My 4K Sound Canal version of "
Highlander" (original film) showed up today. I had no idea it was coming, but then so I rewatched it. They actually converted the full-length (director's cut) version, so it's got all the extra scenes of which some were cut because they disrupted the narrative either plot or tone-wise (the most obvious being the humorous duel of 1783)
I dunno, it's such a glorious mess of a film. Even all these years later, despite all of its flaws, I still actually love this film for so many reasons.
- One of the greatest evocative scores + a decent track of songs by Queen. it's still something to have the sound turned up in the opening and hear Queen blast in with four-part harmony on a black screen.
- Really resonant performances (Lambert, Connery, Brown) -- even if Connery and Brown seem over the top in places, they are extremely memorable. It's extremely cool because Brown went on to become much more widely known (SpongeBob, Lost, Shawshank Redemption, so many other TV shows and films) over the years, but his Kurgan is maybe one of the most memorable 80's film villians.
- The dialogue is actually pretty funny throughout, in a decent way and not necessarily a stupid way (although there are occasional stupid lines).
- Most of the transitions are really memorable (like how it transitions to the past and back to the present).
- It actually attempts to be deep or at least resonant and sometimes succeeds. The film does a good job of presenting the negatives of immortality and how this results in a sense of restlessness, ennui, and loneliness because anything or anyone you care about will eventually pass away. The music buttresses this as well.
- The relationship w/ Rachel is expanded in the DC. It never gets superdeep, but he saves her life when she's a little girl and she ends up staying with him and supporting him through her entire life. It's clear that she loves him or cares deeply, but he always stayed a bit distant from her because of what happened with Heather and they did not really have a romantic relationship, she was almost more of a daughter to him despite her eventually looking old enough to be his mother. It's really touching that one of the first things he says to her is, "Hey, it's a kind of magic," and then this is the last thing he says to her when he leaves her at the end. The actress playing her has such a small role but emotionally nails her facial expressions and voice. It's one of my favorite parts of the film -- it evokes love and loss, the inevitable passing of time.
- It's really hard to watch him driven out of his hometown in the beginning. Everyone he cares about turns on him after he survives a mortal wound because he must be in "league with Lucifer!" and they're planning to burn him after beating him mercilessly... but the clan leader Angus doesn't agree with them and insists on banishing him instead. It's a really touching moment -- Angus can't protect him in town any more but does what he can to get him out safely and understands that Connor isn't evil but just something he doesn't understand. It's like a ray of goodness amid the hate.
- Same thing, the training montage reveals that Ramirez knew he was taking a risk when he trained Connor to survive the attacks of other Immortals, and there's a point when Connor could kill him and Ramirez looks a little anxious -- but instead Connor offers him his hand and calls him his brother. Ramirez had the spirit of a true teacher. In fact, the things the Immortals do (in light of them being virtually killable except in one way) reveals their inner nature -- who's a good person, and who's a bad one. Ramirez teaches those who could end up killing him eventually, while MacLeod saves people when he doesn't need to and/or doesn't really abuse his ability.
- There's a great moment in the final battle sequence likewise when Connor drops back into "scorpion position" with Ramirez's blade, and Kurgan seems to recognize the pose. Ramirez might not be around anymore, but his essence lives on in Connor, who is alive only because Ramirez taught him. Years later, The Matrix Revolutions mirrored this when in the final battle with Smith, where Neo looks like he is starting to lose, he does the "come on" hand gesture that we first saw Morpheus do in the first movie while training Neo.
- It's just small things like this that make the film better than you'd expect, and taps into some kind of emotional continuity undergirding the film even when the logical elements of the film fail. It helps that Lambert really embodies the forlorn, broody Connor/Nash character well.
Sound Canal is well-known for their 'ports and/or retouching/mastering of old films that aren't in good shape, over in Europe (usually Lionsgate will then 'port their conversions over to Region A/1), and this is probably the best-looking and sounding version of the film that will ever be made. It's still got some flaws but mostly of the shooting, not the producing, so they cannot be corrected. 4K also is not region-specific, that's basically a bluray/DVD artifact.
