Don't Lose Your Head

Since 1991 fans have been trying to undo the damage Highlander II created. The original film was unlike any other film, original (somewhat) and thought-provoking. It was a kind of magic. The sequel took what was an epic-fantasy-noir film and reduced it to pure sci-fi. Even the film makers tried to undo it by unsuccessfully releasing the Director's cut. Like all good stories of immortality, the original worked by showing its unnatural place in a familiar reality. But the apocalyptic sequel was far too unconnected from our reality to make a moving statement. That, said I never thought it was a really bad film, it just wasn't a good Highlander film. Highlander was a movie that was just unsequelable. It portrayed the end of a story. When the series was created, it effectively rebooted the story and presented a worthy counterpart for the film, albeit in watered-down TV fashion. We had hoped that the producers had learned their lesson from the aftermath of the Quickening.

That was until September 15th, 2007. Word about Highlander the Source was not good, but one at least expected a straight to DVD release. Instead we were given a "Sci-fi Original" movie. Even though it was never created by the Sci-Fi Channel, it might has well have been, it was just as bad. The awfulness that The Source achieved was simple unimaginable. It makes the Quickening look like a great film. It took the idea of an apocalyptic world far further than the Quickening did (although I won't even mention the Animated Series), and was far more disconnected. This time they decided to make the characters act unlike their previous incarnations. So we are left with a story that has no point of reference in terms of setting, plot, or characterization, and with a film that has no cinematic feel of the original. The noir elements are long gone, as are any flashbacks, a core part of the Highlander universe. Instead we get really cheesy special effects. I won't dwell on how bad this movie is any further, suffice to say it is simply unwatchable and it probably killed any chances for a continuation of the story. Stay tuned for my reaction to the other "revisioning" of the Highlander universe, Highlander Vengeance.