Highlander is a film and television franchise that began with a 1986 fantasy movie starring Christopher Lambert, who plays Connor MacLeod, the Highlander. Born in Glenfinnan, in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century, MacLeod is one of a number of Immortals. Over the years, there have been five Highlander movies, two television series, an animated series, an animated movie, an animated flash-movie series, ten original novels, seventeen comic book issues, and various licensed merchandise.
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The first of what became a series of films, Highlander, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was released on March 7, 1986, with the tagline "There Can Be Only One." The film features a number of flashback scenes establishing Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod's early history, and builds up to his final destiny amongst the last of the mysterious Immortals. Through a mentor and fellow Immortal — Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, played by Sean Connery — he learns of the existence of other Immortals, who occur spontaneously throughout history. An Immortal can die only after being beheaded, and Immortals battle one another in ritual single combat to the death, until the "Gathering," when the few remaining Immortals will fight until only one remains to take "The Prize". The Gathering occurs in modern-day (1985) New York City, when the Highlander, who has fallen in love again despite trying to cut himself off from humanity, narrowly defeats his powerful and evil enemy, The Kurgan, whom he has encountered repeatedly over the previous centuries, and who has slain Ramírez and many others. The movie was originally titled Shadow Clan in the earliest drafts of the film. Upon its release, the film was not a financial success and was panned by critics. However, it gained a strong cult following, was a hit internationally, and is regarded by many as the best movie in the series.
The original orchestral score was composed by Michael Kamen, but the soundtrack includes several songs by Queen, like "Princes of the Universe", which was also used in the Highlander television series title sequence. Queen wrote many of the songs specifically to match the mood of the scenes when the songs were played, notably Brian May's "Who Wants to Live Forever", concerning the doomed love of Connor and his wife Heather.
Box office-wise, the movie only took in $2,453,021 in its opening weekend and ended up grossing $5,735,847. However, the movie had more success internationally, taking in $12,885,193.
Highlander II: The Quickening, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was released on November 1, 1991. The film mainly takes place in 2024, with flashbacks to events in 1999, and also a very distant past on the planet Zeist. MacLeod designs an energy shield to protect the Earth after its ozone layer began to disintegrate, but the Shield's heavy red clouds and blocking of natural sunlight have plunged mankind into despair. The Shield has also fallen under the control of the Shield Corporation, which taxes heavily for its services in the pursuit of profit. Meanwhile, MacLeod has physically aged into a frail old man — his mortality part of winning the Prize – and expects that he will eventually die of natural causes. After he kills one of the Immortals from Zeist sent to kill him, he becomes young and Immortal again, much to his dismay. He then joins with Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen), who had led a group of terrorists who try to dismantle the Shield.
This film offers an alternative origin for the Immortals, who are depicted as aliens exiled to Earth from Zeist. In direct contradiction to the original film, Ramírez and MacLeod were friends before their exile from Zeist. In the original, they first met in Scotland in 1541, with no mention of Zeist whatsoever. This was a primary reason the movie immediately met with harsh criticism.[1]
Russell Mulcahy was disappointed with the movie as originally released, and later made his own "Renegade Version" director's cut with a proper sequencing of various scenes, and the filmmakers' explanation for why the movie turned out as it originally did. One of Mulcahy's most dynamic alterations was the relabeling of the Zeist footage as a flashback to an ancient, technologically-advanced civilization on Earth, much more in line with the later continuity of the first film and the later TV series.[2] In 2004, a Special Edition was released, featuring several distinct alterations, including new computer-generated visual effects throughout the film.[3]
Highlander III: The Final Dimension (alternatively titled Highlander III: The Sorcerer) was first released on November 25, 1994. The third movie contradicts both the second film and the television series, acting as a stand-alone sequel to the original movie.[4] MacLeod battles a warrior who missed the original Gathering, because he was buried deep in a Japanese cave that is holy ground, isolating him from the supposedly final contest of the first film. Kane (played by Mario Van Peebles) is a master of the "power of illusion," which allows him to create false imagery to deceive his enemies. Connor, who has lived with his adopted son John for years with the belief that he is the final Immortal, must return to New York and finish the job he started back in 1985. Along the way, he finds a new love, Dr. Alex Johnson (Deborah Unger). The movie was a box office flop. Critics and fans claim that it was more of a carbon copy of the first film.
Highlander: Endgame, first released on September 1, 2000, was an attempt to merge characters from both the original film and from the Highlander TV series.[5] The story follows Duncan MacLeod as he confronts Jacob Kell, a renegade Immortal who has assembled a group of fellow warriors, as well as an impressive body-count. Kell, who holds a centuries-old grudge against the elder Connor MacLeod, has taken the lives of Connor's dearest loved ones, and does not follow the traditions of single combat. Connor has spent a decade trying to escape the Game in a hidden Watcher fortress known as the Sanctuary, but he and Duncan are forced to confront this new threat that neither one of them alone can succeed against. As the two MacLeods will not break the single-combat tradition, Connor convinces Duncan to kill him, thus gaining the power that he needs to defeat Kell.
