Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

There are bad films, there are films considered to be the worst ever made and there are films that force their creators to take extreme effort in order to rescue their own reputations. One of those unfortunate people was Russell Mulcahy, Australian director who had to spend years and decades trying to set things right following his 1991 science fantasy action film Highlander II: The Quickening, one of the most notoriously panned films in history.

It represents the sequel to popular 1986 film Highlander, also directed by Mulcahy. In it Christopher Lambert returns in the role of Connor MacLeod, the last of the Immortals, people that had battled each other for millennia with Connor winning the Prize that would allow him to regain human mortality and have children. The plot begins roughly four decades after the events of the first film, in 2024 New York City which is presented as dystopian hellhole. Connor MacLeod is an tired old man who feels responsible for that state of affairs; in 1999 he used his powers to gather scientists and financial resources and built the Shield that defended Earth from deadly solar radiation following the collapse of ozone layer. The Shield served its purpose, but it also made sky permanently dark and made life under it miserable for most people, while the Shield Corporation, led by greedy and ruthless David Blake (played by John C. McGinley), takes enormous profits. Group of activists led by former Shield employee Louise Marcus (played by Virginia Madsen) wants to find the proof that the ozone layer has actually recover. Connor MacLeod becomes involved in all that due to the events that occurred long time ago on a different world from where Immortals originated after taking rebellion against evil General Katana (played by Michael Ironside). He still believes that even frail Connor represents threat to him so he sends his assassins to kill him. Their efforts not only fail but actually spark quickening – process that would rejuvenate Connor and allow him to use his power to face Katana himself and help Louise in her quest.

Problems for The Quickening started at the very beginning of production. The original film was conceived and made perfect sense as a standalone story that didn’t need any sequels. If sequel was to be made, the script had to bring something original while remaining within parameters of Highlander fictional universe. Scriptwriter Peter Bellwood made fatal mistake by providing origin of the Connor and other Immortals as beings from another world – aliens from planet Zeist in original theatrical version and people from “long ago” in subsequent versions. This in many ways went against mythology established in previous film, but even worse was decision to have two major plot elements instead of one – story about the Shield and Connor having to battle Katana. Those two plots don’t mix well and also feature two rather underwhelming villains, played by bland John C. McGinley and Michael Ironside who goes over the top.

Russell Mulcahy, on the other hand, does better work than scriptwriters. There are some scenes that he messes up, like absurdly and almost surrealistically violent subway train ride by Katana, but most of the scenes are quite effective, showing great care about sets, lighting and atmosphere that represents strange combination of Blade Runner and Tim Burton’s Batman. Christopher Lambert, who was never a great actor, does his best under the circumstances, just like Virginia Madsen in thankless role of eye candy. Sean Connery, despite his character of Ramirez getting killed in the first film, returns simply because his friend Lambert insisted on having him on set and producers being convinced that the film would fare better with his face on poster. Despite his presence not making much sense in context of film series’ continuity, Connery actually turns into best thing about the whole film. Although his role is basically glorified cameo, he uses opportunity to provide plenty of humour and help audience not taking The Quickening seriously. And not taking this film seriously is the only way for the viewing experience to be enjoyable.

Mulchay was actually aware of the problems The Quickening would get due to chaotic production in Argentina, utterly bloated budget and meddling studio executives that ultimately took creative control. The original theatrical version was greeted by critics without mercy and many would say completely deserving. The film nevertheless had decent results at home video market, but in 1995 Mulcahy brought his own director’s cut known as Renegade Version, which would change some details of the plot, make more sense and try to realign the film within the rest of the series. This was followed by 2004 Special Edition which used digital technology to improve some of the special effects. Yet, even with all those improvements The Quickening is inferior to the original and can be enjoyed only as “guilty pleasure”. Many hardcore fans of Highlander franchise would like to pretend that The Quickening wasn’t made at all, and scripts of subsequent sequels and TV series starring Adrian Pasdar completely ignore its continuity. The time was, however, kind to this film, including some real life ideas of certain billionaires to stop global warming which provide disturbing resemblance to plot of The Quickening, making this film strangely prophetic.

RATING: 5/10 (++)