Highlander II was set in 2024
January 3, 2024 7:02 AM Subscribe
Highlander II, considered one of the worst films ever made, is set in 2024. Highlander II: The Quickening is a 1991 science fiction film directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Christopher Lambert, Virginia Madsen, Michael Ironside and Sean Connery. It is the second installment in the Highlander film series and sequel to the 1986 fantasy film Highlander. Set in the year 2024, the plot concerns Connor MacLeod, who regains his youth and immortal abilities and must free Earth from the Shield, an artificial ozone layer that has fallen under the control of a corrupt corporation.
The "Renegade Version" director's cut is available on demand at Pluto.TV, if you can spare the hour and 49 minutes of your life that you won't get back. Be prepared for cheesy, over the top acting and mile-wide plot holes.
The "Renegade Version" director's cut is available on demand at Pluto.TV, if you can spare the hour and 49 minutes of your life that you won't get back. Be prepared for cheesy, over the top acting and mile-wide plot holes.
So you're saying there should have been only one?
posted by fedward at 7:12 AM on January 3 [79 favorites]
posted by fedward at 7:12 AM on January 3 [79 favorites]
I remember loving it as a kid because frankly I would’ve watched anything Highlander and still would.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:16 AM on January 3 [6 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:16 AM on January 3 [6 favorites]
The beginning of the end? What we can learn from films set in 2024 "From deadly climate catastrophe to geopolitical chaos, Hollywood has predicted a nightmare year ahead" (The Guardian).
posted by misteraitch at 7:16 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 7:16 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
I thought the Renegade Version was a lot better than its reputation suggested, but as Highlander films go it's not a patch on Subway.
posted by offog at 7:19 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
posted by offog at 7:19 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
A Boy and His Dog is also set in 2024. I honestly can't decide which one is worse to live in. It seems like there was some kind of prophetic spirit moving through the zeitgeist back in the late 20th century trying to warn us that this year was going to suck.
Edit: Oh, or there's misteraitch's Grauniad piece that does a much deeper dive into the same pool.
posted by Naberius at 7:22 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
Edit: Oh, or there's misteraitch's Grauniad piece that does a much deeper dive into the same pool.
posted by Naberius at 7:22 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
2019 FanFare discussion about the "film"
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:23 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:23 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Highlander was a movie that literally should not have a sequel. The main guy won at the end, and what he was was so supreme there was no more story to tell.
The first film is also one of my favorite movies from the Eighties.
I honestly never saw any of the sequels because their existence offended me so much that I wrote them out of my mind.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 AM on January 3 [12 favorites]
The first film is also one of my favorite movies from the Eighties.
I honestly never saw any of the sequels because their existence offended me so much that I wrote them out of my mind.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 AM on January 3 [12 favorites]
Can't deal with all that ozone biz, as I still haven't come to grips with the destruction of the moon back in '94.
posted by cupcakeninja at 7:29 AM on January 3 [6 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 7:29 AM on January 3 [6 favorites]
Highlander was a movie that literally should not have a sequel. The main guy won at the end, and what he was was so supreme there was no more story to tell.
The third film is basically "what if we had to do the first movie again for some reason, only Mario van Peebles was there?" It's also not even as good as that sounds.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:31 AM on January 3 [10 favorites]
The third film is basically "what if we had to do the first movie again for some reason, only Mario van Peebles was there?" It's also not even as good as that sounds.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:31 AM on January 3 [10 favorites]
flashback to when a German exchange student used to frequent my place, back in high school. he was short, loved martial arts, and after a few beers was incapable of not breaking into full-throated renditions of Queen's "Princes of the Universe"
posted by elkevelvet at 7:34 AM on January 3 [9 favorites]
posted by elkevelvet at 7:34 AM on January 3 [9 favorites]
I liked the first Highlander okay, but a couple of my grade seven friends were obsessed with it. So off they went to the sequel when it was released, and that was the first experience I can remember of someone I knew being not only disappointed but *pissed off by* a piece of pop culture.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:39 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:39 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
I mean, Freejack came out in 1992, let's not rush to judgement on Highlander II.
posted by Kyol at 7:44 AM on January 3 [11 favorites]
posted by Kyol at 7:44 AM on January 3 [11 favorites]
I love how this film is ignored by every other highlander property because it’s essential plot point - immortal people are aliens - is so dumb it collapses the suspension of disbelief.
posted by The River Ivel at 8:01 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 8:01 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
Russell Mulcahy is a very underrated director. He came out of doing a bunch of very stylish 80s music videos (which you can really kind of tell from how a lot of his films look, Highlander included), but lost his way a bit with some bad action stuff in the 90s. I recommend checking out his first film, Razorback, shot in his native Australia, which is just a cool creature horror with a kind of terrifying giant wild boar as the monster.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:04 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:04 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
I don't know how well it stands up to re-watching, but the TV series featuring Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod actually had decent production values for its time, especially measured against Renegade and Walker, Texas Ranger, etc. (The locations probably didn't hurt).
