Customer Reviews

LOSE YOUR HEAD!!! - By: Stotty, 09 Jan 2008
I don't care what anyone says, for me 'Highlander' sits alongside 'Blade Runner' as one of the most original & best directed sci fi adventures of the 1980s.
Watching it after twenty years, it still maintains it's freshness.
Ok, having a French American playing a Scot (Conner Macleod) & a Scot playing an Iberian (Ramirez), might seem like wildly offbeat casting, but somehow it works. Christopher Lambert comes out of the movie as an excellent & sympathetic lead, who you have no problem rooting for throughout the picture. Sean Connery gives the movie some real star quality & charisma, & bad guy Clancy Brown makes a wonderfully psychotic, menacing villain. It's a shame that the female lead isn't as engaging a character as the wife Macleod outlivesin the Scottish highlands, but that's a minor complaint really.
The story of immortals living among us down through the centuries, waiting for the time when they must fight each other to the death by decapitation is both unusual & engaging, & the fluctuation of settings between 16th century Scottish highlands & modern day New York is highly effective.
Director Russell Mulcahy makes a successful move from pop video clips to mainstream movies too, & his pop video 'apprenticeship' is used to great effect with some truly visionary directorial techniques at times. Notice the little subtelties he uses to bring the action forward & backwardin time, especially the way he manages to segue an image of Lambert's face into a picture of the Mona Lisa. Quite brilliant.
The production values are good, especially Macleod's antique shop/home, & the Scottish locations are at times, quite breathtaking.
The film moves along at a nice steady pace, & the alternation between Michael Kamen's epic mucical score & Queen's rock soundtrack gives 'Highlander' some real beef. I was interested to learn that Marillion were originally approached to do the soundtrack, but they turned it down. It would have been very interesting to see what kind of score they would have come up with, especially given the fact that Scotsman, Fish was still with the band then, but nevermind.
'Highlander' is a great example of sci-fi fantasy moviemakingin the 1980's, & is a standardin imaginative storytelling.
The 'Highlander' franchise has ended up being a mess of directors, interfering film producers, poor continuity & a media that at times, seems to enjoy the critical panning of these movies, which is quite sad. For anyone, unfamiliar with the 'Highlander' phenomenon, this is the only place to start.
Watch without prejudice & enjoy.

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There Can Be Only One! - By: Clint Stallone, 26 Dec 2007
Extras -
If like me you have a soft spot for this cult film, then you'll be wanting a definitive dvd edition. This 2-disc set could have been a bit better, but for the moment its about the best you'll get i'm afraid. The director's commentary is quite informative most of the time, but its just a shame Mr Mulcahy sounds abit boring. The three part documentary (or four part if you get the German version), is mainly interviews with a few film clips. It's interesting, & compliments the film nicely. The Christopher Lambert interview is a bit frustrating as itsin French language (don't worry though, as it has English subtitles). This same interview was on the previous U.K dvd edition, as was the trailer. You can understand why no one bothered to see this filmin the cinema, as the trailer just reeks of cheese. If you are wondering about where deleted scenes are? Then i'm sorry to inform you, that they were apparently destroyed - the documentary will reveal all.

Picture -
The dvd features a decent transfer, with the film presentedin its 1.85:1 aspect ratio, as seenin the cinema. It is also anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 televisions. Until the film is releasedin Hi-Def, this is probably the best you'll get. Also the version of the film is the European release, which differs slightly to the American release - check IMDB for more details.

Sound -
The back of the case says Stereo. However this is a mistake, & it is actually 5.1 Dolby Digital. The soundtrack sounds superb, with the noisy Queen songs, & epic score. You won't get sound effects appearing constantly on the back speakers (even the 'Star Wars' films don't!), but only during the action scenes. If you want this film with the best sound possible, then i recommend the Region 1 U.S dvd, as it features a DTS track.

Overall -
If you're a fan of this film, then i can highly recommend this dvd. For once us Brits get a better dvd than the Americans (unless you have a thing for DTS sound of course), with some decent extras. However it would have been nice to have some Queen music videos, & the extra fourth part of the documentary (why it is not includedin the U.K release i have no idea). If you're a completist, then you'll get this dvd (for the exclusive director's commentary), the German dvd (for the complete documentary) & the American dvd (for the DTS audio, & American version of the film).

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Great idea, weak execution - By: Trevor Willsmer, 22 Dec 2007
Highlander is one of those good ideas that never works because of disastrous directorial miscasting. Attention-seeking video director Russell Mulcahy seems almost perversely determined to make the wrong choicein almost every scene, whether its his obsessive use of inappropriate long lenses or his determination to make every shot so distinctive that he never notices that not only do the pictures often play against the intent of the scene but half the time the shots don't even match. He's not much good with actors either, constantly spinning off into clumsy broad comedy that undermines any threat or momentum, with Clancy Brown's evil Kurgan the main casualty as he is reduced to a tiresomely comical punk rocker. It may be the best of the series, but it's a long way from being even nearly as good as it could & should have been. One film that's practically crying out for a remake with a decent director.

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its a kind of magic - By: D. Robinson, 01 Sep 2007
this is possibly one of the best movies ever made i remember watching this on tv when i was a kid & i loved it then & i still love it now.christopher lambert plays a fantastic role as doe's sean connery & it has one of the best bad guy characters ever kurgan. the storyline is very strong also it doesn't seem to wander of like some films do & the soundtrack is amazing this is a must see film

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highlander german edition - By: Zeljko Toncic, 20 Mar 2007
I em a big fan of this movie. i watched uk immortal edition on my friends dvd player & i was very disapointed. the sound & picture quality are very poor.i have german special edition & it is mch better. the picture is digitally remastered. the mix is 5.1 dolby digitalin english. it also has 30 minutes more extras on disc 2 then uk edition.
there is no commentary track on disc one on german edition.