Highlander Reviews

Higlander è "difficile": da un punto di vista cinematografico fa vomitare, Christopher Lambert è l'attore più cesso del secolo, i dialoghi sono orrendi e non hanno senso e la scenegiatura è scritta da un pool di scimmie ubriache. Sean Connery fa la parte di uno spagnolo che parla scozzese e insegna a Connor McLoud a correre felice a piedi scalzi sulla spiaggia. Eppure. Eppure questo film è nascosto nella nostra memoria come uno dei film + belli che abbiamo visto da bambini, era quello dell'immortale e delle spade che scintillano quando si scontrano, era quello del cattivo cattivissimo e della sfida finale. La cosa buffa è che nel riguardare il film non ho provato quelle nostalgiche sensazioni di crastanza perchè qua c'è la parte geniale: quelle cose li non te le fa provare il film. Non è mai stato il film ma la colonna sonora. Puoi guardarti Highlander 200 volte ed annoiarti a morte dopo mezza visione ma se ascolti questa canzone, quelle cose li le provi dopo mezzo secondo. L'ultimo immortale non è Connor McLaud ma Freddie Mercury.

This movie reeks of the 80s and not in a good Amadeus kind of way. The special effects are often brutal, the acting is in the alley of an off off off Broadway play quality and the story makes random unexplained leaps. Not of the he's immortal so now he's flashing back to Scotland kind of leaps. More like the let's just shove a girlfriend who's supposed to be the love of his life into this story with absolutely no exposition or she loves him even though she just tried to stab him to death with a knife kind of leaps.

The highlights are the sparky swords (though they only sometimes spark for some reason) and a very brief appearance by Sean Connery doing all kinds of scenery chewing. The core concept is also pretty interesting and some of the set pieces work pretty well but overall the movie feels like the creators just threw cool ideas at a dartboard and kept them even if some of the darts missed the mark by 27 feet. It is recommended if you like campy as hell high fantasy action flicks but if you're looking for anything deeper there might only be one and this is definitely not it.

" There can be only one. " Is possibly one of the best movie tag lines ever said and the fact that it has to be the catchphrase of Highlander makes this movie already special.
The movie Highlander was a hit in 1986 as it spawned 2 sequels, a television series, 2 more movies based off the series and another television series which was a spinoff of the original television Series.However the First movie is the best thing to come out of it.

The plot of the movie is basic but it works out as we follow Connor MacLeod "the Highlander" of the title as we learn that he is immortal and that you can only kill him by cutting off his head, we also learn that now is the most important time of the immortals life the gathering where the last few immortals will fight until there is only 1 and that person has the prize.

The 2 main characters the kurgan and Macleod are brilliant in the movie, as we learn about MacLeod's past. This leads to the fact that the kurgan killed him in battle but before he took his head he was stopped but Macleod healed and was banished from his clan in Scotland as people thought his immortality was witchcraft Which would have possibly happened in the 1500's. We also meet Sean Connery who becomes Macleod teacher. I think Sean Connery does a good part here as he is a Scotsman who pretends to be Spanish but who is in fact a Egyptian in the movie which is funny but he does pull it off. However a shock happened as Connery's character is killed by the Kurgan and he he rapes Macleod's wife.The Kurgan is simply brilliant at his part as he looks like and sounds like a sadistic person, who would rape and kill for the fun of it. I believe this is a step up the the actors career as now he is the voice of Mr Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.
to me it is the voice that makes me think the Kurgan is one of the better sounding villains in movie history.

I believe the most infamous scene is in the movie is when Macleod and the Kurgan is in the church, as they point out the most important rule of them all. Immortals cannot fight on Holy ground and as they talk revealing they are the only two immortals left meaning only one of them will be the victor and have the prize. The quote the Kurgan says as he leaves is Legendary as he says " it better to burn out ,than to fade away." I love this quote and i agree with it in a way as everyone wants to be known when they die, also Brown voice as he said makes it sound to perfect.

Also this movie is realistic in a way that with the Heads of people being cut off people will notice and the police are investigating the crimes of it happening with several scenes of the movie dedicated to this, Macleod becomes the main suspect after leaving a crime scene and police stopping him but they don't have the evidence to arrest him. A detective discovers that the other name he used in the movie is fake and that he has been using names of dead babies for over 100 years and when she confronts him about it he tells her the truth and sleeps with her.

Overall i have to say that Highlander 1 is a classic and that it did the 80's a lot of good with it soundtrack which was mainly done by the legendary band Queen. apart from the music the acting good and the storyline is above average. The sequel however is 1 of the worst films in history
i would rate the movie 8 out of 10 as it could have been better with Macleod's past

''There can be only one!''

