Highlander: Endgame

	Review by Howard Anderson © 2001 Howard Anderson

Story

"Highlander: Endgame" provides the final chapter in story of Connor MacLeod, but with this last installment, the "Highlander" story also returns to its original roots. It all began back in the 16th century, when Connor MacLeod was mortally wounded by a black knight, yet did not die, instead discovering himself to be a member of a secret clan of immortal beings who must battle each other throughout time until only one remains. That single immortal, having fed on the very souls of those he has killed, will possess the immeasurable strength and wisdom to rule the planet, whether in light or in darkness. Now, in "Highlander: Endgame", the battle reaches its zenith as the malevolent Kell decides to go for the ultimate prize - and take the heads of his two greatest enemies: Connor and Duncan MacLeod, two powerful immortals who have dominated in different eras yet never been united in their fight against undying evil.

Review

"There can be only one..." Oh man, if only that was true. The original "Highlander" is a film that will always hold a special place in my heart. The film tells a fantastic story, utilizing energetic visuals, amazing sword fights, a brilliant soundtrack, and characters that the audience actually comes to care about. Russell Mulcahy directed a modern classic that I, for one, will never tire of, and every time I watch it I just try to put the awful sequels out of my mind. The ending of the 1986 original is as final as they come, yet some Hollywood genius just had to try to milk the success of that cash-cow for every drop it was worth. Greed does not make for good and creative filmmaking, but sadly that is a lesson I fear most of the Hollywood suits will never learn. Which brings us to latest and hopefully final chapter in the "Highlander" saga, and this time from the producers of the original no less, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the real creative force behind the first film was director Russell Mulcahy and screenwriters Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood & Larry Ferguson.

Directed by Douglas Aarniokoski, "Highlander: Endgame" has now been released on DVD in an exclusive new cut, featuring 12 minutes of added footage not seen in theaters. Well, a lot of good that did. The movie still sucks ass. In all fairness, the film didn't start off too bad, as the first forty minutes are actually quite enjoyable. The fight sequences choreographed by Donnie Yen are also for the most part cool, and I especially liked the sequence where Adrian Paul and Donnie Yen face off against each other, but after that it's down hill all the way. It felt to me like the whole film just ran out of steam right about there.

Then there's the matter of the plot, which I found to be somewhat muddled, as this film attempts to mix the mythology of both the films and the TV series. Suddenly we've got this secret order known as the Watchers, and even a couple of characters that pop out of nowhere, and for someone not familiar with the TV series, these new introductions simply remain complete mysteries throughout the entire film. The filmmakers don't even hit at giving us any insights in that department. We get some background information on the Sanctuary, a facility run by the Watchers, but that's about it.

On the acting side, one of the things you can look forward to is the rather painful experience of watching Bruce Payne trying to be all mean and scary. What is really scary, though, is the thought of someone actually getting paid for that shit. Bruce Payne was perfectly okay as the villain in "Passenger 57", but here he's just plainly ridiculous. His piss poor excuse for acting reminds me more of a kid goofing around, while pretending to be one of the villains from the 1960's "Batman" TV series or something, and unfortunately that is not an exaggeration. But I realize that it's unfair of me to put all of the blame on the shoulders of Bruce Payne alone, as the director also has to take a nice stinky chunk of the responsibility for this embarrassment. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, were perfectly okay, if you can just look past the somewhat muddled accent of Adrian Paul, that is.

And one last thing. What the hell is up with Christopher Lambert? In just about every one of his scenes I found myself thinking the same thing, which was "oh man, he's really getting old." And that is not necessarily such a good thing when he's suppose to be playing an immortal. His new wrinkles and overall weary posture made it impossible for me to suspend any disbelief in that department for even a fraction of a second.

Image

The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image is really good, but is in no way reference quality. The film utilizes a very pale color palette for the scenes set in the present, while the flashback sequences appear much more richly colored. There were some moments of edge enhancements and a couple of other flaws, but nothing too major. So far this is the best-looking "Highlander" film on DVD, but when Anchor Bay releases the first "Highlander" in a new Limited Edition sometime in the first quarter of 2002, my hopes are that it will have this film beat.

Sound

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is fairly active, utilizing all the channels very well during the action sequences, and, during the explosions especially, the LFE channels are given a fairly decent workout. The dialogue sounded fine for the most part, but there were a couple of instances where I noticed some serious distortion. It only lasted for about a minute or so, and seeing how it only occurred as Bruce Payne graced us with his on-screen presence, then it didn't bother me too much. No great loss, really.

Features

It's here that this DVD really shines, and Disney/Buena Vista should be given credit for putting together such a loaded special edition for a film whose performance at the box-office was less than stellar. This 2-Disc set is a nice treat, but after having seen the film I can't say that I was all too eager to dig any further into this production. Oh well... On disc 1 there's an Audio Commentary with producers William Panzer and Peter Davis, editor Robert A Ferretti and co-executive producer H. Daniel Gross. They cover a lot of ground throughout the film, and it actually makes for a fairly good listen. If you want some technical info as to how they went about creating the vfx for the film, then the 35-minute documentary, "Visual Effects: A Historical Progression," might satisfy your curiosity. On Disc 1 you'll also find a Deleted Scenes section, where you can view the scenes with or without an audio commentary. There's also an Interactive Trivia Game stashed away here, that you can waste some time on if you've got nothing better to do. I, however, did have something better to do. There are several Sneak Peeks to be found on this disc, as well, where you get the trailers for some up-coming Disney releases, one of which is "The Crow: Salvation."

On Disc 2 you'll find the Original Full Length Rough-Cut (as if the finished version wasn't bad enough), and although interesting at first, I thought this one got real boring real fast. The final extra feature is a 57-minute Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, and this provides you with, by far, the most interesting look at the production of "Highlander: Endgame". I almost forgot the DVD-ROM content on the disc, where you get a Character Timeline, script-to scene access, and some web links, among other things.

Overall Opinion

The DVD presentation is excellent, mainly due to the extra features, but there aren't too many good things I can say about the film itself. If you're a fan of the TV series as well as the previous films, then "Highlander: Endgame" might not seem all that bad, otherwise I'd keep at a safe distance from this one.