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:04 AM on January 3 [15 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:04 AM on January 3 [15 favorites]
While there may have been worse movies than Highlander II, it was the biggest let down. Unlike Phantom Menace, there was no "early warning system" via the Internet to reset our expectations. I found out a fantastic movie was getting a sequel, showed up on opening night, and was "WTF did I just watch?"
Ramirez invents an immortal power half way through just to straight up escape from the movie and I was like, "fair enough."
posted by justkevin at 8:08 AM on January 3 [8 favorites]
Ramirez invents an immortal power half way through just to straight up escape from the movie and I was like, "fair enough."
posted by justkevin at 8:08 AM on January 3 [8 favorites]
My favourite thing about Freejack is that it's featured in True Romance, which was released the following year, which means that whoever decided to use it had the entirety of the Warner Brothers/Morgan Creek Productions catalogue to choose from and still chose this then brand-new movie as the one Brad Pitt's stoner character is watching on the couch one afternoon.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:20 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:20 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
there may have been worse movies than Highlander II, it was the biggest let down.
I see you missed Wing Commander.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:24 AM on January 3 [9 favorites]
I see you missed Wing Commander.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:24 AM on January 3 [9 favorites]
Winner of the 1991 Interface Magazine Hardware Award for the worst movie since Hardware. (pg. 53)
posted by ob1quixote at 8:24 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 8:24 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
Winner of the 1991 Interface Magazine Hardware Award for the worst movie since Hardware. (pg. 53)
That site wants me to watch and ad for each new page I scroll to, but anyway, these people are out of their minds, Hardware is pretty great.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:37 AM on January 3 [8 favorites]
That site wants me to watch and ad for each new page I scroll to, but anyway, these people are out of their minds, Hardware is pretty great.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:37 AM on January 3 [8 favorites]
Razorback! My Aussie ex-girlfriend was thrilled I'd never seen it when we met. I remember it being basically Jaws, But A Wild Boar.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:47 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:47 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
We recently watched the MST3K holiday end-of-year marathon thing. I'd be willing to try Highlander II to see how it compares with the incredibly awful Extra Terrestrial Visitors aka Pod People.
I'm still not sure anything competes with Battlefield Earth though.
posted by Foosnark at 8:48 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I'm still not sure anything competes with Battlefield Earth though.
posted by Foosnark at 8:48 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure I'll ever laugh again at anything as hard as I did at Battlefield Earth on opening night in the theatre. Good times, good times.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:49 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:49 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I see you missed Wing Commander.
Wing Commander was a double disappointment for me. I only went to see the movie because I had heard somewhere that The Phantom Menace trailer was playing with it. And it wasn't.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:50 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Wing Commander was a double disappointment for me. I only went to see the movie because I had heard somewhere that The Phantom Menace trailer was playing with it. And it wasn't.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:50 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
True story: We were trying to decide on a movie to see. My friend hadn't seen Highlander, but after I described it they were intrigued by the possible campy fun that would be Sean Connery playing a character in a sequel who was decapitated in the first movie. We settled on it. At the last moment she noticed Citizen Kane was playing at a revival theater and we went to that instead, making that night possibly the best cinematic upgrade in the history of movie going.
Highlander II is that bad. It's 13th-stroke-of-the-clock bad, forcing you doubt the validity of what came before.
The TV series was OK. I've never done a full rewatch but I've watched a bit on streaming now and then and it's still fun. It's the sort entertaining mind candy the movie sequels could have been.
posted by mark k at 8:52 AM on January 3 [5 favorites]
Highlander II is that bad. It's 13th-stroke-of-the-clock bad, forcing you doubt the validity of what came before.
The TV series was OK. I've never done a full rewatch but I've watched a bit on streaming now and then and it's still fun. It's the sort entertaining mind candy the movie sequels could have been.
posted by mark k at 8:52 AM on January 3 [5 favorites]
Highlander II, considered one of the worst films ever made.
