Highlander (1986)
Christopher Lambert stars in this cult classic from the 80s about immortals and sword fights. While not a massive success initially Highlander went onto spawn a number of sequels and a couple of television shows. The nucleus of the story is that a number of immortals have lived through out human history and can only die by having their heads chopped off, the last surviving immortal will gain “the prize” and the time of the gathering which forces the remaining immortals to on place for a final show down is approaching.
There are some really good ideas behind this film such as the exploration of immortals trapped in a mortal world so it is not hard to see how this series gained a cult following. Connor out living his first wife is covered well but it would have been nice to see a little more on the relationship between him and Rachel, the young Jewish girl he saves during WW2 and raises as his own.
British rock group Queen provide some excellent songs for the sound track but there is some pretty terrible incidental music/sound included as well, this is symptomatic of the film as a whole. We have some really great elements in this film but it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Unorthodox is the best way to describe the casting of the two leads, a French man as a Scotsman and a Scotsman as an Egyptian. Using the the Scottish highlands as a back drop for some of the flash back sequences provides excellent scenery but some of the sword play does seem a little weak.
While Highlander is a quintessentially 80s film it does date and does have several flaws but remains a solid offering in my opinion 4/5
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