As sequels go, perhaps my most crushing disappointment came from Highlander II: The Quickening, released in November, 1991. The original Highlander was a box office bomb that rose to cult status with the advent of video and cable television. Those who “got it” were part of a select fraternity, populated primarily by folks who dug Sam Raimi, John Carpenter and the wave of Hong Kong action films that came later in the early 90s.
The film dealt with a group of immortals whose origin is left purposely vague. They are destined to battle each other through the centuries until one remains. The victor will then claim “The Prize,” (another vague plot element) and be imbued with power “beyond imagination.” The immortal legend was a lot of hokum, but it was played to great effect, and explained with great gravitas by co-star Sean Connery.
As directed by music video auteur Russell Mulcahy, the first Highlander is a dazzling visual feast populated by a troupe of actors with great screen presence. Gregory Widen’s script was an insightful comment on the curse of immortality. Star Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod gave a world-weary performance, making it easy for the audience to believe he was a man who had adopted many guises through the centuries. Lambert balanced the heavy drama with a sense of whimsy, and always had a twinkle in his eye.
I immediately took to the film and am one of the few people who saw it in theatres (thanks to the prodding of a friend who thought the commercials “looked cool”). The film promptly bombed and eventually gained the cult status I mentioned above.
Fast forward five years. Word of a sequel creeps out via the pre-Internet channels such as Starlog and various cult magazine, offering little more than a blurb and perhaps a photo. All I was able to glean was that it took place in the future and somehow Sean Connery (whose character was decapitated in the original) would again appear. I remember seeing a standee at a popular multiplex with Lambert and Connery posed back to back and being very psyched.
As I recall, the U.S. release date kept getting pushed while the film was released in Europe (where the original was far more successful). Finally, Highlander II was released on November 1, 1991. I was in college and had no class that day, and my friends and I were determined to see it ASAP. It was not easy to find a theater showing the film (a bad omen if there ever was one), and the local paper’s review was not favorable (but hey, the critics trashed the original so no worries there!)
I’d say we knew within the first 15 minutes this film was a disaster. As George Lucas proved years later when he tried to explain the Force with his midi-chlorian mumbo jumbo, the explanation for MacLeod’s immortality was equally ridiculous. He was an alien from the planet Zeist, which sounds like a margarine.
The film was a debacle from start to finish. In it, MacLeod apparently helped devise a planetary shield to protect the world from the decaying ozone layer. Since that time, the sky has gone perpetually dark and somehow all hope has been lost. Crime is rampant and the future looks like low-rent Blade Runner. MacLeod now ages normally as a result of obtaining the Prize, but all that changes when the evil General Katana (an unforgivably hammy Michael Ironside) sends a pair of shrieking, ridiculous assassins from Zeist to speed him on his way.
As soon as MacLeod kills one (via convenient decapitation) he’s immortal again. He quickly dispatches the other one, and joins an anti-Shield terrorist (Virginia Madsen) to take down the evil corporation that promotes its continued use – despite the fact the ozone layer has miraculously repaired itself. Oh, and during the battle MacLeod screams for his old mentor Ramirez to come to his aid, and he miraculously reappears in Scotland, where he was originally dispatched (how is that helpful?)
Ramirez eventually makes his way to MacLeod and teams up with him to take down the Shield. General Katana decides to deal with MacLeod himself and transports to earth causing general mayhem, proving a second rate wannabe in light of Clancy Brown’s brilliant performance as the Kurgen from the original.
As it tries to explain the Immortals as aliens, the script features loads of ridiculous expository dialogue resolving the two concepts, and thereby ruining the mystique of the original. Ironside (usually a dependable heavy) is wasted in an over-the-top performance that ruined him for me for many years. The conceit that the ozone layer could repair itself in 25 years is ludicrous, and there is very little of Mulcahy’s visual artistry on display here.
So what’s to defend? Five years later, Mulcahy was given the chance to recut the film. At the eleventh hour, Highlander II was taken away from him by the completion bond company, and slashed to bits. He never liked the alien subplot so with a bit of judicious cutting and overdubbing he removed it entirely. He reinstated nearly 20 minutes of footage to make the plot more coherent, and years later the effects were spruced up a bit making the film even more palatable.
In all my years of film fandom never have I seen a film reworked so entirely as this one (I don't count the Donner cut of Superman II), and from my perspective it works somewhat. However, let me emphasize that it should never have been made in the first place. It spawned a franchise that included three sequels and a very successful television series (and even an animated series!) Like suckers, we always went back hoping that a subsequent sequel would capture the original’s magic. The TV series was well done, but it also demystified the Immortals to a ridiculous degree.
If Highlander II was some kind of alternate adventure it would work much better. As a sequel, it fails miserably. Being a rabid fan of Sean Connery, I’ll watch him in anything, and he and Lambert have a nice rapport, but it doesn’t save the film. Lambert is also great as MacLeod. His performance is as enthusiastic as the original (except when he’s in the awful old age makeup).
For some reason, I’m oddly drawn to Highlander II, and the subsequent reworkings have improved upon the original disaster. A zero star film has gone to a two-star film. I enjoy the Stewart Copeland soundtrack very much (doesn’t hold a candle to Michael Kamen and Queen though), and the production design, while derivative of Blade Runner, is visually arresting.
I can still never forget how crushed I was when I first saw it. Fans of the original always felt they were part of an exclusive club, and when the sequel came out the rest of the world must’ve wondered what the hell was wrong with us!
I guess it’s true…there can be only one!
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