Not Fading away...

''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."

7/10