To be fair, while in every form the film is a mess (there are multiple versions), I think the original North American theatrical release (the European theatrical was slightly different) was probably the worst. It is all excess and emptiness with a barely coherent plot which largely ignores the previous film (not that there is anything wrong with that really but normal people don't usually respond to that kind of thing). And it is why the Renegade Version, the heavily retooled version which removes a lot of alien narrative and tries to shoehorn it into the Highlander universe, is the only version available. Worst film ever though? There's definitely worse.
I am curious what they plan to do with the reboot. Henry Cavill will likely be fine but having seen the John Wick films, it will be all action, cool visuals and minimal plot which might work for the series.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:53 AM on January 3
To be fair, while in every form the film is a mess (there are multiple versions), I think the original North American theatrical release (the European theatrical was slightly different) was probably the worst. It is all excess and emptiness with a barely coherent plot which largely ignores the previous film (not that there is anything wrong with that really but normal people don't usually respond to that kind of thing). And it is why the Renegade Version, the heavily retooled version which removes a lot of alien narrative and tries to shoehorn it into the Highlander universe, is the only version available. Worst film ever though? There's definitely worse.
I am curious what they plan to do with the reboot. Henry Cavill will likely be fine but having seen the John Wick films, it will be all action, cool visuals and minimal plot which might work for the series.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:53 AM on January 3
I've only ever seen the Highlander cartoon that came out in 1994.
Is it possible that it's the last intended-for-kids animated series adapted from an R-rated media property? I think there might have been a second Robocop cartoon that aired a bit later, but cartoons based on Rambo, Police Academy, and Robocop had already run their course by then, and that Aliens cartoon DiC was working on never made it out of development. So maybe?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:59 AM on January 3
Is it possible that it's the last intended-for-kids animated series adapted from an R-rated media property? I think there might have been a second Robocop cartoon that aired a bit later, but cartoons based on Rambo, Police Academy, and Robocop had already run their course by then, and that Aliens cartoon DiC was working on never made it out of development. So maybe?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:59 AM on January 3
Razorback! My Aussie ex-girlfriend was thrilled I'd never seen it when we met. I remember it being basically Jaws, But A Wild Boar.
It essentially is, but it's a good Jaws rip-off (similar to Alligator), but with the added bonus of Mulcahy's visual flair.
Not to go too far out on this tangent, but Bad Movie Bible (previously) has a great video on Jaws ripoffs. I think Razorback is in it, but it's really fun either way.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:03 AM on January 3
It essentially is, but it's a good Jaws rip-off (similar to Alligator), but with the added bonus of Mulcahy's visual flair.
Not to go too far out on this tangent, but Bad Movie Bible (previously) has a great video on Jaws ripoffs. I think Razorback is in it, but it's really fun either way.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:03 AM on January 3
I'll also add that no film with Canadian icon Michael Ironside is truly the worst ever (well maybe Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York, that one is pretty bad).
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:07 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:07 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Joakim Ziegler: “That site wants me to watch and ad for each new page I scroll to, but anyway, these people are out of their minds, Hardware is pretty great.”Sorry. That Scribd link is the one I used the last time I said the same thing. I just searched for that issue again and here's a video of a guy reading Vol. 1, No. 4 of Interface Magazine cued up to the Highlander II review on page 53.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:10 AM on January 3
I will fight anyone who doesn’t agree that the series is the platonic ideal of Highlander. It is truly cheese of the highest order. Endgame was a mess, though, and I never saw Highlander 5.
posted by rikschell at 9:44 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 9:44 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
While there may have been worse movies than Highlander II, it was the biggest let down. Unlike Phantom Menace, there was no "early warning system" via the Internet to reset our expectations. I found out a fantastic movie was getting a sequel, showed up on opening night, and was "WTF did I just watch?"
I saw this in the theater too, probably opening weekend!
There's this shot where Virginia Madsen is climbing a spiral staircase and the camera is above her. And as she's climbing, she's naturally rotating, because spiral staircase. But the camera is rotating too. Not at the same rate so that she stays still and the scene rotates around her, but at a rate that seems to have been specifically calculated to be offputting. And the shot goes on notably longer than one might expect. By the end, a few people in the theater were going AAAAAAAH!
This remains the only movie I've seen at the theater where a substantial number of people hucked their remaining popcorn and candy at the screen when it ended. Which they shouldn't have because they're just making custodians do work. But I get it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:47 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
I saw this in the theater too, probably opening weekend!
