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Highlander

Highlander

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: KURGANITIS
Review: first of all let me say that the picture quality on the immortal edition far surpasses the quality of the republic pictures collectors edition. not to mention all the extras you already know about.
as far as the movie is concerned it is a classic.
when i had first seen this i had just read all the "CASCA THE IMMORTAL WARRIOR" books and thought this would just be a rip off.
but it turned out to be one of my favorite movies as well as the sequels 3 and 4....(i don't think there was ever a 2.....i refuse to acknowledge the existance)unfortunetly the television series far surpasses the original movie (as i own every episode of the six season show i can vouch for that )so that when i watch the original movie it does not have the same zing that it had the first 50 times(just kidding i've only seen this movie about 5 times)but the movie is light enough for repeated viewing as well as always entertaining..it will fit nice in any dvd collection.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Such a cool idea, done so poorly...
Review: The idea of a movie about a Highlander who is a member of a race of immortals that must swordfight through the ages until only one remains with a head on his shoulders is one of the coolest ever.

So why is _Highlander_ so bad?

Why do you cast Frenchman Christopher Lambert as your Scottish lead (or, for that matter, anything else)? Why do you cast Scottish Sean Connery as a Spaniard? Why do you cast one really attractive love interest, and one much less attractive one, and have the hero end up with the latter? Why do you use cheesy electronic sound effects instead of actually letting us hear the swords clashing? Why do you need a rock soundtrack for an epic that spans centuries (even if it is from my favorite band, Queen)? Why did "the Prize" have to be so lame? Why is there a professional wrestling scene? The list of bad choices goes on and on.

Once this series of movies finally dies out, someone needs to "reimagine" Highlander, one of the few movies I can think of that *should* be remade.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It could have been great, but....
Review: I love the premise of this film. I truly do. Random immortals are caught up in a game where they must kill each other by chopping each other's heads off, the last survivor proclaimed the winner. Later chapters with better attention paid to quality are excellent films and well worth a watch, but sadly, what should have been a great sci-fi film is an utter disaster in its execution.

First off, the casting. Great actors, but you really start to wonder what to do with their accents. You have a Frenchman playing a Scotsman, while the Scotsman plays a Spaniard, and it gets more muddled from there. Fortunately, the accents are completely mangled to the point where you can't distinguish them for most of the film, but I'll get to that later on.

Second, the soundtrack. You remember Flash Gordon, right? All Queen, all the time. Well, as if that wasn't bad enough, it's repeated for this film. Now I can handle a couple of Queen songs in a row, but I'm just not enough of a rabid fan to put up with it for an hour and a half without whimpering at yet another Queen song boring into my brain. Using one group for a rock-with-vocals soundtrack is something that should never be done unless you are making a film about that group, which will assure that only rabid fans are forced to sit through it.

Third, the direction. What is going on here? Cut scenes from past and present are sort of tossed together as if they were held in place only by duct tape, jarring the senses of the viewer. It's enough to give you a migraine.

Finally, the technical difficulties. The soundtrack is loud, the dialogue is hushed to the point of muffled whispers. Lambert has a soft voice to begin with, but with the sound so muted I missed half of what he said and had to rewind and try to read his lips. At least here is where the failure of the sound technician compensated for the misplaced accents. For half the movie you couldn't even hear the accents. The lighting technician apparently didn't show up for work, either, as half the battle scenes are so dark you can't really get an idea of what's going on, guided into belief that there's swordplay only by the sounds of crashing blades. Combine this with the director's poor choice of angles and even what is visible is of very little help in seeing any action.

It's sad that what on its face should have earned at least four stars was degraded by sloppy production to a waste of celluloid. Read a synopsis of Highlander and then watch the much better done sequels.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Swords and Scorcery
Review: For those who are new to the Highlander movies and series, this movie is a little hard to figure what the heck is going on in the beginning, other than that it's action packed and a great movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This DVD is another kind of magic!
Review: This is an excellent DVD. I think that the transfer quality to DVD could've been better. The extras are done in a wonderful manner! The Queen Videos make it hard to believe that Freddie Mercury has passed away.

My Favorite Extras:
The Queen Videos are wonderful. You get three videos, "Who Wants To Live Forever", "A Kind of Magic", and "Princes of the Universe".
The Queen still photos are from the videos are from photo shoots during the video.
There is an extra CD that you can play in your audio CD Player of "Princes of the Universe", "One Year of Love ~Extended Version~", and "A Kind of Magic".

Overall, this DVD is my favorite in my collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excellent Fantasy-Adventure. . . One Of The Best Ever!
Review: This is on my top three fantasy movies (the others being "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Lord of the Rings"). The story is very original (about a race of immortals living among us in secrecy), the acting great (especially that of Sean Connery, who absolutely steals the show as the immortal mentor Ramirez), and the sword fighting scenes (though they seem a bit dated) are exciting and well-choreographed. It also features an A+ musical score by Michael Kamen, with some great Queen songs added in.