He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.

Christopher Lambert: Connor 'The Highlander' MacLeod

There is an important part missing in the US cut of Highlander.
During World War II, MacLeod finds an orphaned little girl hiding amongst ruins. When a Nazi guns them down, his body shields hers, absorbing the bullets, and they both fall. In answer to her amazed, "You're still alive?", he flashes that winning smile and whispers, "Hey, it's a kind of magic!"

We learn that the orphan is his present secretary, Rachel, now an attractive older woman, whom MacLeod never took as a lover, though it is obvious she spent years yearning for him to do so.

When MacLeod leaves Rachel to face The Kurgan, both knowing it is the last time they will ever see each other, his parting words, ''Hey, it's a kind of magic, lack the tear-jerking poignancy they should possess, for in excluding the war scene, this line is not a callback but simply a cute phrase tangentially apropos to the moment.

It's a kind of lethargic.

Notwithstanding this omission, Highlander is still a fantasy masterstroke, a film of 80s proportions but with nowadays dated effects.
Brought to life by former music-video director, Australian Russell Mulcahy and writers Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson, this tale is so original and well-executed, it is hard to imagine it was not culled from Scottish folk legend. As far as I can tell, there is still no evidence to suggest this.

The opening tracking shots across a frenzied wrestling arena foreshadow how the movie intends to move us in great arcs, with the bulk of humanity becoming a blur, as grander designs are played out. Long before Michael Bay abused the swooping camera pan, Mulcahy utilized it with heady effect for the grandeur it purveyed in tales such as this. The sweep homes in on the hawk eyes of a lone serious figure amidst the multitude of ululating rednecks, Christopher Lambert (A French Actor playing a Scotsman, what the hell??!), who makes his apprehensive way to the parking garage and the first of many charged sword battles! Intrigue is piled high in these first few scenes, as the samurai milieu is juxtaposed with the grittiness and cynicism of modern-day New York, harried talk about blade-steel folded 200 times and millennia-aged weapons.
Look closer, this is a white guy in blue jeans and sneakers wielding a samurai sword, an iconic image, soon to be burned into our minds eye.

After Lambert beheads his immortal opponent and before any questions can be formulated, let alone answered, the Scottish Highlands are revealed in a breath-taking horizontal montage.
A piece of the puzzle is given to us, it is the 16th century and we see Lambert in another role, a young man adorning a kilt and flowing mane, riding into his first battle with his clan. He is Connor MacLeod, of the Highland MacLeods.

Back and forth, between present-day New York and medieval Scotland, in creative transitions, Mulcahy reveals ever more details of MacLeod's storied life until the character of Ramirez (an overdressed Sean Connery, A Scot playing a Spanish Lord, does this ever end??!) fills in all the gaps after his timely appearance and battle-training of the inexperienced Connor.

Ramirez and MacLeod are a breed of Immortals who cannot die unless beheaded. They anticipate The Gathering, a time hence when every remaining Immortal will battle to the death, for There Can Be Only One to claim The Prize,the unknown condition that overcomes the last man standing.

That time is now!!! present-day New York, where MacLeod must face the most malevolent of the last Immortals, The Kurgan (''Better to burn out than fade away!!).

The invented Highlander mythology provided the sturdy skeleton upon which to drape the incredible story. It would nevermore be so seamless, as the film's cult success was its undoing, systematically murdered by its own inappropriate and diabolically inferior sequels and offshoots.

So overall Highlander has some brilliant music especially from Queen and some moving scenes that make me want to watch this time and time again. Admittedly it's plot is abit chaotic and it's effects look a little worn but there's some brilliant originality there.

Connery's closing monologue achieves it's harrowing yet meaningful purpose, as applied to ALL mere mortals: "You are generations being born and dying. You're at one with all living things. Each man's thoughts and dreams are yours to know. You have power beyond imagination. Use it well, my friend."

"Don't lose your head."

“Here’s a movie that was so good that they tried for years to make a sequel to it that would work and none ever did. The TV series came as close as they could get. It wasn’t bad, but they didn’t really have a direction for the second movie and it had promise, then the next movie made the mistake of saying pretend the second movie didn’t happen, then the fourth. Well the fourth movie says only pretend parts of all of these movies never happened and parts of them did. Still yet, the original, or even its extended edition Directors Cut was/is an incredible movie. My Mom liked the romance of it as and I of course love the sword fights, the cleaving of heads and defeat of the really cool bad guy known as the Kurgan.”