There's this shot where Virginia Madsen is climbing a spiral staircase and the camera is above her. And as she's climbing, she's naturally rotating, because spiral staircase. But the camera is rotating too. Not at the same rate so that she stays still and the scene rotates around her, but at a rate that seems to have been specifically calculated to be offputting. And the shot goes on notably longer than one might expect. By the end, a few people in the theater were going AAAAAAAH!
This remains the only movie I've seen at the theater where a substantial number of people hucked their remaining popcorn and candy at the screen when it ended. Which they shouldn't have because they're just making custodians do work. But I get it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:47 AM on January 3 [3 favorites]
I am obviously misremembering this film, and it 's a sequel to another film that I hated but in my memory, I noped out when Connor was attacked by a band of cackling flying witches. I wish I knew what horrible sequel that actually was. Still, I don't think I was wrong for hating Highlander 2.
posted by evilDoug at 10:34 AM on January 3
posted by evilDoug at 10:34 AM on January 3
I was 16 in 1991 and really liked the first Highlander film, which I had seen on VHS (during a church youth group event!) It is impossible to overstate the impact of Highlander to the teenage boy's mind - hard rock soundtrack, wrestling, sword-fights, both European and Japanese history, police procedural work, well directed with a really tight script. Weaving plots in multiple time periods is old hat these days but back then it blew...our...minds.
So me and my friends were totally jazzed to see the sequel. With no internet we had no idea what it was about but we all piled into Steve's older brother's car to drive 30 minutes to the next town over with a cinema (the theatre in our town had become infested with Jehovah Witnesses and was never going to show something as cool as a Highlander film.) Where could the scriptwriters go after the end of the first film?
Nowhere good, that's where. This wasn't just a bad film, this was a betrayal. A desecration. A high crime against radness.
The drive back was much quieter.
What gets me is that this wasn't a case of the studio making a cheapo sequel. The firm was cheap but they did bring back the original stars and the same creative team from the first film. How could it have turned out so badly?
posted by AndrewStephens at 10:39 AM on January 3 [5 favorites]
So me and my friends were totally jazzed to see the sequel. With no internet we had no idea what it was about but we all piled into Steve's older brother's car to drive 30 minutes to the next town over with a cinema (the theatre in our town had become infested with Jehovah Witnesses and was never going to show something as cool as a Highlander film.) Where could the scriptwriters go after the end of the first film?
Nowhere good, that's where. This wasn't just a bad film, this was a betrayal. A desecration. A high crime against radness.
The drive back was much quieter.
What gets me is that this wasn't a case of the studio making a cheapo sequel. The firm was cheap but they did bring back the original stars and the same creative team from the first film. How could it have turned out so badly?
posted by AndrewStephens at 10:39 AM on January 3 [5 favorites]
They came up with a horrendous plot? Honestly, that sounds like the answer.
I've never watched a Highlander movie (as I recall, a relative called this one "The Sickening," and my old therapist was disgusted that Duncan could suddenly make babies in the last one), but I did get addicted to the TV show while staying with friends who were marathoning it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:51 AM on January 3
I've never watched a Highlander movie (as I recall, a relative called this one "The Sickening," and my old therapist was disgusted that Duncan could suddenly make babies in the last one), but I did get addicted to the TV show while staying with friends who were marathoning it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:51 AM on January 3
And it is why the Renegade Version, the heavily retooled version which removes a lot of alien narrative and tries to shoehorn it into the Highlander universe, is the only version available.
Nathan Rabin wrote a review of the Renegade cut of Highlander II; the retooling does not appear to have improved the movie's quality.
posted by JDC8 at 11:15 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Nathan Rabin wrote a review of the Renegade cut of Highlander II; the retooling does not appear to have improved the movie's quality.
posted by JDC8 at 11:15 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I saw this in theaters too! I was only a casual fan - had seen the original on TV, in parts. But we went with a friend's older brother who was really into it. On the way to the theater he excitedly walked us back through the mythos as it had been laid out in the first movie. A wasted effort, of course, as we were about to learn all about the Planet Zeist!
posted by condour75 at 11:15 AM on January 3
posted by condour75 at 11:15 AM on January 3
in my nerd set, "Zeist" became a shorthand for a place of forever and inescapable exile, a place where you'd imprison Space Napoleon.
example of actual usage: "I'd like to send all the midichlorians to Zeist."
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:28 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
example of actual usage: "I'd like to send all the midichlorians to Zeist."
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:28 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I mean, Freejack came out in 1992, let's not rush to judgement on Highlander II.
