There Should Have Been Only One: Day #315 - Highlander (1986)
Viewed November 11, 2006
So here’s another one. I’d never seen Highlander before I watched it for the project. I know. I know. It’s an all-time cult classic, so why hadn’t I seen it? To be honest, I missed it the first time around (who didn’t?) and by the time I was really cognizant of the series, it was up to three films and a TV series. I kind of held off, intending to do a deeper study of the astounding number of sequels, midquels, sidequests and alternate versions that the series has produced. (I may do this as part of next year’s work.)
But then I got ahold of the “Immortal Edition” of the film, notable for its focus on the music produced for Highlander by the rock band Queen (I’m a fan), so I finally checked this one off the list.
Overall, I have to say I wasn’t really impressed. I guess with all the buildup over the years I somehow expected more than what is, ultimately, a standard-issue sword and sorcery tale. It is only by spreading the story out over many centuries that Highlander sets itself apart. Otherwise, it’s a “good guys fight bad guys” story, just like thousands of other stories out there.
For a film with such a complicated backstory, far too much is left unexplained. The nature of the prize that Christopher Lambert’s Connor MacLeod is chasing is never made clear enough for me. It occurs so late in the game that I never got a sense of exactly what it would mean. Another question left unanswered concerns the nature of new Immortals. When Connor is born, he is a new Immortal. But if they are all moving towards there being “only one”, what happens if a new Immortal is born after the fact?
Still, I must hand it to the filmmakers for getting the feel of the historical aspects of the film right. The sequences that take place in ancient Scotland certainly seem like ancient Scotland. (Although having a man named Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, who was born in Egypt, speak with a Scottish accent doesn’t ring quite as true.)
And speaking of Sean Connery (who plays the aforementioned multi-national), he seems to be having fun with the part, but there’s really nothing to it. He does some typical mentoring, cracks the occasional witty joke, but ultimately is nothing more than a convenient source of plot exposition, used to explain to the audience (and Connor) the situation for the Immortals.
The rest of the cast is forgettable (although I was amused to see Alan North playing a cop and looking for all the world like his character from Police Squad) with the exception of Clancy Brown as the villain of the piece, Victor Kruger. He is so over-the-top that every time he comes on screen, he stretches my suspension of disbelief a little further. I understand the need to make him truly evil, but I think a little subtlety was in order. Perhaps some sort of plan beyond just gaining “the prize”. I don’t know. It just needed something.
In the end, Highlander is still entertaining. The action is mostly well choreographed and the filmmakers succeed in making Connor MacLeod a sympathetic character. The finality of the conclusion of the film makes me wonder how all those sequels fit in, but that’s not a knock I can charge against the original film. As it stands, it’s a decent actioner. I just can’t see why it’s generated so much devotion with so little original content on offer.