Highlander: Endgame

Unfortunately the "Highlander" concept has been heavily tainted by multiple visions from a variety of people and a constant push from the money men to milk it for all it's worth. Each individual addition thus far, while reasonable in isolation managed to damage the overall reputation of this franchise and directly damage the quality of the original classic movie when the whole thing is considered together.

Now what they have done with this fourth movie is created something that can't even stand in isolation and when put together with everything else tears it all to pieces, spits on it and throws it in the bin, just for the sake of giving this particular piece some feeling of importance.

One of my biggest pet peeves with movie sequels is when the writers of the latest piece decide to essentially re-write the whole thing and ignore where others have taken us up until this point. For better or worse, we have been taken to a point and it is just arrogance to assume you can re-write it all better then those that have gone before, while it shows limited skill to not be able to work inside that framework. There are many ways they could have made a tie in between the TV series and all the movies work, but they chose to make this a partial reboot instead.

The Critical mistake they made was to belittle the original film. No franchise should dismiss the reason that it is a franchise. Although it would still annoy me, they could have gotten away with the partial reboot, if they had just ignored the 2nd and 3rd movie. They even would have gotten away with not fully following on from the series. But they couldn't resist messing with the original to the point that they almost totally dismissed the events of film as meaningless and so it's no surprise that this has scored the low rating it has here on the IMDb.

I watched the whole of the series as well as all the films and this movie fails to adequately fit in with any of it. One day I hope movie makers will learn that you either need to do a full reboot or get people capable of working with what they already have. Don't just let the new guys mess up everyone that went before them.

This is my favorite Highlander film since the original. Face it. Christopher Lambert is getting to old to play an immortal. And Duncan. Well I like the series. But I like the movies as well. The fighting in this movie was better choreographed than the previous films. I give the movie a 7/10. I think Highlander films have reached there end. If not. I hope the producers pull something out of a hat and have Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert come back. Maybe after Duncan wins the prize?

Overall, this was not a bad flick. It's not quite as good as the first one, but is much better than the second. I'd have given it a higher rating than I did if they'd just left out the high speed kung fu stuff - it's too much like all the cheap Bruce Li rip off movies. Anyway, the story in this one is good and it tidies up everything rather nicely at the end. They do leave one thread hanging but I don't think that was to provide the backdrop for another film. I think this one's the last Highlander film - at least I hope so. I believe that the Highlander "thing" has gone about as far as it can. It would be difficult to come up with anything original for another film. Again, this film isn't bad at all and nearly makes up for the poor middle of this series. The tie-in between the film McLeod and the TV McLeod was handled very well, I thought. I really liked the first film and I like this one pretty well also.

I have seen all the movies, and every episode of the acclaimed series. I saw it at the theater and have it on DVD. They were able to blend both the series and the movies together pretty well. The ending on the DVD is better than the theater ending. Though I felt they could have went into a bit more detail. A few important scenes were cut, buy or rent the DVD and you'll see what I'm talking about. The plot and story line are well put together, it made me think and question life in general.

Adrian Pual really shines and gets to show his skill. He is a great martial artist and does help with setting up the fight scenes. Donnie Yen is awesome and is a good match for Adrian. Chris Lambert does a good job, he is the original Highlander. You can see his age showing through, like the rest of us he is only mortal, it happens.

If you are a fan of the series you may be a little saddened with the small parts Methos and Joe(Peter Wingfield and Jim Byrnes) got. I would have liked to see Methos come to life, maybe even a fight scene with one of Kells' followers. Joe has some screen time, but more would have added that much more to the story.

All in all, I love this movie. Even with its faults, hey were only mortals!

My apologies for the awful joke above, but I do feel it was a just one in this case. Especially as this film is very much a bad joke. A poor and disjointed effort. A foul punch-line.

