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July 13, 2003

Highlander 3 - The Sorcerer

Disappointing Sequel, but better than Highlander 2

Highlander was a tremendous film, and at the end Conor McLeod was the final immortal on the planet. "There can be only One" was his catchphrase. But then a sequel was made, and it was terrible. It paid no attention to the story in Highlander, it was brash and over-the-top, and substituted intelligence and pathos with loud music and extreme violence. Fans around the world screamed "No!"

It looks as if someone listened to the fans, and deciding the franchise could be resurrected, decided to make a real sequel that didn't ride roughshod over the original's story, but actually followed through. It's actually quite a poor story unfortunately, as it really doesn't add anything new to the idea of being immortal, and is just an excuse to show some swordfighting.

400 years ago, in ancient Japan, an immortal with sorcery skills is killed by another immortal called Kane. So Kane acquires the ability to create illusions, to trick his enemies into seeing things that aren't there. Before he can use his new skills however, McLeod manages to entomb him in an underground chamber, where he will remain forever, still alive, but trapped.

Back to the current day, and an archaeological dig frees Kane, and he wants revenge. Kane is a one dimensional character, with a simple bloodlust to destroy everything in sight. Throughout the rest of the film he gets to use his illusionist skills to confuse his enemies, but this is really only an excuse to include some fancy special effects. The archaeologist is an attractive woman called Alex, and from an old piece of tartan she finds in Japan, she manages to track McLeod down. He still has his New York apartment, and is still managing to confuse the doctors by being shot and not dying, and the police by leaving headless corpses lying around. Kane kidnaps McLeod's adopted son, to lure him to a swordfight, which McLeod wins. He drives off into the sunset with Alex and his son, presumably to live happily ever after.

Highlander 2 was an abomination, Highlander 3 is simply unnecessary.

AE 1

Posted by se71 at July 13, 2003 01:29 PM

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