There is one more.

Twenty-one years after the original Highlander showed off potential that would never be fully realized, a decade after the TV series had hit the skids, I watched the Russian version of Highlander: The Source and completely gave up on this franchise. Then, in the midst of my throes of agony, someone tipped me off as to the existence of an anime called Highlander: The Search for Vengeance.

This movie has all the elements that make up a bad Highlander film. A post-apocalyptic future. Magic. Ghosts. But you know what? It is awesome.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: The Search for Vengeance” →

Picking up from where we left off last time…

After Joe casually drops the fact that the the Watcher organization no longer exists, he informs Duncan that Methos and the other remaining immortals are looking for the Source, and Duncan is required to come along because Anna is joining up with them. Wait, what?!

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: The Source, part two” →

Highlander: The Source is the suckiest thing that ever sucked.

Believe it or not, it is worse than Highlander II. It has worse characterization than Highlander: Endgame. It was intended to be the first part of a trilogy of films, but instead stands as one final middle finger to fans. It systematically goes through everything that is iconic about the Highlander franchise and destroys it.

I have a really hard time not calling Highlander: The Source the single worst movie I have ever seen. Triumph of the Will has always stood out as the iconic terrible film to me, with monstrous content supporting the Nazi party and a pace that makes it feel like a week of torture, but it at least had some artful directing to it. The Russian version of Solaris is boring as all hell, but has something thought-provoking and eerie in its conclusion. Even Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, one of the single poorest examples of acting, writing, and directing in modern cinema, is at least so bad it’s funny. The Source isn’t even something I can laugh at. It’s like somebody systematically set out to make the worst movie of all time and proceeded to accomplish that goal with all the precision efficiency of an unstoppable bad movie-making machine.

Between Highlander II and Highlander: The Source, this single franchise has not one, but two of the worst movies ever made. How is that even possible?

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: The Source, part one” →

So we’ve covered how the pre-release hype for Highlander: Endgame was nothing more than lies to cover for a movie that was unfinished and quite bad. And we’ve discussed how the first half of the film is a muddled mess that asks the audience to do all the emotional investment and hard work that the story doesn’t earn. So let’s finish this hellish trifecta by discussing how the end of Highlander: Endgame is basically nothing more than a series of gut-punches to fans who were conned into watching this movie.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: Endgame, part three” →

With the behind the scenes struggles covered, let’s take a look at some specific points where Highlander: Endgame fell apart despite the fact that someone, maybe even most of the folks involved, really wanted to make a good movie.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: Endgame, part two” →

I hate Highlander: Endgame. I don’t hate it because it’s a bad movie – it is, but not the worst film in the franchise. No, I hate this movie because it stinks of lies.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander: Endgame, part one” →

Question: What if you set out to make a TV show and every single person involved hated each other with the burning fury of a thousand exploding suns?

Answer: You’d have Highlander: The Raven.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander – The Raven” →

Even when the Highlander franchise met with limited success, nobody in charge of it seemed to know how to handle it. Case in point: Highlander: The Animated Series and Highlander III. Both came about in 1994, when the TV series had hit its stride and made the franchise popular again. The logical thing to do would have been to produce films based on the series and establish some continuity in the property. Instead, we got the exact opposite.

I’m analyzing the animated series and the third movie at the same time for two reasons. First, they were both released in 1994, right around the time Highlander: The Series was in its awesome third season. Second, there’s not a lot to say about them. Yes, they are bad (well, as far as I can tell…more about that in a bit), but they aren’t catastrophically bad. Mention the animated series to a Highlander fan and they might not even know it exists. Mention Highlander III and you might get a laugh at how bad the film is, but nowhere near the seething hatred you’d find from the other sequels. These additions to the franchise aren’t good by any means, but they also aren’t terrible.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander 1994” →

One thing I forgot to mention last rant was that Adrian Paul took over as the director for a couple of episodes in season four (“Homeland” and “Methuselah’s Gift”), and he also got behind the camera for two episodes in the fifth season (“Revelation 6:8” and “The Modern Prometheus”). Probably not coincidentally, three of the four episodes he directed are among the best in the series. Again, Adrian Paul’s contributions made Highlander: The Series the success it was. Unfortunately, as he lost interest in the series, the show also went downhill.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander The Series, seasons five and six” →

Despite struggling a bit early on without a clear direction, season one of Highlander: The Series was popular enough to warrant a continuation. That alone was remarkable enough; the franchise hadn’t exactly shown itself to be terribly viable beyond one movie up to that point. The second season did face some major hurdles, with the lead actress leaving the show and some budget cutbacks. Despite these problems, the show hit its stride and went on to produce some of the best moments of the franchise in seasons two through four.

Continue reading “A Kind of Magic: Highlander The Series, seasons two through four” →