With Anthony “The Worm” Hopkins no less!
posted by Windopaene at 11:58 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
With Anthony “The Worm” Hopkins no less!
posted by Windopaene at 11:58 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I dunno, as a fan of the perfect time capsule of cheese that is the first movie, and the perfectly cromulent SFF TV fodder of the show, it's hard for me to decide if Highlander II is worse than The Source, which feels like someone wrote their very first fan fic* and managed to convince the actors from the show to act it out. A least the H2 soundtrack has Loreena McKennitt. Oh, wait, a quick search shows she's on the H3 soundtrack, so H2 doesn't even have that going for it.
* No snark at fan fiction intended
posted by smirkette at 11:59 AM on January 3
* No snark at fan fiction intended
posted by smirkette at 11:59 AM on January 3
My headcanon is that this is the movie Jean Girard watched by mistake after Ricky Bobby's endorsement of the original.
posted by stevis23 at 12:15 PM on January 3
posted by stevis23 at 12:15 PM on January 3
So you're saying there should have been only one?
Yeah, what was said at the time, with much anger and sadness.
posted by doctornemo at 1:07 PM on January 3
Yeah, what was said at the time, with much anger and sadness.
posted by doctornemo at 1:07 PM on January 3
i saw highlander 1 again recently and it brings me no pleasure to report (the kurgan's deliciously scenery chewing performance aside) it's really not that great. compared to contemporary stuff like terminator it's fairly shonky though it's definitely good for a laugh
posted by Sebmojo at 1:37 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 1:37 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
mildly related: I think I nearly walked out of Highlander: Endgame (much as I wanted to see Connor and Duncan do a thing.)
posted by bitterkitten at 1:49 PM on January 3
posted by bitterkitten at 1:49 PM on January 3
Mmm, Highlander II. This is one I've always wanted to see.
(The "I" which loves psychotronic videos, who saw too many MST:3K movies before the bots did)
posted by doctornemo at 1:57 PM on January 3
(The "I" which loves psychotronic videos, who saw too many MST:3K movies before the bots did)
posted by doctornemo at 1:57 PM on January 3
it 's a sequel to another film that I hated but in my memory, I noped out when Connor was attacked by a band of cackling flying witches. I wish I knew what horrible sequel that actually was
I think that really is only a slight misremembering of a bit from Highlander 2. Weirdo aliens harrassing Connor while zoobling around on.... flying motorcycles? I may be blending it with galactica1980 into a real shit smoothie
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:12 PM on January 3 [2 favorites]
I think that really is only a slight misremembering of a bit from Highlander 2. Weirdo aliens harrassing Connor while zoobling around on.... flying motorcycles? I may be blending it with galactica1980 into a real shit smoothie
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:12 PM on January 3 [2 favorites]
I saw both Highlander II and Freejack in theaters, and I would be hard pressed to pick which one was worse. Certainly Highlander II was the bigger disappointment, but at least it didn’t cast Mick Jagger.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:41 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:41 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I just saw this a few weeks ago. Not great, not even good, but watchable and far from the worst. Seemed like it had a few ideas that got mashed together and rewritten too fast.
posted by sammyo at 2:50 PM on January 3
posted by sammyo at 2:50 PM on January 3
I knew a guy in college, a friend of my roommate's, who was a HUGE Highlander fan.
And by HUGE I mean that he'd bought the VHS of it, in the era before videotapes of popular movies were cheap and readily available. I don't remember what he said that he'd paid for it, but it was obscene back then.
Anyway, he announced to us one night that he was on his way to the theater to watch Highlander _2_! He couldn't believe that they'd found a way to make it work, but it was there and he was headed to the early show in case he'd want to buy another ticket and watch it again right after.
Later that night, I got back to my dorm room and found a message blinking on my answering machine. It contained one of the most extended, creative, vindictive strings of profanity and anger I had ever heard in my life.
posted by delfin at 3:17 PM on January 3 [10 favorites]
And by HUGE I mean that he'd bought the VHS of it, in the era before videotapes of popular movies were cheap and readily available. I don't remember what he said that he'd paid for it, but it was obscene back then.
Anyway, he announced to us one night that he was on his way to the theater to watch Highlander _2_! He couldn't believe that they'd found a way to make it work, but it was there and he was headed to the early show in case he'd want to buy another ticket and watch it again right after.