"Highlander" is a superb and woefully underrated fantasy adventure released in 1986. A high-concept swashbuckler, the film followed the notion that throughout history, a race of immortals have slowly risen- their everlasting life often the result of a traumatic original "death." Now undying, these figures have lived among us for centuries. But it comes at a cost- immortals are destined to eternal battle, only able to be killed through decapitation. Once one is slayed, their powers, memories and abilities are absorbed by the victor through a mysterious transfer known as "the quickening." In the end, there can be only one, and the last remaining immortal will be bestowed with "the gift"- an enigmatic ability that goes largely unexplained throughout the series. However, should the gift be bestowed upon one with a treacherous heart, it may very well spell a dark future for the world...

Part of the issue with the "Highlander" universe is that by virtue of the story, it's not a concept that supports the idea of a franchise. It's a one-off adventure. A self-contained tale with a distinct beginning and end. And through trying to endlessly sequalize the franchise with follow- ups, spin-offs and even animated series, it leads to an ever-growing level of contrivance and convolution. And nowhere is that more apparent than in 2000's "Highlander: Endgame."

An attempt to close the gap between the outstanding original film and the admittedly fun television franchise, we follow original movie hero Connor (Christopher Lambert) and television series lead Duncan (Adrian Paul) MacLeod, two immortals born in the Scottish Highlands centuries ago. Connor has grown cold and disconnected, as an evil immortal from his past called Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne) has been following him through the ages, and has began killing off those he holds dearest. Duncan soon learns of this treacherous villain, and of another revelation- an immortal who was once his own wife (Lisa Barbuscia) is one Kell's most devout followers. And so, our two immortal protagonists must band together to try and stop this deadly threat... but at what cost?

To give what little credit is due, there is a bit of fun to be had from time to time. Adrian Paul seems to be having an absolute blast, and there's a handful of entertaining flashback sequences to his adventures with Connor throughout the ages. It is these scenes where Lambert also is able to loosen up, and the two share a nice chemistry. It's also great fun seeing Martial Arts superstar Donnie Yen in one of his earlier American roles as one of Kell's followers. And a few of the new concepts introduced, while half-baked, are intriguing enough for long-time series fans and help expand the universe a bit.

However, any fun to be had stops with these limited and highly infrequent sequences. The script courtesy Joel Soisson is a fundamental mess. As is standard with the film franchise, continuity is thrown right out the window, with the film constantly and consistently contradicting not only previous films, but even elements from the television series. Many scenes feel forced and abrupt, and there's no real sense of pacing to be had. It's both jarring and boring all at once, causing you to check out almost instantly and never look back.

Performances outside of Paul are routinely foul and never connect with the audience. While he is given the occasional light-hearted flashback, Lambert is otherwise settled with dreary material as a man hollow from his loses, and comes off as all too bland. A real shame given how powerful he was earlier in the franchise. Barbuscia is just flat as a pancake, lacking charisma or emotion in what is merely a substandard love interest. And Payne. My god, Payne. The man doesn't chew the scenery... he swallows it whole. Alternatingly shouting and whispering his lines on a whim and over-emphasizing words at random, Payne is just a horrible joy to behold. Seriously, dude. Ease up on the caffeine!

But at least the action is good, right? Nope! Director Doug Aarniokoski seems in over his head, with the entire film imploding around him. He has no sense of style or scope, and his direction lacks basic composition and flow. Shot after piled on shot are all just bland and often uninspired, relying on first-year film-student logic, with little thought or effort. Key moments in the film lack dramatic weight or impact as a result of the haphazard staging. And even the action comes off as boring, with an over-reliance on static wide shots mixed with hilariously misjudged uses of visual effects and slow-motion. I can only assume at least once, the camera crew was confusingly told: "Well if we put the one camera somewhere vaguely over on the one side of the room... and then put another one at the other end of the room facing the opposite direction and maybe with a different lens, we can kinda cut between them and make a scene, I think? That's how directing works, right?"

The really hilarious thing though is two rather amusing side-notes to the film. First, even though it's still a mess, the DVD release has an unfinished workprint available as a special feature, with the intent of showing the audience how much a movie can change during production. And the kicker? The workprint, even in its unfinished state is a significantly better film that the final version! And the second: even the trailer was incompetent, being comprised mostly of fake footage created specifically to sell the film without being in it!

If you have to use fake footage to get people into the theater, you know your film is a mess. And so, "Highlander: Endgame" gets a very bad 3 out of 10.