Highlander (1986)

Highlander (1986)

6/10

Starring

Christopher Lambert

Roxanne Hart

Clancy Brown

Sean Connery

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

I happened to have seen the first three Highlander movies when I was younger and watching it now helped to separate them in my memory. I recall only enjoying one of them and seeing the rest as a snooze fest. The movie’s key line “there can be only one” kind of plays to all the movies in the franchise, as there was only one worth seeing, which happens to be this one.

With a simple (not elegant) story and a dedicated cast for each role, Highlander is a nice movie to watch and remember for the coolness of the idea. If there is a movie that needs a reboot because of the clumsy way they made the story with the numerous sequels, Highlander is such a movie.

The plot is woven along storylines of immortals who are in an age-old battle over numerous millennia. We get to see the different parts of their lives especially that of the lead character Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert). We see his lives from the various times he has lived through, surviving over centuries till now 1985. There is a sort of significance to this time, as the immortals were to gather here and battle until there was only one.

Our lead character Connor is also known as Highlander. He is of Scottish decent and lives on the Highlands in 1536 AD. His clan were at war with another when a Kurgan (a man from a warrior race) decided to help the clan facing Connor for the prize of killing Connor. It was this time when Connor was stabbed and the The Krugan was chased off when he attempted to cut off Connor’s head that Connor even though died, woke up the next day healed.

His clan chased him away, saying he has the devil in him. It was then he met a flamboyant swordsman named Ramirez (who is also one of the immortals) who taught him everything he is to know about being an immortal. The only way they can die is when their heads are chopped off.

We now jump to 1985 and Connor is living in New York as an antic dealer. He is attacked after he was done seeing a wrestling match by another immortal. He kills that immortal by cutting off his head and runs away.

While speeding off in his car from the scene he was arrested. Then we see the Krugan, he too is in New York and he is after Connor, for the prize of being the only immortal left.

The movie is fun and the sword fights are average at the least. The idea is well put together and from the way the movie ended you can guess that sequels were not first placed for it. Because the storylines got changed. The way the immortals exist with powers got added and explained. They changed the idea well enough to make it easy to make numerous sequels.

See this one movie and leave the rest.