Highlander:
The Directors Cut - 30th Anniversary Edition (1986/Lionsgate DVD
Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B+
Director
Russell Mulcahy's 1986 cult classic Highlander has landed on
disc in new DVD and Blu-ray editions (we are only covering the DVD
edition here) that capture the film with a new transfer and in depth
extra features chronicling the making of the film. For some reason,
this was a film that I never got around to watching the whole way
through until I received this release where I instantly not only
enjoyed the film but noted how many other big blockbusters have
ripped off some of its ideas, shots, and sequences since. For
instance, sword fighting training scenes amidst beautiful mountains
(Batman Begins), fighting hand to hand through WWII and not
being affected by gunfire (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and even
silhouette sword fights before a heavy blue background (Kill
Bill), all of which goes to show the impact that this film has
had on modern filmmakers.
Starring
Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod as an immortal living in 1985
New York City, he is constantly haunted by demons from the past of
his long life and must avoid getting his head chopped off by other
immortals in order to keep his long life. Having falling in love in
the 1800s (and lost his love due to her own mortality), fought wars,
and trained with one of the best instructors of his kind Juan Sanchez
Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery), MacLeod must continue to stand
his ground against (fellow immortal) villain known as the Victor
Kruger (Clancy Brown) in the ''modern'' day with the help of an
attractive police detective named Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart).
Presented
in standard definition with an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of
1.85:1 and a lossy English 5.1 Dolby Digital track, the film looks
fine on DVD with the exception of a few battle scenes towards the
beginning of the film that look a bit shaky (probably the new footage
that was added to this directors cut). I'm interested to see the
Blu-ray release of this same edition to see if some of the transfer
is fixed.
Special
Features include...
Director's
Commentary
Interviews
with Russell Mulcahy and Christopher Lambert
The
Making of Highlander (feature-length documentary)
Deleted
Scenes
Archival
Interview with Christopher Lambert
Trailer
Featuring
amazing cinematography (including gorgeous rain sequences), cool low
budget special effects, gorgeous locations all over the world, and
top notch acting, I would suggest Highlander to any genre fan that
loves sword fighting adventure films or time traveling films. While
I've heard from others that the series gets progressively worse,
after seeing and liking this so much I may go back and watch them all
for fun.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