Later that night, I got back to my dorm room and found a message blinking on my answering machine. It contained one of the most extended, creative, vindictive strings of profanity and anger I had ever heard in my life.
posted by delfin at 3:17 PM on January 3 [10 favorites]
I was another poor benighted soul who saw this in the theater. I don’t remember anything about it except the absolute suckitude.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:56 PM on January 3
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:56 PM on January 3
I had to work the night of the Highlander II premiere. I was washing dishes while all my nerd buddies rushed the premiere with cheap promo tickets I got them from my campus newspaper.
I didn't go in as the favorite that night, but I definitely emerged as the winner.
> i saw highlander 1 again recently and it brings me no pleasure to
> report (the kurgan's deliciously scenery chewing performance aside)
> it's really not that great
I rewatched it for the first time in a couple decades during the pandemic. I think it's got a really solid first couple of acts but goes completely off the rails when the Kurgan kidnaps Brenda and it just becomes another swordfight over a damsel.
and that soundtrack will never not pump me up.
posted by Sauce Trough at 4:34 PM on January 3
I didn't go in as the favorite that night, but I definitely emerged as the winner.
> i saw highlander 1 again recently and it brings me no pleasure to
> report (the kurgan's deliciously scenery chewing performance aside)
> it's really not that great
I rewatched it for the first time in a couple decades during the pandemic. I think it's got a really solid first couple of acts but goes completely off the rails when the Kurgan kidnaps Brenda and it just becomes another swordfight over a damsel.
and that soundtrack will never not pump me up.
posted by Sauce Trough at 4:34 PM on January 3
What I'm getting from this thread is that we should do a Fanfare rewatch of the series.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:55 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:55 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I mean, Freejack came out in 1992, let's not rush to judgement on Highlander II.
I will not stand for this anti-Vacendak propaganda
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:57 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I will not stand for this anti-Vacendak propaganda
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:57 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
One note on the TV series - which I really like - is that the whole thing falls apart once cell phones are available. They’re constantly worried another character is about to get ambushed… and one call saves the day.
I’ve blocked H2 from my mind. Please let us never speak of it again.
I’m optimistic on the reboot
posted by Farce_First at 6:30 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I’ve blocked H2 from my mind. Please let us never speak of it again.
I’m optimistic on the reboot
posted by Farce_First at 6:30 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
> the whole thing falls apart once cell phones are availableWay back in 1988, Iain M. Banks was already thinking about the problem of suspenseful fiction in a world of smartphones:
Stories set in the Culture in which Things Went Wrong tended to start with humans losing or forgetting or deliberately leaving behind their terminal. It was a conventional opening, the equivalent of straying off the path in the wild woods in one age, or a car breaking down at night on a lonely road in another. A terminal, in the shape of a ring, button, bracelet or pen or whatever, was your link with everybody and everything else in the Culture. With a terminal, you were never more than a question or a shout away from almost anything you wanted to know, or almost any help you could possibly need.—The Player of Games
posted by mbrubeck at 6:43 PM on January 3 [5 favorites]
For those of you of the role-playing/game night persuasion, I'm excited to potentially introduce you to THE UNOFFICIAL HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING ROLEPLAYING GAME. It's super easy to run for your friends, especially if they don't know (or barely remember) Highlander II.
In it, players are a writers room charged with writing a 3-act sequel to Highlander over the course of about an hour, then act out their scenes with improvised dialogue. The best bit: at the end, participants are asked if they think their movie sequel is likely better or worse than the actual Highlander II. Then, the Wikipedia page's summary of the plot is read aloud... and everyone is polled again, to see if their answer changes. It's a good time!
posted by poseur at 7:24 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
In it, players are a writers room charged with writing a 3-act sequel to Highlander over the course of about an hour, then act out their scenes with improvised dialogue. The best bit: at the end, participants are asked if they think their movie sequel is likely better or worse than the actual Highlander II. Then, the Wikipedia page's summary of the plot is read aloud... and everyone is polled again, to see if their answer changes. It's a good time!
posted by poseur at 7:24 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
So I guess there's a pretty complete score for Highlander out there, two CDs and 60 tracks... elusive to find without a high price tag, but it's nice to know that's out there.
Kamen's Eighties rock-based scores are among my favorite scores. In fact, there's a whole legion of synth-rock and rock-based scores from that period that were amazing, like the non-Bowie parts of Labyrinth or the score for Runaway Train. Oh wait, Runaway Train and Labyrinth were done by the same guy.
Anyway... I love that style... We had too little of it before it was gone.
posted by hippybear at 7:31 PM on January 3
Kamen's Eighties rock-based scores are among my favorite scores. In fact, there's a whole legion of synth-rock and rock-based scores from that period that were amazing, like the non-Bowie parts of Labyrinth or the score for Runaway Train. Oh wait, Runaway Train and Labyrinth were done by the same guy.
