It turns out that there are rather a few different versions of Highlander II doing the rounds. There's the US theatrical cut, which runs to about 85 minutes, there's the UK cut which is about 25 minutes longer...as well as a variety of other edits which attempt to mold the problematic narrative into something comprehensible. The last edit, 2004's DVD release called the 'Ultimate Edition', is the nearest the producers have got to presenting a version of the story that makes the most sense and it's the version that I've seen this time around.
Controversially, Highlander II The Quickening takes place around 40 years after the original with the now mortal Connor MacLeod an old man living in a environmentally ravaged future. Surprisingly there's a lot that works, while there's still a great deal that monumentally sucks.
On the plus side:-
1/ The future setting is a ballsy move, being a considerable change from the contemporary and historic scenes of 1986's Highlander. Filmed in the decaying suburbs of Buenos Aires, the exteriors are a funky blend of Blade Runner and cyberpunk sensibility all bathed in early nineties design ideology of strong blue light and smoke machines. The film (for the most part looks great.)
2/ The plot of MacLeod having received The Prize at the conclusion of the first film and uses that gift of knowledge to create an energy shield to protect the earth in the absence of a nearly destroyed ozone layer is a great concept, as are his subsequent attempts to prove the shield is no longer necessary. It also has a nice subtext about the greed of corporations over the common environmental good of the population...a subject which is exponentially growing in importance 20 years after the film was released.
3/ The cast are uniformly excellent. Christopher Lambert and Seam Connery reprise their roles with gusto proving to be a formidable and extremely entertaining double act in the brief scenes they have onscreen together. Michael Ironside's villain General Katana might be a pale imitation of Clancy Brown's sublime Kurgan, but this is still Ironside we're talking about here so he still musters more than enough maniacal menace to eclipse most of his bad guy peers. John C McGinley delivers a masterclass in slime douchbag corporate bosses while Virginia Madsen is both strong and insanely beautiful as the love interest.
4/ The action sequences aren't forced down you throat like so many future epics are these days and the action is admirably diverse, often violent, and not just sword fighting either. An earlt sequence with MacLeod being attacked by two winged assassins is perhaps the best of the bunch with hoverboards, trains and exploding cars all mixed up into a bonkers concoction of mayhem.
5/ Returning director Russell Mulcahy still had a flair for imaginative cross fades (so memorable in the first film) as well as an art house approach to editing meaning this never feels as predictable as his later work like Ricochet and The Real McCoy.
6/ The effects in this version have been given an overhaul so the shoddy red shield effect has been replaced with a less shoddy blue shield effect and there's a few nice matt paintings to expand the city scapes a little further.
So far so good. But the bad news is still bad.
a/ An attempt has been made in this 'Ultimate Cut' to erase the idea that Immortals are indeed from the distant Planet Zeist by suggesting that they are in fact from the distant past instead (all with the help of a new matt painting and some dodgy overdubbed voice inserts.) The problem is this makes even less sense than the Zeist backstory. At least with that scenario you could explain the futuristic clothing, interior structures and superior technology available to Ironside and his crones and not just 'magic' as the spin insists.
b/ Sean Connery's presence in the story makes no sense at all. Although exiled to Earth/the future and slain in the first film Connery is resurrected when MacLeod calls his name. 'Magic' or 'a special connection' is the reason we're asked to believe for this remarkable reappearance, but it feels like bullshit to me. Why he reappears in Scotland of all places we're never told (maybe because that was where he was killed?) and what he contributes to the story is questionable. At least as comic relief he's a force to be reckoned with.
c/ The whole energy shield plot works fine but the return of the Immortals narrative is devoid of logic. The only reason MacLeod regains his immortality is the energy he inherits from the two fallen assassins sent to kill him. But since MacLeod is an old man at deaths door, it makes no sense that General Katana would risk MacLeod becoming an undying threat again (a fact that's pointed out to him at least twice within the movie!!!)
d/ If there was a major criticism of the first Highlander it was the speed in which the love interest falls for MacLeod. Doubling down on weak character plotting, the film makers do it again by having Madsen fall head over feels for Lambert having only exchanged a handful of lines of dialogue...and then only for 30 seconds as a rejuvenated young man. Sweet Zeus, is seduction part of the immortals magic arsenal as well?
e/ Too many things happen without explanation. Why does Katana and company call Lambert and Connery "MacLeod" and "Ramirez" when these are the names they adopted after their exile to earth / the future? Surely they had names before their exile?
If Ramirez can summon up all his life's energy into one small moment to save his friends, why doesn't MacLeod fade into non-existence when he apparently performs the same magical feat at the film's climax? Whatever happened to MacLeod's ability to sense another immortal when they're near him? Although he occasionally posses this ability, it's inconsistent throughout the film. And following on from the first film, why do the immortals observe the rule about not fighting on holy ground? It's not part of their pre-exile instructions and it's not like Christianity is practiced on Zeist (or over 2000 years ago for that matter.)
f/ Ironside might make a cool villain but his one-liners sure are tiresome. The subway train sequence where he arrives from Zeist/the past is ludicrous, perhaps being a metaphor for the out of control nature of the filming.
If you have the capacity to switch your brain's logic centres into neutral then Highlander II is not the total write off that the legend speaks of. It's an unusually brave sequel (so brave that initially both Blade 3 and RoboCop 2 once considered a far-future set sequel before ditching the idea for something safer and more familiar). Just try not to think too much.
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