Highlander

Highlander is a 1986 fantasy film that tells a story about how immortality isn't all that's it cracked up to be and that it comes with it's consequences. The story centers around a man named Conner MacLeod, going under the name of Russel Nash, who was born in the year 1518 and is now living in the year 1986. Conner/Russel is one of the few remaining Immortals, who are destined to fight each other in sword duels until there is only one left, gaining all the power and knowledge of the Immortals they have killed. The Immortals can only die if their head is cut off, hence the sword fighting. Conner is waiting for the remaining Immortals, while trying to keep his Immortality a secret from a woman working for the police, who is connecting the dots about Conner's secret.

Now right away you will notice the awesome opening song, Princes of the Universe by Queen. The rest of the music is good with the traditional 80's music synthesizer effects. The best song in the whole movie at least for me is during the flashback to 1500's Scotland when Conner is with his wife Heather, and as time passes, she gradually grows older as he stays young. The song is Who Wants to Live Forever, again by Queen. This song really fits with the scene of the film which is also the saddest part of the movie as Conner see's his wife eventually die of old age and having never been able to have children (one of the draw backs of Immortality).

The acting for the film is decent enough for the 80's, though Christopher Lambert's (the man who plays Conner MacLeod) accent can be a little distracting and can make it hard to understand what he's saying. Sean Connery as the Immortal Ramirez, Conner's mentor, really steals the show for me. His acting style really makes the character feel real and relate able.

Another great positive is the authenticity of the Scotland locations. I always love wide shots of real landscape, especially when it's such a beautiful place like Scotland. However, there aren't that many of these scenes, so you'll end up missing them.

The sword fighting in the film isn't the best, but it isn't the worst in the world. In fact, it seems a lot more realistic with the way the sword fighting is put together. It makes things seem a lot more tense and overall a lot more interesting to watch, while with very stylistic sword fighting like say in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you might end up getting bored of seeing it over and over again very quickly.

All in all though, Highlander is a great 80's classic that I could watch any day. Yes some of the acting is average for some of the side characters and the beautiful landscape shots of Scotland are very few, but those don't make the film any worse for it. This film is one of my favorite movies of all time and I'm proud to call it that.

Highlander is an 80s classic. Not a great piece of film making necessarily, but great fun and with some dialogue that became a part of the playground for a generation. Looks a bit dated today, but definitely still worth watching for some of the action scenes and scottish scenery, plus a great soundtrack from Queen.