Review of Highlander (1986) by Alan T — 21 Dec 2011

A good movie ... thanks to Sean Connery .. otherwise would not term it as good.

The film begins with a voiceover establishing the film as the story of the immortals fighting to the death for centuries. In 1985, Russell Nash (Christopher Lambert) decapitates Iman Fasil (Peter Diamond) during a sword fight in a Madison Square Garden parking garage. Nash hides his sword, an ivory-handled katana, and the police foil Nash's escape attempt from the garage. In 1536, Connor MacLeod (Lambert) and his clansmen, including his cousins Dugal MacLeod (Billy Hartman) and Angus MacLeod (James Cosmo), leave to confront Clan Fraser in a battle. During the battle, MacLeod is fatally wounded by the Kurgan (Clancy Brown), an Immortal ally of the Fraser Clan. The Kurgan prepares to decapitate Connor, but Dugal and Angus stop him. Connor's kinsmen and lover Kate MacLeod (Celia Imrie) mourn for him over his deathbed, but the next day, MacLeod has fully recovered, much to the confusion - and rising fear - of his clan. Dugal and Kate believe Connor is in league with the devil, and the clan prepares to burn him at the stake, but Angus saves him by banishing him instead.

In 1985, the police, led by Lieutenant Frank Moran (Alan North), investigate the Madison Square Garden crime scene. Forensics expert Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart) discovers a shard of MacLeod's sword in an I-beam, and takes it away for analysis. When she recognizes the sword steel to be older than any sword-smithing techniques known from medieval Japan, she becomes all the more interested in the mystery weapon. Moran returns to the Police Headquarters, where he tries in vain to interrogate Nash, while elsewhere, The Kurgan checks into a seedy hotel. Nash confronts Brenda at a local bar. When he leaves, she follows. The Kurgan confronts them, and he and MacLeod engage in a sword fight, but a police helicopter causes the two men to separate.

In the 16th century, Connor has married a woman named Heather MacLeod (Beatie Edney). One day, a stranger named Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez (Sean Connery) arrives at their home, and MacLeod is hit by a sudden, painful sensation, which Ramirez calls the Quickening. Later on, Ramirez and MacLeod are out on a loch in a rowboat, and Ramirez throws MacLeod into the water. Unable to swim, MacLeod panics and begins to sink, but he finds himself still alive. Ramirez finally reveals that they are part of a select group born as Immortals, who are destined to fight and kill each other (by decapitation) until only one survives; this last Immortal will come to wield a prize which will give him supreme power over all mankind. Ramirez begins to train Connor in the use of the Quickening and the ways of the sword.

Later, Ramirez tells MacLeod that immortality can be a curse as well; Ramirez reveals he has been married three times, including to the daughter of a Japanese swordsmith who made Ramirez's katana, and watched all his wives grow old and die. He then begs MacLeod to let Heather go, but MacLeod refuses. Later one night, while MacLeod is out, Ramirez and Heather are having dinner when the Kurgan storms in. Ramirez and the Kurgan battle, and Ramirez almost wins, but is overpowered and decapitated by the Kurgan, who takes Ramirez's power and then rapes Heather. Connor returns to find his house in ruins, keeps Ramirez's sword, and remains by his wife's side all her life. Following her demise, MacLeod wanders around the world, with only his memories and Ramirez's sword to keep him company.

In 1985, Nash/MacLeod returns to his apartment and meets up with his adopted daughter, Rachel Ellenstein (Sheila Gish). He also encounters fellow Immortal Sunda Kastagir (Hugh Quarshie) and share a brief and friendly reunion and their memories of old times. Later that night, a paranoid ex-Marine Kirk Matunas (Christopher Malcolm) spots the Kurgan and Kastagir duelling. Kastagir is decapitated and Matunas open fires on the Kurgan, but the Kurgan recovers quickly and impales Matunas on his sword and leaves. Lt. Moran visits Matunas in the hospital, but Matunas' description does not match that of MacLeod, so the Kurgan becomes Moran's prime suspect. MacLeod visits Brenda after being invited to dinner and confronts her with his knowledge that she works for the police, but Brenda declares that all she really cares about is examining MacLeod's sword. As she later begins to delve into MacLeod's past life, she finds to her startlement that he has assumed the identity of a child which had died at birth and that he has walked the earth for several centuries. She confronts MacLeod with her findings, who tells her, cornered, that he is immortal, which he proves by plunging a dagger into his body. Connor and Brenda share an emotional kiss, and then make love.

The Kurgan notices this new intimacy in Connor's life, however, and when Brenda returns to her apartment, he captures her and takes her hostage. MacLeod decides to kill the Kurgan once and for all and rushes off to confront the Kurgan at Silvercup Studios. After a long and difficult battle, MacLeod finally manages to decapitate the Kurgan and receives the Immortals' collected powers. Later, back in Scotland, MacLeod reveals to Brenda he is now not only mortal and is finally able to have children, but has also been bestowed with the gift of telepathy, which he decides, remembering Ramirez's teachings, to use for the benefit of mankind.

Hey,It,s a kind of Magic.