Review of Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) by Kai82 — 25 May 2020

A frequent contender for the worst sequel and worst movies of all times list. It is the curse of the movie industry that a sequel has to be made even when the story is finished and everything is told if the original movie made enough money.

Strangely Highlander is one of the few franchises where you can make prequels in a working way. An immortal has lived for centuries or some for millennia. You can make stories from all ages with interesting twist and plots.

Because they were there they witness the truth and not the later lies or corrections of the historians. So you can get away with many additions or changes to history. But back to this movie. To be fair while it is pretty bad it may not even be the worst movie in the Highlander franchise as “The Source” is viewed by many as the inferior movie.

It is a sequel of the first movie that shows a grim future. So far it is O.K. But then after a view scenes to put it mildly they are adding some unique ideas and make bold choices. I must praise the courage to pull this off.

Also I would not have come up with these ideas. Not even as idea number 1000. The new elements ruin the myths. Some people say that less is more and a good mystery adds spice to a story and is better than a weak revelation.

Look at Avatar and the handling of the Firelord. He is teased and always shrouded in mysteries like a legendary figure. It is build up to the max and does not disappoint. Other example would be “The Force Awakens”.

It was so fun and interesting to talk about ideas, theories and characters before “The Last Jedi” crushed the creativity. Again I must return to the movie. The acting is adequate for me but I feel the actors know the mess they were in.

The special effects were fine for the time. It is only the alienating story and explanations that ruin this movie and all the myths. Everything that was mysterious and interesting is now like something ripped out of a B movie script or poor fan-fiction.

There are movies that were destroyed by ideas and this is the best example. Overall it is a mess of a movie but strangely not a franchise killer. It may be not the worst movie of all times and also not in the top ten but defiantly so bad that I warn you.