Anyway... I love that style... We had too little of it before it was gone.
posted by hippybear at 7:31 PM on January 3
HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING
It really was perfectly suited to the White Wolf mold.
Immortal: the {DICE POOL TRAIT THAT MUST BE A GERUND}.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:02 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
It really was perfectly suited to the White Wolf mold.
Immortal: the {DICE POOL TRAIT THAT MUST BE A GERUND}.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:02 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
The entire Queen soundtrack of the first movie was amaaaazing, and let's especially not forget that Brian May wrote Who Wants to Live Forever for it.
Highlander: The Final Dimension had one really good trailer (that I dubbed from a VHS video at the time because I liked it so much, but never found online since--it's not any of the trailers on YouTube) that overpromised so much, and it introduced me to Loreena McKennitt too, so I do credit it for that.
I also loved the series. The first season had a few duds, and the last had a whole series of episodes that were pilots for a potential spinoff (though they went the obvious route using Amanda for Highlander: The Raven; as a B5 fan at the time, I would have loved Claudia Cristian's pilot character being given a shot) making it a bit clunky. But, for most of its run, it was in my top five favorite must-watch and record shows on television, along with TNG, Xena, Babylon 5, and The X-Files. The movies after that were...yeah, not great.
Speaking of music, it was Highlander, not Supernatural, that was also my original introduction to Kansas, by way of Dust in the Wind, because they needed more than one really sad song for the show's mourning montages.
It's so weird how they sometimes call the one with Mario Van Peebles Highlander 3 when there was never a Highlander 2. Wait, what was this post originally about again?
posted by Pryde at 11:18 PM on January 3 [5 favorites]
Highlander: The Final Dimension had one really good trailer (that I dubbed from a VHS video at the time because I liked it so much, but never found online since--it's not any of the trailers on YouTube) that overpromised so much, and it introduced me to Loreena McKennitt too, so I do credit it for that.
I also loved the series. The first season had a few duds, and the last had a whole series of episodes that were pilots for a potential spinoff (though they went the obvious route using Amanda for Highlander: The Raven; as a B5 fan at the time, I would have loved Claudia Cristian's pilot character being given a shot) making it a bit clunky. But, for most of its run, it was in my top five favorite must-watch and record shows on television, along with TNG, Xena, Babylon 5, and The X-Files. The movies after that were...yeah, not great.
Speaking of music, it was Highlander, not Supernatural, that was also my original introduction to Kansas, by way of Dust in the Wind, because they needed more than one really sad song for the show's mourning montages.
It's so weird how they sometimes call the one with Mario Van Peebles Highlander 3 when there was never a Highlander 2. Wait, what was this post originally about again?
posted by Pryde at 11:18 PM on January 3 [5 favorites]
It really was perfectly suited to the White Wolf mold.
I seem to remember a page of contact information for White Wolf way back in the day, where people would presumably send manuscripts and outlines for games, etc., which included the phrase "Please, no more Highlanders".
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:04 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
I seem to remember a page of contact information for White Wolf way back in the day, where people would presumably send manuscripts and outlines for games, etc., which included the phrase "Please, no more Highlanders".
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:04 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
I drove six hours, from northern New Jersey to Rochester, NY, to see Highlander II at a midnight show opening night with a friend. When we walked out of the theater she turned to me and said “I am so, so sorry.”
There was a very hilariously ripped off of White Wolf game called “Immortal: The Legacy” that was basically trying to be the Highlander RPG. I think the company was sued out of existence, because the game system was the standard White Wolf Early 90s system, not even trying to hide it, and all the stuff in Highlander was in it pretty much out of the movie, with a “what if you duel on holy ground” rule that was “not only do you not get the other guy’s oomph but you lose some of your own”.
I vaguely recall it also mentioned that some immortals thought they were actually aliens but were considered totally nuts by the vast majority.
(I was one of those gamers who bought things because they looked interesting, not because they were actually good. I actually owned Alma Mater and Macho Women with Guns at points in my life.)
posted by mephron at 6:20 AM on January 4 [3 favorites]
There was a very hilariously ripped off of White Wolf game called “Immortal: The Legacy” that was basically trying to be the Highlander RPG. I think the company was sued out of existence, because the game system was the standard White Wolf Early 90s system, not even trying to hide it, and all the stuff in Highlander was in it pretty much out of the movie, with a “what if you duel on holy ground” rule that was “not only do you not get the other guy’s oomph but you lose some of your own”.