Critical reaction to Highlander: Endgame has been negative. It holds a 12% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 52 reviews,[6] higher than Highlander II and Highlander III, both of which hold ratings of 5% or lower,[7][8] and a score of 21 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 16 reviews.[9]
The film was not a financial success, managing to garner only $15m of its $25m budget. The film opened at #3, grossing $5,067,331 in the opening weekend. It went on to gross $12,811,858 domestically and gather $3,031,750 from foreign markets for a worldwide total of $15,843,608.
However it was a commercial hit when it was released on DVD. The producers released the directors cut version of the film, which was received far better than the theatrical in that new and edited footage was added along with better special effects and audio tracks.
Highlander: The Source is the fifth installment of the Highlander film series, which premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on September 15, 2007.[10] The film follows Duncan MacLeod and a group of fellow Immortals seeking the source of immortality.[11] The film retcons the meaning of the Game and the phrase, "There can be only one."
Critical reaction to Highlander: The Source has been universally negative. The Sci-Fi Movie Page gave The Source one and a half stars out of five, saying: " Just when you think that this is a franchise that can’t sink any lower, along comes Highlander: The Source. ... One gets the impression that The Source was filmed with theatrical distribution in mind but that no sane cinema distributor would touch it with a ten-foot barge pole. Good for them. Instead it went straight to the SciFi Channel and now the DVD shelves where you should let it stay, collecting dust.".[12]
On May 20, 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Summit Entertainment is planning a remake of the original 1986 Highlander film. The script for the new film will be penned by writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who both worked on the Iron Man film. Peter Davis will produce the new film [13]Justin Lin the director of Fast Five has signed on to direct the remake.[14] Live For Film has announced the film was originally entitled Highlander: The Reckoning,[15] however also acknowledged that sequels in the Highlander franchise had generally not been well received.
On March 2010, producer Neal H. Moritz stated in an interview that "We’re staying true to the mythologies as a whole of the Highlander series. Now there are certain things between all the different Highlanders that conflict with each other, but we’re trying to stay true to the core of what we believe Highlander is and it’s a movie that’s going to be made for the fans of Highlander but also for people who are new to the franchise." He also expressed interest in incorporating the music of Queen in the new film, just as the original did.[16]
On February 9th 2011, it was announced that Melissa Rosenberg was "in negotiations to come on board the Highlander reboot to work on that script." [17]
In an interview with MTV in May 2011, Justin Lin commented on the film. "I feel like right now, ‘Highlander’ is in pretty good shape, but I still have to see all the other things come together for us to go make it.” [18] However in August, Lin dropped out of the film due to commitments to other projects.[19]
In 1992, a television spin-off was developed, entitled Highlander: The Series. It was shown in syndication from October 3, 1992 to May 16, 1998. The series was an offshoot of the 1986 feature film but with one major difference: Immortals still exist post-1985.
Adrian Paul starred as Duncan MacLeod, another immortal from the same clan. The series also starred Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Alexandra Vandernoot, Jim Byrnes, Lisa Howard and Stan Kirsch.
The show was co-produced in syndication by international partners including Gaumont, RTL Plus (Germany), Rysher Distribution (United States), Reteitalia Productions (Italy), Amuse Video (Japan) and TF1 (France). The series was a mega hit internationally with high ratings. However, the ratings fell during the show's sixth season and ended its seven year run in 1998.
The television series had its own spin-off after using its sixth year as a casting call. Highlander: The Raven starred Elizabeth Gracen, reprising her role as the popular character Amanda. It only lasted one season due to low ratings and the change in the marketing of syndicated shows.
In 2008, Reunion, a reunion special was filmed starring Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, and Jim Byrnes reprising their roles. The 17 minute special was a low budget project that takes place 10 years after the series (or between the fourth and fifth movies). Filming took place at producer Peter Davis's beach home with the actors volunteering in their roles. The plot involved the characters discussing Methos' plans to get married and settle down with a mortal woman and her son.
A 1994 animated series, Highlander: The Animated Series, was set in the far future, and featured the character of Quentin MacLeod, voiced by Miklos Perlus.
A 1994 animated movie, "Highlander: The Adventure Begins" [20] was a straight to video release that sets up the backstory for the animated series.
In 2007, an anime film, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance was released, featuring the immortal Colin MacLeod in the year 2187.[21]
A number of Highlander Novels were released, including a novelization of the first film by Garry Kilworth and a line of books based on the Series by various authors.
The Highlander comic book series from Dynamite Entertainment, featuring the creative team of Brandon Jerwa, Michael Avon Oeming (Red Sonja) and artist Lee Moder, are also set around the universe of the television series.
Big Finish Productions have the licence to produce Highlander audio dramas. The format (like many of their other ranges) is one actor reading the script with another playing one other important part. The first four audios star Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod and were released monthly from June 2009. The stories themselves are set after Highlander: Endgame.
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