Sean Connery plays a Scottish Spaniard and Christopher Lambert a French sounding Scot in cult classic Highlander |
Our hero is Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) who takes
part in a lethal sword fight in the car park of Madison Square Gardens in 1985.
Turns our Connor was born in the early 1500s, part of a Scottish tribe and was
slain by immortal warrior The Kurgan (Clancy Brown). Discovering to his
amazement – and his tribe’s horror – that he makes a full recovery from a
mortal wound, MacLeod was exiled. He is found and mentored by Ramirez (Sean
Connery) who informs him that they are both immortals, destined to join all
other immortals in a competition from which there can be only one survivor. The
competition will culminate in “The Gathering”, with the winner being given “The
Prize”, a mystic power. Turns out 1985’s New York is the scene of the Gathering
– and MacLeod and the Kurgan are destined to be the last men standing in the competition.
Perhaps the big thing that makes Highlander such a
success is it becomes clear that everyone involved in it seemed to have a whale
of a time. Queen were commissioned to write one song for the film: they wrote an
album. Mulcahy, Lambert and other members of the cast and crew chipped in their
own money to film extra scenes between MacLeod and his adopted daughter. Connery
was at his jovial best on the five days he spent filming (Ramirez was to be the
only character other than Bond he played twice, in the terrible sequel). All
this investment off-camera pays-off in a film frequently rough and ready but also
intriguing and enjoyable.
Sure, it’s no masterpiece. It’s very much of its time, with
a distinctive 80s vibe and in many ways only scratches the surface of its
potential: I’d have loved to see more of MacLeod during the ages, and other
Immortals he had interacted with. (We get a confrontation in World War II and a
comic duel in Georgian England, where MacLeod repeatedly survives deadly sword
thrusts). Our nemesis, the Kurgan, is a frequently overblown and ridiculous
character (for all the energy Clancy Brown plays him with) who isn’t quite
interesting enough. Lambert is a slightly wooden performer (he learned English
for the role – learning it with a Scottish accent was a tough task). Many of
the sword fights (with the exception of the final duel) are high-school-play in
their hack-and-slash simplicity.
But it doesn’t really matter too much, because Mulcahy
shoots the hell out of the picture. Working with a tiny budget, he still
manages to give every scene something distinctive to see and an edge in its
delivery. The film frequently punches above its weight in its set pieces and with
the surprisingly gritty action. Mulcahy has a great eye for the seedy underbelly
of New York, just as he does for the Highlands of Scotland. He also handles the
romance surprisingly well – both MacLeod’s wife in 16th century
Scotland and his love interest in modern New York (including a surprisingly
tender love scene) are engaging and complement each other (no mean trick).
Also, the idea is absolute solid gold, and for all that it’s
sometimes buried in a cheesy 80s Euro-actioner, Mulcahy still gives the entire
thing a sort of mystic force. The tragedy of someone living centuries –
watching everyone they love grow old and die around them – is very affectingly
done. The different personalities and backgrounds of the immortals are striking
and the hints dropped about their involvement in past events intriguing. The
concept of immortals growing stronger from beheading other immortals is intriguing
and adds a fascinating subtext to every conversation between two of them. The
Game itself has an ancient-legend sort of strength, the entire film’s concept
having all the revisitable interest of a popular children’s story or a classic
slice of mythology.
It looks handsome, and while the actual plot is often predictable
and straight-forward, the richness of the backstories and the history carries
real impact. Connery is great in a neat cameo – one of his first “mentor” roles
(he’s only in it for about 15 minutes, but lifts the entire enterprise with his
charisma). The Queen soundtrack is a knockout. Sure, some moments – such as
Lambert all too obviously lifted on wires – look as cheap as they probably
were, but the entire film is made with a burst of energy and a feeling of
enjoyment and love that you have to have a hard heart not to care for it a
little bit.
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