Highlander 2

I watched this again last night. Wanted to give it another go as the last time I watched it was many, many years ago. I know DS hates it and while I wouldn't go that far it's still not a great movie by a long way. I do want to watch the Renegade version, which plays around the running order and does away with the aliens (in that version the Zeist bits are tagged as being from Earth but an advanced civilisation eons before).

Now I don't have a problem with them being reimagined as aliens. Or the magic Ramirez uses. Or even the shield (though more on that later). It's the way they rush everything. Plot is delivered in soundbites when a little bit of thought might have worked it together better. For example:

1) Why did Mac know Ram in the first film? Like I said, I don't mind them being aliens. But you simply say that after being sent to Earth the immortals are reborn here. They age until they are killed, just like it said in the first film. By doing that they don't remember their alien past. They are born here (also helping to explain how Connor grows up with the clan) so think they are human. After their first death they regain their powers. This also includes them slowly understanding their powers (Ram has had much longer to get to know his).

2) If they are rebels that makes Kurgan one too. Not in my idea! The rebels are found guilty and become criminals. In the Zeist society they have a game. They send the criminals back as above with the prize being that one of them gets to return to Zeist (or live out their days as a mortal.

3) Too many villians. The whole shield bit is pointless. Keep Katana as the overlord and that the rebels were trying to overthrow him. You can still go with the idea that he fears Mac will come back and sends his goons, only for that to bring Mac back to fighting form. But the bits with the shield just clunk up the film and keep Ironside from getting to do more of what he does best - hammy villian! If the shield has to stay then have Katana trying to destroy it, putting the Earth in peril. To kill the the people that Mac is so fond of.

The list goes on. Of course, they could have just left it be. But if they did want to up the sci-fi element their were ways to do it without rushing it. These are just what I've thought up since last night!

Its been years upon years since I even saw the film, as I pretty much promised myself I wouldn't watch it again after a couple of viewings. I'm such a tremendous mark for the original movie that the sequels and spin-offs really annoy me.

I really didn't like the whole alien thing, and the concept of Ramirez and McLeod knowing each other beforehand. I think it weakened a lot of the messages in the original and lowered the value of the film.

As I've said to you before, I think if they wanted to do a sequel then the way to do it would have been to say the Kurrgan wasn't the last of the immortals. Whereas most of the the others had killed only when necessary, the Kurrgan was the oldest of the immortals, and had actively sought out every chance he could to take a head, as well as indulging in a fair bit of random killing when he got the chance. The release of energy in the Quickening when he died would have been far in excess of anything Mcleod would have felt before (remember, as more immortals died off, it would have been concentrated anyway, and the Kurgan had already absorbed Ramirez's energy as well). McLeod mistakes the Quickening for the Prize and believes himself to be mortal. However, when they have the car crash on the trip to Scotland, he finds out he isn't. The new big bad then comes to claim his prize by hunting him down.

However, I wouldn't have done a sequel at all.

Well they sort of did use that idea for 3, which ignores number 2 and goes with the idea tht Mac mistook the power of the Kurgan for the Prize. He faces off against an immortal that's been buried deep in the Earth. It didn't get great reviews but it keep the original idea.

Personally, I agree that it probably stands as a film that doesn't need a sequel. But my problem with them is more than once they'd decided to do one then they didn't even think most of it through. Just chucked ideas at the screen without more than a line or twos explanation here and there. If they had to do them then they could have done much better.

Ahh yes, Highlander 3. I'd sort of erased that from my memory. Wasn't that Mario Van Peebles as the villain that time?

Then you had the truly fucking abysmal Highlander:Endgame (Featuring Edge) which attempted to gel the original story into the TV spin-off (Don't get me started on where the hell Duncan was during the other movies!) I didn't even begin to understand what the hell was going on then!

That's the baby!!!

I don't think I've ever seen Endgame. I plan too, despite it's bad reviews, because I want to see them all. In total, I've come across four Macs...The first (chrono wise) is Colin Macleod, who was around during roman times and also lives through to the future. He's from the anime film. Then it's Connor, born in the 1500s. Then comes Duncan, around a 100 years after Connor. And then there's Quentin Macleod, from the far future, who takes up the mantle after Connor...

Where the hell were Colin and Duncan when Connor was lopping heads off in New York?

As I've said before, I'd have happily given you the copy of Endgame I had. Think I got about £1.25 for it from Music Magpie. That's about £1.15 more than it was worth (I'm allowing 10p for the case).

Cheers dude, I'll happily take it off your hands

Er, they had a note from their mum?

I said you COULD have had it off me. But the first time you told me you wanted to see it was AFTER I'd already sold it.

lol, i read it as that's what you'd paid for it! never mind, I'm sure evilbay has it on bargain.

They'd have to give money with it, for it to be a bargain. In fact, they'd have to put it in your DVD player for you, so you don't soil your hands with the piece of shit film.

I did take a look at Edge's bit on Youtube last night. That's one of the least convincing rocks he picks up, towards the end, that I've ever seen!

I'll probably add number 3 to Lovefilm and watch that first and then add Endgame the same way. We've had a couple of period dramas lately. But I think it's John Carter or Wrath of the Titans next. Neither one is a classic but I enjoyed them both the first time around.