The "Immortal Edition" DVD is fairly impressive. The sound and picture quality (especially picture) are kind of disappointing for something "digitally mastered in THX", but exceptional. The special features consist mainly of Queen music videos (infact, the second disc is nothing more than a CD with three Queen songs), but the talent bios are surprisingly long and interesting. But in the end, the coolest feature by far is the AWESOME metallic case it comes in. A must-but for any fantasy fan!

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: There can only be one... Christopher Lambert
Review: There can only be one. This is where the epic of the immortals begins, a legend that spans centuries with a power that transcends life itself. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery star in this classic film directed by Russell Mulcahy that defied convention to become a paragon of modern fantasy and has launched legions of loyal warrior fans worldwide. This is Highlander.

I had seen Highlander when I was young and couldn't remember much of it. I decided to buy the DVD because of its relatively cheap price and I have no regrets. I can't believe I had been passing up this movie for years for others movies to see/buy. Christopher Lambert does a great job as Connor MacLeod as he always does and so does Sean Connery with his character. Some have thought the flashbacks to the past were confusing but I had no problems with them and they all make sense.

The sword fighting in this movie is definately A-grade in this movie. The only fight that is really lacking is the first one in the movie, which according to the audio commentary was the first one they had filmed so the actors were still new.

The special effects, although not great by todays standards, do get the job done. Especially cool when both Kurgan is in the alleyway. I can't say I am much of a Queen fan but the soundtrack to this movie is great and fits right in. The movie itself gets a full 5 out of 5 stars and the DVD has some nice extras as well.

Overall : 5/5

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: not the original US theatrical release
Review: Hi, these are some additional comments with respect
to my last post regarding the dvd version of
'Highlander':

I did a little more research. It turns out that when
this movie was released, there were two versions, an
American version, and a European version. The American
version did not have the additional six minutes of
footage where the relationship between McLeod and Rachel
was explained.

Anyway, I watched it again, and still think the American
version was superior. In the American version, the
relationship between them is not explained, but it is
obvious that it is a platonic one. So you're left with
the impression that McLeod doesn't allow himself to fall
in love with anyone since the death of his Heather,..
until Brenda enters his life.

The American version, in my opinion, is better because
in the European version, if he is willing to adopt Rachel
as his daughter it kind of leaves a logic gap as to why he
wouldn't want another romantic relationship with someone
over the course of 500 years. Single parenthood, when one
is immortal, doesn't quite add up.

In the American version, you get the impression that
Rachel is in love with McLeod, but he simply doesn't
feel the same way towards her. You're never told
how come she knows he's immortal, but the fact that
she does, and that they still have this platonic thing
between them, makes it really cool, and makes the
growing love between him and Brenda even more

meaningful.

Yeah, I know, I'm splitting hairs, but I think the
American version was the more romantic one...Then again,
because this movie made such an impact on me when I
first saw it, maybe I'm just not comfortable with
another different version of it, even if it is the
'director's cut'. Given DVD technology, you would think
it would be possible to toggle between the US and
European version.

I really wish it was possible to order the American
version of this film on dvd, even though when it first
came out, it didn't do very well in theatres, stateside..
Which is probably the reason the American version isn't
available on dvd.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I wish I could rate it higher
Review: I really like this movie. I think it is a very beautifully shot, non-pretentious, interesting, and entertaining movie. So why do the powers that be insist on splicing in a scene that looks and is acted so badly it stands out like a sore thumb? It even has a jarring awful transition into the scene in a movie otherwise full of beautiful transitions.

If you don't know the story of this scene, here it is in brief. The Director and Producers decided not to shoot the scene where Conner meets Rachael, to save some money. During editing they changed their minds, and paid, out-of-pocket to set up and shoot that scene. They called back Christopher Lambert and got some child actor and quickly slapped the scene together. With the scene shot they went back to editing and spliced the footage in and decided it looked really bad and took it out again.

Fast forward to the release of the Directors-Cut and the only way to justify a Directors-Cut--by inserting this terrible footage. Now I can't get a DVD version without this awful scene.

If this scene had been done properly (as in budgeted for, and done when Lamberts regular make-up person was there (I keep asking myself if this is what a person looks like on film with no make-up, or just with really really bad make-up), and if Lambert had felt like acting that day ) this could have been a very beneficial scene for the movie--but as it stands it's not.

I give the original release of Highlander 5 stars. The current versions with all its "improvements" I can only give 2 stars.

All I wanted was a decent DVD transfer of the original movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect for Highlander and Queen Fans
Review: If you like the movie Highlander and Queen, then this re-release DVD is a dream come true for you.

Indeed, there has been a lot of improvements in the quality of the audio and video but not yet at par with Superbit quality.

If you like collectable DVDs, get the Immortal Edition. The tin case is so nice.

But if you just like the movie, settle for the cheaper 1-disc release.


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