New Highlander movie

[Ranger REG]

I don't understand folks reluctance to even admit the existance of Highlander 2. I mean, yeah, it was a bad movie, but so are a lot of movies. For that matter, the original Highlander wasn't all that hot either.

Actually, the original Highlander film is pretty good for a cult film made in the 80's. The second film just bombed, because I have never thought of the Immortals as alien species. So when they put a sci-fi spin on what I thought was a modern mythical story, it just did not mesh.

I have not seen the Renegade version of H2 but I hear they remove any content about a certain planet Zeist.

 

[Felon]

Helll, Highlander II doesn't even make sense on its own, much less in relation to the other sequels. In the first movie, we see that Connor has a family he's lived with his entire life, but in II, he's supposed to be some kind of exiled alien with amnesia?

Suffice to say, the original stood better on its own. From the movie, I got the impression that immortals were distinct from each other, perhaps each representing his culture's warrior caste. They were few and elite. I thought it got to be pretty outrageous that in the TV series we find that immortals aren't all that rare, that there were thousands upon thousands of immortal--mostly evi as all get outl--walking around waiting to be introduced.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

The general plot seemed to revolve around a group of four immortals who are cooperatively seeking the source of their immortality (ala the fountain of youth) and the reason for the Game itself. As I understood it, the time period was supposed to be Middle Ages and not modern, so it would exist outside of all Highlander events with the exception of the presence of Methos.

That doesn't sound that bad...

I'm still scared though...

 

[Desdichado]

Actually, the original Highlander film is pretty good for a cult film made in the 80's.

No, it's a profoundly silly movie, and not really that great.

The second film just bombed, because I have never thought of the Immortals as alien species. So when they put a sci-fi spin on what I thought was a modern mythical story, it just did not mesh.

It bombed because of what you thought?

 

[Orius]

Suffice to say, the original stood better on its own. From the movie, I got the impression that immortals were distinct from each other, perhaps each representing his culture's warrior caste. They were few and elite. I thought it got to be pretty outrageous that in the TV series we find that immortals aren't all that rare, that there were thousands upon thousands of immortal--mostly evi as all get outl--walking around waiting to be introduced.

I'd say that's a necessity of a television series. If all there was to Highlander was the first movie, then certainly the Immortals could be very rare. However, since the TV show existed on a weekly basis, and had 6 seasons, Immortals are going to appear much more frequently. Also, there might be many people out there in the world that are potential Immortals, but never become one; in the TV series, it was mentioned that someone who was potentially Immortal only became Immortal upon a violent death, otherwise that person would just normally age and presumably die. I also wouldn't classify them as mostly evil, sure we got the evil bad guy of the week a lot in the TV show so that Duncan would have someone to fight. But there were plenty of Immortals who weren't evil, and were perfectly happy to live indefinitely without going around causing all sorts of destruction and mayhem.

 

[Ranger REG]

No, it's a profoundly silly movie, and not really that great.

I beg to differ.

It bombed because of what you thought?

Yeah, for Highlander fans.

 

[Felon]

I'd say that's a necessity of a television series. If all there was to Highlander was the first movie, then certainly the Immortals could be very rare. However, since the TV show existed on a weekly basis, and had 6 seasons, Immortals are going to appear much more frequently. Also, there might be many people out there in the world that are potential Immortals, but never become one; in the TV series, it was mentioned that someone who was potentially Immortal only became Immortal upon a violent death, otherwise that person would just normally age and presumably die. I also wouldn't classify them as mostly evil, sure we got the evil bad guy of the week a lot in the TV show so that Duncan would have someone to fight. .

LOL, you did a nice job of summing up what I really didn't like about the series. It was very unambitious. Rather than sit down and develop an ongoing storyline with a finite pool of interesting immortals engaging in a complex, age-old, internecine endgame, HtS was a "villain-of-the-week" show, with repetitive, formulaic plots.

MacLeod isn't a proactive good guy, so every story has him falling ass-backwards into some evil immortal's scheme and then deciding to get involved. Two basic plots that repeated themselves over and over year after year with little variation. The first is based on a triangular relationship where two of Mac's friend are at odds and he tries to intervene to no avail. The other is a similar triangle, but it's Mac trying to go after the VotW, with the complication that one of Mac's friends is friends with the villain and tries to intervene. And when the writers are really lax there's the old-foe-shows-up-and-kidnaps-friend bit.

But no matter what the plot, the obligatory sparky swordfight must start at the 49-minute mark every week on cue. I guess to a lot of fans, that's all the concept really amounts to, but IMO that kind of Dukes-of-Hazard predictability means that if you've watched one episode you've watched them all. Given that series was on forever it really didn't take the basic premise very far.

EDIT--Corrected the spelling of the character's name to appease the detail-oriented.

 

[Desdichado]

Just as an aside, his name is MacLeod, not McCloud.

 

[Desdichado]

I beg to differ.

I thought you might.

 

[Felon]

Just as an aside, his name is MacLeod, not McCloud.

What's in a name?

Oh right...letters.