movie each scene ignores the scene that came before it. It should be noted that Connor is not in this movie at all and there is no explanation to what happened to him. At least not one that is prominent enough for me to have remembered. By the end, almost all rules have been broken, imcluding the one where Immortals can only be killed by being beheaded. Apparently, as an immortal gets closer and closer to "the Source," he becomes mortal again. Most disappointing, at the end the ultimate bad guy and guardian of the Source is not beheaded. Duncan decides he's had enough of killing, but luckily this is JUST what it takes to kill the guardian... everybody wins!
BUT here is the best part of the movie!! Even those who have not seen the Highlander films probably know the most famous line, the basic theme throughout each film and also the TV series - "There can be only one." Of course we have discarded any hopes of ever seeing who that "One" is as each movie sees more and more immortals crawling out of the woodwork. The 5th, though ignoring all other rules and not trying to sync this film with any of the others, attempts to reconcile this one issue. The one has nothing to do with killing other immortals and being the last one standing. See, Duncan has an ex-wife who left him because they could not have children. She gets wrapped up in this whole crazy world of swordplay and immortality and after it is all done... she gets pregnant. Stupid immortals got all wrapped up in this game of killing when being the "One" never had anything to do with survival. All along, being the "One" meant that you were the only immortal capable of producing offspring. Silly us. Match this with some of the strangest cinematography ever - think creepy girl from The Ring with her twitchy, fast forward movement and apply it to every character, every 5 minutes - and you have one of the worst movies every made.
The end...
MORE SPOILERS
I just finished out my Highlander quest with the animated Highlander: The Search For Vengeance. This movie is a great addition to the series. A different MacLeod, Colin this time, but very well done. This movie was worked on by American and Japanese parties and has a very Reign of the Conqueror feel. Maybe a little more action, but the animation is definitely the same and there is a lot of depth just like we can expect from Reign. This movie ignores that any sequel to the original ever existed (maybe how it should have been) and feels like just another perspective of the immortal realm from another MacLeod who happens to be an immortal.
So to sum it up, this is how the series should be viewed. Highlander 1, Highlander 3, Highlander 4 as these seem to work the best together. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, which has an astounding 7.1 on IMDB.com, should be viewed on its own. As for the rest, simply watch them if you want a good laugh or if you would like to see how the series was sent to hell!
And YES, the animated has plenty of soft-core porn goodness that Highlander and some anime fans have grown to expect and love.