I vaguely recall it also mentioned that some immortals thought they were actually aliens but were considered totally nuts by the vast majority.
(I was one of those gamers who bought things because they looked interesting, not because they were actually good. I actually owned Alma Mater and Macho Women with Guns at points in my life.)
posted by mephron at 6:20 AM on January 4 [3 favorites]
Each time my wife was pregnant with a child I would ask daily if she had felt the quickening. She was not as entertained by that question as me.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 9:10 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 9:10 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
(I was one of those gamers who bought things because they looked interesting, not because they were actually good. I actually owned Alma Mater and Macho Women with Guns at points in my life.)
I also had Macho Women with Guns, although if you actually want to play, and not just snicker at a funny setting/premise, Tales from the Floating Vagabond was better all around (and I think you could probably play a MWwG-alike in that system/setting without much trouble).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:39 AM on January 4
I also had Macho Women with Guns, although if you actually want to play, and not just snicker at a funny setting/premise, Tales from the Floating Vagabond was better all around (and I think you could probably play a MWwG-alike in that system/setting without much trouble).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:39 AM on January 4
I have - and ran T2FV, and yes. you could do that kind of thing.
You could also do a Highlander II game if you ran it for people you hated.
posted by mephron at 3:09 PM on January 4
You could also do a Highlander II game if you ran it for people you hated.
posted by mephron at 3:09 PM on January 4
The only thing that I'm worried about WRT the convergence of reality with future fiction are the Bell Riots, which, sadly, seem all too likely.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:07 PM on January 4
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:07 PM on January 4
Highlander II, considered one of the worst films ever madeNo, no, no, this is wrong. Sooooooooooooooooo wrong. In order for Highlander II to be one of the worst films ever made, there would have to be a movie named Highlander II in the first place.
I mean, c'mon people, this is like Logic 101 here.
posted by Flunkie at 7:58 PM on January 4
No link to the Highlander II FanFare?
I've pretty much said all I need to say about this there, but I have zero desire to rewatch. However, this thread makes me want to watch Highlander again and look up the "good" plot arc episodes for the TV show to watch.
Dropping the What went wrong with Highlander II [denofgeek, 2014] link from the FanFare thread here too.
(Spoiler alert: lawyers, Argentine hyperinflation, super cheap cocaine*)
posted by porpoise at 8:42 PM on January 4
I've pretty much said all I need to say about this there, but I have zero desire to rewatch. However, this thread makes me want to watch Highlander again and look up the "good" plot arc episodes for the TV show to watch.
Dropping the What went wrong with Highlander II [denofgeek, 2014] link from the FanFare thread here too.
(Spoiler alert: lawyers, Argentine hyperinflation, super cheap cocaine*)
posted by porpoise at 8:42 PM on January 4
Of course, none of us can see this thread, because fixing the ozone layer turned our technological objects into their 1950s counterparts for some reason.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:30 PM on January 5
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:30 PM on January 5
I have been avoiding a re-watch of the series because all my other childhood illusions were shattered long ago, and maybe I'd rather keep the false memory of a good thing than the grim knowledge that it wasn't.
Highlander II is actually entertaining if you go in pretending that it's meant to be a fan-fic parody rather than a high-budget continuation of a blockbuster film.
Razorback is more fun than it has any right to be.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:40 PM on January 10
Highlander II is actually entertaining if you go in pretending that it's meant to be a fan-fic parody rather than a high-budget continuation of a blockbuster film.
Razorback is more fun than it has any right to be.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:40 PM on January 10
I feel that if they'd embraced the fact that the tagline to the film really ought to have been "There can only be another one" and written the script accordingly it would at least have been fun. I remember it being one of the few occasions at the cinema where I fell out of the film and sat there fully aware of the fact that I was sitting in a room with a surprisingly large number of people considering, looking at light projected on a wall. I don't remember having any opinion of it at all other than it wasn't fun.
I see that one of the writers was Brian Clemens - veteran of great ITC series of the 60s and 70s, like The Avengers and The Persuaders!. He also wrote The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde. Something went badly wrong to result in a film as dull as this.
posted by Grangousier at 4:17 PM on January 10
I see that one of the writers was Brian Clemens - veteran of great ITC series of the 60s and 70s, like The Avengers and The Persuaders!. He also wrote The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde. Something went badly wrong to result in a film as dull as this.
posted by Grangousier at 4:17 PM on January 10
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posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:07 AM on January 3 [6 favorites]