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Things I Don't Understand About Highlander


S John

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So I watched Highlander last night, I probably hadn't seen it since the early 90's so it was almost like seeing it for the first time. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, but I'm left with some questions. I'm sure all this has been hashed out many times since 1986, but hey, why not?

First, a note on casting. Its a bit jarring that Sean Connery, an actual Scottish guy, is cast to play a Spanish / Egyptian guy while a dude with a vaguely French accent is cast to play the Scottish guy. Go figure!

Second - There can be only one! WHY? Why can there be only one?! And being that there can be only one - why doesn't Sean Connery chop Duncan MacLeod's fucking head off as soon as he meets him? I mean, ultimately, it could come down to the two of them, right? So why train him to be good at fighting? Why not just eliminate the rival? Seems to me that The Kurgan has the right idea. I mean, he's a total jerk about it, but ultimately the result will be the same, no? The immortals kill each other off until one claims the prize? I just don't understand.

Now, about this prize - The prize is a combination of becoming mortal / basically becoming omnipotent?

1) How fucking dare you question The Highlander? Fucking communist!

2) How dare you question the roles Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert chose to play? They are the 2 greatest actors of our time, and you are not.

3) CONNOR MacLeod! CONNOR! Duncan is an alright kind of guy, but he's no Connor.

4) How dare you question the motives of Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez? He was born nearly 1000 years before Jebus, and you think you know better than him?

5) The Prize allows Connor to be awesome. How he will use the prize is a mystery, as the producers wisely left it up to our imaginations. I mean how disappointing would it be had they made a sequel where Connor uses the prize to create an electromagnetic field to protect the planet from the sun, and also we find out that immortals are really just aliens, and also Ramirez comes back to life? That would have sucked.

Connery playing a foreigner is fairly common - as far as I know he's never played a Scottish character in his entire film career. Of course, this never stopped him using pretty much the same accent for every film.

I'm pretty sure James Bond is Scottish.

Team Kurgan!

Team Kastagir!

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5) The Prize allows Connor to be awesome. How he will use the prize is a mystery, as the producers wisely left it up to our imaginations. I mean how disappointing would it be had they made a sequel where Connor uses the prize to create an electromagnetic field to protect the planet from the sun, and also we find out that immortals are really just aliens, and also Ramirez comes back to life? That would have sucked.

Come on man, now you're just being ridiculous!

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I did just see this recently too...one of the things that I always wonder about is why, after Connor is gutted that first time, when Kate says he's in league with Lucifer does everyone just automatically assume she is right? she was booted out so that the last thing he hears isn't the wailing of a woman, and now she's the expert and everyone is listening to just her? How come it couldn't have been a blessing? Or maybe he pee'd his kilt too much and was really dehydrated.

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I too rewatched Highlander not that long ago (preparing my summer trip to Scotland) and I agree that is one of the movies that do not age well. The acting is top notch, the scenery is wonderful, the effects are good for the time, and of course de OST is the best ever. But the script is not up to the par, IMHO.

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Why the fuck are we thinking about highlander?

Also didn't the whole contest thing drag the immortals together? Wasn't that why the token black immortal guy shows up in NYC?

Basically when the number of immortals dwindles to "the few" they feel a call to the Gathering, where they play hours of hours of Magic with the card decks they accumulated over the centuries and millenia.
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Hugh Quarshie. Great name, great actor. This movie probably did for his career what "Xanadu" did for....that guy in Xanadu (not Gene Kelly, the other one).

He seems to be doing quite well in TV these days, according to IMDB.

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The Highlander is actually fine vehicle produced by Toyota. There's really nothing to figure out. It's got decent room for a mid-size crossover SUV that gives you the room of a 4Runner and the handling of a Camry. Sure, it's not immortal, but the only sequel it is set to produce is a hybrid version in 2012. Also, there apparently are no restrictions on how many can be operating at the same time, so "There Can Actually Be Plenty Of Them."

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I always loved the Highlander movie. Heck I even enjoyed the tv show when I watched it. The issue for me is that it was a great idea that really didn't go anywhere. They were never able to happily explain why these people were like that and why they were fighting.

Overall though, kick ass concept, who wouldn't want to live forever and sword fight throughout history?

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Couple of things.

Why bother trying to kill each other, why not team up and take over the world. Spend internity as total overlords of planet earth.

Secondly, you must have noticed how as you get older time seems to speed up. Now imagine being 3000 yrs old, a year would feel like a day. So the big prize is getting to live a normal lifespan, bit of an anti-climax if it only feels like 3 days.

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I did just see this recently too...one of the things that I always wonder about is why, after Connor is gutted that first time, when Kate says he's in league with Lucifer does everyone just automatically assume she is right? she was booted out so that the last thing he hears isn't the wailing of a woman, and now she's the expert and everyone is listening to just her? How come it couldn't have been a blessing? Or maybe he pee'd his kilt too much and was really dehydrated.

I don't think ancient scottish highlanders were known for their lack of superstition.

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