My boyfriend insisted that I watch "Highlander". If it hadn't been for that, I'm not sure if I would have watched this movie or not. I had known about the story behind it, since he had already explained it to me, and because I had caught a couple of episodes of the television series. I thought that the story was really great. So I decided to give in to him and give this movie a go.
The best part of "Highlander" is the actual story behind it. This film has succeeded in creating a modern-day myth. At one point in the movie, I had to ask my boyfriend if the immortals really were legendary. I was surprised to find out that they were created for this film.
The story goes something like this: immortals exist on Earth. No one knows why these people have this power. At some point or another during their lives, when they die, they are brought back to life and can never die again. Unless they have their heads chopped off by the sword of another immortal, who gains their victim's powers. In the end "there can be only one", and that winner gets 'the prize' which is acquiring all of the knowledge in the universe.
An extremely interesting idea. It's mind boggling to think of what life would be like for these immortals, having to watch their loved ones die, adjusting to life through the centuries as it changes, and adapting to these changes. This is the best part of the movie by far.
If you like sword fighting, then you'll probably like this movie. The fights are fairly impressive.
It's too bad that this film was made in 1985. The film quality isn't all that great. It's grainy, the editing is choppy in parts, and the special effects are horrible by today's standards. This is part of the reason why I found it hard to really enjoy the movie. I'm used to watching today's films and their excellent quality. If this movie would have been made today, I'm sure that it would have been much better. But this is no reason to dislike a movie at all.
The characters are played by the actors decently. My complaint about MacLeod (the main character, immortal, and final winner of the prize) is that his character is relatively undeveloped. At the end of the movie, I didn't really know all that much about his personality, except that he loved his first wife who died in the middle ages. I think that the main character should be well developed in any movie, and this was its major downfall. The villian of this movie, Krueger (the other immortal who loses the main battle to MacLeod) is portrayed as a really nasty guy. Right from the get-go we know he's evil: he's completely clad in black, with skull-like armour and riding a black horse. His army is waving black flags, and talks like he's got emphazima. I felt as if his evil personality was really emphasized way too much, even though it does get the message across loud and clear. All other characters where relatively unimportant, in my eyes, and therefore they weren't all that well developed at all.
At approximately 2 hours long, the movie does seem to drag on a little bit during some parts for me. I felt like I could have fell asleep. My determination to stay awake, though, paid off. The final battle was rather impressive, despite the poor special effects.
This movie is for adults only due to graphic violence and a couple of sex scenes. I would recommend it to anyone who thinks that the idea of the immortals sounds like a pretty interesting one, to those who love sword fighting, and anyone who may enjoy an action/fantasy movie.
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