Highlander (1986)

"From the dawn of time We came; moving silently down through the centuries, living many secret lives, struggling to reach the time of the Gathering; when the few who remain will battle to the last. No one has ever known we were among you ...until now."

The first in a series of lucrative film and TV adventures, Mulcahey's excellent breakthrough movie (after the equally impressive Razorback (1984) and a career in music promo videos) is not only the best of the series, but one of the most innovative and exciting action movies of the 1980s. Stripped of its flashy cross-cutting and electrifying visuals, Highlander is a standard adventure / romance, but Mulcahy imbues the action with such excitement and energy that one tends to overlook the script's shortcomings. The obligatory romance sub-plots are handled with a genuine sensitivity and inventiveness, the perpetually youthful McLeod watching helplessly as his beloved Heather ages and dies in a truly remarkable moment that exposes the tragedy of immortality. Later he finds comfort with forensic scientist Brenda Wyatt only for her to be abducted by The Kurgan and held hostage in the effects-laden climax.

The acting is uniformly excellent. Lambert has rarely been better in his often misguided Hollywood ventures, capably portraying a man who has lived too long and seen too much, alternating between compassion and brutality as he loves and slays his way across the centuries. Connery too is excellent (but what did you expect?), clearly revelling in his off-beat role, tongue planted firmly in his cheek; when his character meets a sticky end at the hands of The Kurgan, one experiences a genuine sense of loss.

And what a monster The Kurgan is... Brown's portrayal of the rasping, murderous giant damn near steals the show and is one of screen fantasy's most repulsive and unforgettable villains. Beattie Edney as Heather and Roxanne Hart as Brenda are sadly given little to do but look decorous and be threatened by The Kurgan (though Edney's death scene is - despite the unconving old-woman make up - one of the film's emotional highlights) and one needs to question the lack of any decent role for women in the film.

But the real star of the film is Mulcahy's stylish direction. His cross-cuts between 1980s New York, Second World War Europe and 1500s Scotland are fanciful and arresting (the most audacious being a slow rise through a fish tank that turns into a Scottish loch!) and the choreography of the many action set-pieces is exemplary. The climactic confrontation between McLeod and The Kurgan in particular is excellent, ruined only by some clearly visible wires supporting Lambert as he takes to the air in a storm of inherited life-energy. Mulcahey's cameras are constantly on the move, cruising through and around the action. Highlander, alongside Razorback, remains at the pinnacle of a promising career subsequently wasted on a whole series of appalling thrillers (Ricochet (1991), Blue Ice (1992), Tale of the Mummy (1998) et al).

A lot of publicity was gained at the time of the film's release by the inclusion of a number of very radio-friendly Queen songs on the soundtrack, though in truth, the songs are barely used and the film didn't really need them. Kamen's lush orchestral score is equally impressive but failed to get as much attention.

Despite its twin narrative drive (and the assertions of some dim-wits too lazy to work out what was going on for themselves), Highlander's success lies in its very simplicity. It pretends to be nothing more than a straight-ahead action movie with no pretensions and a very firm directorial sense of purpose. Barely explained references to the mystical Quickening (a poorly explained psychic phenomenon unique to immortals) threaten to rock the boat, but they're few and far between and easily ignored. To keep the narrative as lean as possible, no explanation is ever offered as to the origins of the immortals and the film benefits from this sense of mystery.

Highlander was followed by Mulcahey's appalling Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) which managed to contradict virtually everything that had been established in the first film, and the better but hardly earthshattering Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994). The franchise was subsequently translated to TV where it became a lacklustre series and a Japanese animated kiddies show before switching back to the big screen for more nondescript sequels. This original entry, however, remains just that - original. A fine film destined in years to come to be seen for what it is, an exemplary action piece that remains as potent now as when it was first released.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009