{"id":6727,"date":"2024-10-25T10:18:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6727"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:18:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:18:01","slug":"highlander-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/highlander-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlander 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Highlander 2<\/strong> (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 InterStar\/Fantasy-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, some sexuality, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Russell Mulcahy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Bellwood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Stewart Copeland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Phil Meheux\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 1, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher Lambert, Virginia Madsen, Michael Ironside, Sean Connery, John C. McGinley, Allan Rich, Phil Brock, Rusty Schwimmer, Ed Trucco, Stephen Grives, Jimmy Murray.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $15.5M (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 AKA: Highlander II: The Quickening<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

NOTE TO READERS: This is a review of the 2004 version of Highlander 2<\/strong> commonly referred to as the \u201cRenegade Version\u201d. It is approximately 19 minutes longer than the original 1991 US theatrical release. Scenes are added, moved or removed for the sake of continuity. The main difference is the removal of all references to the planet Zeist and the notion that immortals are alien beings. It\u2019s still a bad movie, but at least now it makes a little more sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a fan of the original Highlander, I stood beside fellow devotees in their contempt for Highlander 2<\/strong>. When it was revealed that immortals are alien beings from a fictional planet called Zeist, I felt betrayed. It\u2019s a great big middle finger to the original movie and its fans. It\u2019s dumb. The first movie works so well because it doesn\u2019t try to explain their origin. Some people are just born immortal, that\u2019s it. It\u2019s one of life\u2019s mysteries. Why not leave it at that?<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the newer version of Highlander 2<\/strong>, immortals are inhabitants of an ancient society that punishes traitors by sending them to various points in the future where they will ultimately fight each other until only one remains. That individual has the option of returning to his own time to live as an immortal or staying in the future where he will grow old and die. That\u2019s the dilemma faced by Connor MacLeod (Lambert, Greystoke) in 2024. Now old and mortal, he hasn\u2019t yet decided whether or not he will return to his own society in the distant past. He and his friend Ramirez (Connery, The Untouchables) were exiled for leading a failed rebellion against tyrannical ruler Katana (Ironside, Total Recall). Worried that McLeod might return to finish what he started, Katana sends a couple of alien assassins to kill him. They fail, but MacLeod becomes young once again as a result of absorbing their energy after he beheads them. Remarking that old adage about wanting something done right, Katana transports himself to \u201924 to deal with McLeod personally.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What\u2019s life like in 2024 according to Highlander 2<\/strong>? It\u2019s a waking nightmare. The entire planet lives under \u201cThe Shield\u201d, an electromagnetic covering designed to protect Earth\u2019s inhabitants from solar radiation made deadly after the depletion of the ozone layer circa \u201994. MacLeod helped create it. It went up in \u201999 and life hasn\u2019t been the same since. It\u2019s always dark. It\u2019s always extremely hot and humid. Crime is rampant. People are miserable. An environmental terrorist group called COBALT is trying to take down the Shield and the corporation that owns and operates it. The leader Louise Marcus (Madsen, Dune) makes a shocking discovery while raiding their New York facility. Somehow, the ozone layer has repaired itself, a fact The Shield Company tries to conceal as it will render their services unnecessary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Yes, MacLeod and Marcus team up to disable the Shield. That\u2019s a given. They also \u201chook up\u201d within minutes of meeting each other for the first time. I\u2019m guessing he hasn\u2019t been laid since his wife Brenda died along with thousands of others of solar radiation poisoning in \u201994. That\u2019s 30 years of pent-up sexual energy. It\u2019s just one of many nutty things in Highlander 2<\/strong>. Here\u2019s another. Ramirez returns to help MacLeod fight the good fight despite being killed in the 16th<\/sup> century in the first movie. How can that be? It\u2019s easy. Ramirez is a sorcerer who uses his magic to create a magical bond between them that supersedes death. All MacLeod has to do is call out his name and he\u2019ll come. MacLeod calls and Ramirez comes. He appears in modern-day Scotland where he interrupts a production of Hamlet, buys a new suit and takes a plane to NYC. How does he know where MacLeod is? I guess it\u2019s a \u201ckind of magic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s no two ways about it. Highlander 2<\/strong> is completely ludicrous. The plot is incomprehensible. The special effects are cheesy. It looks like an Ed Wood movie with a big budget. The acting is hammy. This is especially true of John C. McGinley (Point Break) who plays the villainous head of the Shield Corporation. How bad is he? He should be decorated with pineapple slices and cherries. Ironside achieves the highest level of camp with his depiction of the evil immortal Katana. This guy is a first-rate whack job! His appearance in modern day is marked by him crashing through the roof of a NYC subway and hijacking it. Talk about a wild ride! He\u2019s great, but Clancy Brown is still the king of the Highlander bad guys. Connery treats this acting gig like the joke it is. He delivers a mischievous, tongue-in-cheek performance as Ramirez. Lambert looks annoyed a lot of the time while Madsen does her best to keep a straight face.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Highlander 2<\/strong> is easily one of the dopiest sequels in the history of cinema. That\u2019s what makes it so fun. I have to give returning director Russell Mulcahy credit for trying to salvage it with his Renegade Cut even though it\u2019s only slightly more comprehensible than the theatrical cut that pissed off so many fans. I wish that he would have included the \u201cFairy Tale Ending\u201d seen only in European versions (it\u2019s one of the DVD\u2019s deleted scenes). It would have ended the movie on the exact right note had Mulcahy left it in.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I just can\u2019t bring myself to hate Highlander 2<\/strong>. It\u2019s too weird and bizarre to dismiss as yet another failed sequel. It\u2019s one of those movies you watch in speechless disbelief like Exorcist II: The Heretic. It\u2019s the cinematic equivalent of the inmates running the asylum. It\u2019s great bad movie fun.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highlander 2 (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 InterStar\/Fantasy-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, some sexuality, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Russell Mulcahy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Bellwood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Stewart Copeland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Phil Meheux\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 1, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher Lambert, Virginia Madsen, Michael Ironside, Sean Connery, John C. McGinley, Allan Rich, Phil Brock, Rusty Schwimmer, Ed Trucco, Stephen Grives, Jimmy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Highlander-2-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6727"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7056,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6727\/revisions\/7056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}