Big Worlds On Small Screens & “Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren’t That Bad” — Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Highlander”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
I’ve heard it said it’s difficult to be a fan of Highlander, and I believe the claim. The first film has since become a cult classic, but was followed by four sequels, two television series, a cartoon, an animated movie, a Japanese anime, ten original novels, and nineteen comic books – all of varying degrees of awfulness.
“There can be only one…”
Oh, and apparently a reboot is in the works. Some people just don’t know when to leave well enough alone.
But if we cast aside all that came after, what of the original Highlander, the movie that began it all? This is a great piece of entertainment, with an intriguing premise, fun characters, and elegant movement between past and present.
In 1985 a swordfight takes place in an underground carpark between two men. One is decapitated, the other arrested, and the surrounding cars completely destroyed by some mysterious force. As cold openings go, it’s pretty effective.
The story slips back in time to 1536, where a Scottish Highlander called Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is mortally wounded in his first battle. Although death seems inevitable, he recovers from his terrible injury in less than a day, much to the shock and fear of his village.
Believing him to be in league with the devil, they cast him out. It’s not until Connor finds love with a Scottish lass called Heather (Beatie Edney) that he attains some measure of peace, but fate finds him in the form of the Spanish Ramirez (Sean Connery) who has come to mentor him on his unique condition.
Connor under the guidance of Ramirez
Connor is one of only a handful of immortals that are engaged in a centuries-long competition called the Gathering. One by one, each immortal must battle the other, winning only when they decapitate their opponent and thereby absorb their strength. The final immortal left standing will be given a great but mysterious “gift”, and by the mid-eighties this last battle is drawing to its close. Well, you’ve heard the Queen lyrics:
There can be only one,
This rage that lasts a thousand years
Will soon be done,
This is a kind of magic.
Such a rich setup needs a worthy villain, and The Kurgan (Clancy Brown) is happy to oblige. This Russian immortal is from a bloodthirsty clan of warriors, and should he win the promised gift at the end of the Gathering, Ramirez fears that humanity will suffer forever under his rule.
Connor and The Kurgan in their final showdown
Highlander constantly moves between past and present, tracking Connor’s journey from the 1500s to the 1980s: his training, his battles, his misadventures, and his run-ins with The Kurgan. It’s not perfect: the present day love interest and police investigation feel a little superfluous (especially since the audience finds out Connor’s secrets long before they do) but Connor’s doomed love story with Heather is still immensely moving – worthy of even Aragorn and Arwen!
As Heather ages, Connor stays as young as ever
On re-watching Highlander for the first time in years, I was surprised by just how well it holds up over thirty years later – still exciting, still intriguing, still rewarding.
As for the rest of the franchise? Well, they should have taken the advice of this film’s tagline: “There can be only one.”
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Next Time:
In one of the least-festive Christmas movies of all time, a well-meaning father brings home an unusual gift for his son. An exotic pet that comes with three strict rules: keep it out of direct light, don’t get it wet, and whatever you do – don’t feed it after midnight.
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About The Reviewer:
Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.
To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:
Big Worlds On Small Screens
Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Fan Writer, for writing that included Big Worlds On Small Screens.
Despite the hilarious inconsistencies in the Spanish accent of Scottish Connery and Scottish accent of the French Lambert (or maybe because of them) Highlander transcends its camp to take on a kind of ethereal awesomeness. It’s full of bizarre, unexplained things that are really there because the scene set up is more important than the logic. Why is the castle Heather and Connor live in unoccupied by others? (Because a lonely ruined castle looks cool, especially with lightning). Can you really hide a big sword effectively in a trench coat? (No but it looks cool when you pull it out). It’s like a fantasy novel where the window dressing of the world has become much more important than the plot or the characters but the result is still kind of great.
I was surprised by how well it held up, and I didn’t really mind that so many of the rules surrounding the immortals weren’t really explained (and were obviously just created for plot-purposes). In which case, I can understand why “they” keep trying to play with the franchise, even though most efforts have ended in failure.
I loved the first movie, and enjoyed the TV series very much.
There is just the one movie, and maybe the TV series. There was certainly no sequel set in a dystopian future.