Highlander (1986) (minor spoilers/lots of photos)

[Argonaut]

imdb.com/title/tt0091203/

Way awesome original trailer. Gotta love those classic trailers!
youtube.com/watch?v=kq4SqgxIKM0





I've wanted to see this movie for quite a while. I already really like the music by Queen that features prominently throughout the movie. So just today I finally watched it.

So what can I say? Highlander rocks! I love this movie. I say this about a lot of movies, cuz...well, I'm a movie lover. Anyway, I though this was a great movie. It's a classic.


PLOT AND CASTING:

First off, Highlander has a great cast, the best of which include Christopher Lambert(Lord Rayden in Mortal Kombat), Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown. Christopher Lambert is Connor MacLeod, of the clan MacLeod. He is a highlander, and he is immortal. Connor eventually meets Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez(Connery), another immortal who becomes his mentor. Connor learns from Ramirez that there are other immortals, and that one day they will all be drawn to something called "The Quickening," where the last immortals will duke it out. The only way to kill an immortal is to take his head off. There can be only one. The winner of this ultimate showdown will receive something called "The Prize."


Well, as it turns out, most of the immortals are not all trying to kill each other. That task is left up to "The Kurgan," played to awesomely badass and hilarious levels by Clancy Brown. This roving nightmare of a man is pure joy to watch. The Kurgans were once a sadistic race of people that liked to toss children into pits with dogs to fight for food. The Kurgan is a pure fucking evil immortal badass. Ramirez warns Connor that if he gets the prize, it will mean hell for humanity.


So Connor passes the lonely centuries by, seeing loved ones dying before him. He knows he can't get close to anyone because they will just die of old age. Finally in New York, 1986, the immortals begin to feel the quickening. Let the fun begin.


FINAL THOUGHTS AND RATING:

As I watched Highlander, I kept saying to myself, "They damn sure don't make 'em like they used to." Seriously, this movie rocks, and you'd never see a movie like this made today. It's a sweeping, epic, romantic movie. It's also very badass. This is a movie about really manly men getting into awesome climactic fights. If this movie were made today, it would just have the action and sacrifice the heart and soul of the movie. This movie was made in an age of a different attitude. It's got such a soul to it. Connor MacLeod's character is very well developed, and you empathize with his lonely life. Highlander is such a well-balanced film. It pulls off awesome action, moments of dark fear, humor, romance, and drama.

Highlander is a classic. I only wish I'd seen it sooner. As an example of how awesome this movie was, and how awesome the band Queen was, check out this video. It's pretty much my favorite music video ever, and Queen is such an awesome band. God, I love the 80's. I can't ignore Michael Kamen's great score, though. It's excellent and compliments the movie well.

youtube.com/watch?v=cowJVBnMEqE


This is another Queen/Highlander music video that shows that Highlander also has a very different side to it. Such a great song.

youtube.com/watch?v=UymJaMOEpAs


I give Highlander 5/5 stars. Sure, may be a bit high, but personally I see nothing wrong with this movie. As I keep saying, it's a classic. Some of the sequels are supposed to suck, but the tv show with Duncan Macleod was pretty popular. I may not enjoy any of those, but I'll always have the phenomenal original. Highlander is a perfect example of what is missing in today's movies.

Highlander is now one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend it if you are interested in that genre or style of film. I guess if I had to sum it up in one word, I'd call it "beautiful."

[Cobra]

Awesome review I have to download this and give it a good watch. A few questions. From the screenshots, Is this black and white or color? and What time period is this set in? Present (when it was released) or several hundred years ago?

[Argonaut]

Yep, it's in color. I guess my pictures were a bit varied.

Connor is born in like 1530-something, but the story mostly takes place in 1986, New York. It flashes back between present day, hundreds of years ago, and sometime during WWII, since he's alive all that time of course.

[Cobra]

Just downloaded it and watched it, great movie! for some reason its hard for me to write a review on it. I would have to give it a 4.5/5 why the .5 missing you ask?! well I felt the movie only being like 1hour 50 minutes long seemed like 3 hours. It stretched way to long. Now in some movies this is ok like napoleon dynamite for example but not in a movie like this. All in all though a great old school film and as Argonaut as stated truly a classic! a must watch

[Argonaut]

Yeah the director's cut is even longer. Or maybe that's the one you watched, who knows. I'm ok with it being long, but that's the great thing about movies. Everybody sees them differently.

[Cobra]

Well some movies (ones that are around 2 - 2 1/2 hours long I sometimes wish they where longer!) but this one for some reason It just seemed to long I really don't understand why though, It was a great movie!