Highlander II: The Quickening

Let's face it...."Highlander" was a masterpiece, and trying to top it would be...well...suicide. So naturally, "Highlander II" was going to be a disappointment. No one expected an "Empire Strikes Back."

"Highlander II" has the set up for a bad film. Despite terrific special effect, it is choppy, uneventful, and an insult to the viewer's intelligence. But in all due seriousness, THAT WAS THE POINT!

This film, in it's original, pre-Renegade edition form, was not meant to be taken seriously. It was just a campy, fun film designed to be a reunion of the characters from part one. If you watch it expecting something deep, you won't like it. But if you view it as it was intended to be viewed, as a light-hearted reunion of Lambert and Connery for ninety minutes of fun, than FUN is what you'll get. Consider it like an early experiment of something "Fifth Element" perfected: a campy but good sci-fi film.

With this in mind, give it a try.

Let's start with a quote that perfectly sums up the coherence of the plot: "Ok, let me just see if I can get this straight. You were mortal there, but you're immortal here until you kill all the guys from there who have come here and then you're mortal here. Unless you go back there or some more guys from there come here, in which case you become immortal here again."

When this film came out, it was awesome to me. I was eleven back then and it bought me with a dark atmosphere, strong cast, very good effects for its time, fast pace, entertaining action, and sexy Virginia Madsen. Now, I still liked all of that, and in addition, I enjoyed several examples of great camera and directing, as well as the very good soundtrack, but this time all of that was not enough to cover for one of the worst screenplays in the history of cinema.

"Highlander II: The Quickening" retains the actors and characters from the first film, while completely ignoring the original story. Not only that it is neither sequel nor a prequel, but the stories of these two films are mutually so contradictory that it is impossible to fit them in any way. Even if we completely ignore the previous film, this one is for itself full of holes and illogicality, and it is incredibly stupid. When it comes to story, in this movie every spot is a weak spot. Immortal's mythology doesn't work, quasi-science also doesn't work, and even romance, which is completely redundant, also doesn't work. I mean, they meet for the very first time and minutes after initial introduction they are attacked. He hides her into a garbage can, fights the attackers and kills them. Then she leaves the container and has sex with him against the wall in the middle of the street. Yea, right, very believable. How much this scenario stinks is best illustrated by Michael Ironside statement:

"Yeah, listen, I hated that script. We all did. Me, Sean, Chris... we all were in it for the money on this one. I mean, it read as if it had been written by a thirteen-year-old boy. But I'd never played a barbarian swordsman before, and this was my first big evil mastermind type. I figured if I was going to do this stupid movie, I might as well have fun, and go as far over the top as I possibly could. All that eye-rolling and foaming at the mouth was me deciding that if I was going to be in a piece of crap, like that movie, I was going to be the most memorable thing in it. And I think I succeeded."

For the nine days of work, Sean Connery received three and a half million dollars and donated the whole amount to charity. I suppose he was just trying to wash away the shame. However, apart from the story, everything else in this movie I liked pretty much, so I can not completely bury it with the rating. Audio-visually I would give it a strong seven, and maybe three for the story.

5/10

(I May Spoil some of the movie)Without a shout of a doubt, this is by far the worst sequel ever made for a movie. The first Highlander was a great film, it had a good story, good characters and plot that pretty much worked. Highlander II had some of the worst acting I have ever seen, really bad camera work, horrifying choreography in the fights scenes, a story that made absolutely no sense, cruddy special effects and overall, it was just a really bad movie. Though I am a fan of the first Highlander, it seemed to me that a sequel was not possible. Macleod had defeated the Kurgan and won the Prize. Now all of a sudden it's the future, and the immortals came from another world? I am fan of Michael Ironside but this was by far his worst acting job ever as he played the villain, Katana. What makes absolutely no sense to me is that in the first Highlander, the immortals didn't know why and where they came from. Now all of a sudden, Macleod remembers life on his homeworld of Zeist. The one thing that kept this movie up somewhat was Sean Connery's return. Now he died in the first Highlander, but they brought him back. And it really wasn't explained how he came back to life. This was by far the worst of the Highlander series, and the sequels later on disregarded this movie which I felt was a good idea.

All true Highlander fans will simply not acknowledge the existence of Highlander 2, wih good reason: Planet Zeist.

if you were to see part 2 and not the Original, it would be ok, cuz it would make sense in its own way. H1 and H2 are effectively unrelated films. But Highlander was quite an original story. H2, unfortunately, is a bit goofy and out of sync. Quite laughable in its own way.

If you want a good laugh, check it out. It's high cheese. If you're a Highlander purist, it DOESN'T EXIST. The intention was probably good, trying to show the aftermath of McCloud's mistakes after winning the original "tournament", but the premise is ruined by Planet Zeist, and Michael Ironside is just rehashing the Kurgen. He's a bit funnier in the villain role, but it doesn't save the movie from being silly

*** (4*'s) We all know the story. Here is a review.

THE QUICKENING: Best scene in this cut is the opening. The rest of the this film transitions very poorly. Some dialogue is silenced, but we still see their lips moving. The movie is entertaining, still, but doesn't make much sense. Connery's scenes are misplaced, he is almost forgotten, at times. Katana kills David Blake just moments after meeting him in this one. The ending is the most incompetant for the most part. Connor is wearing a prison jacket, then suddenly switches to a trench coat, holding a broad sword after just having a samurai sword. The closing scene is bad also.

RENEGADE VERSION: An excellent, totally revamped sci-fi cut of this often misconcepted sequel. This time, they are not aliens from Zeist. They are from the past, more like a different dimension. Character development is re-attached, plot holes are filled in, and we get a chance to see a blue sky at one point.

Overall opinions: Lambert's acting is at it's best. He seems to be really into his character in this movie. Ironside is a great villain. He chews the scenery, hams it up with comic book dialogue, and demonstrates some memorable killings (the subway holocaust, and the cabbie killing). Watch both versions, you'll find them interesting in comparison.