Behold the crapfest that is Highlander: Endgame (Highlander - Endgame (DVD))

Name: Dando83

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Product:	Highlander - Endgame (DVD)
Date:	28/06/06 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Connor and Duncan MacLeod together at last

Disadvantages: Crap plot, Crap acting, Crap choreography, Crap production values, etc....

Highlander: Endgame played on TV tonight. I'd not watched it since its theatrical release. Remembered it wasn't great, but I was wrong. It is infact an utter crapfest.

As a Highlander fan I really wanted to like this film. I watched about half the episodes of the TV series. I'd also watched the three motion pictures. Let me rephrase that... I watched Part 2 and 3 get progressively worse anyway. I thought maybe this last installment would redeem the franchise. The main movie character joined with the main TV series character. What could go wrong? Uh, everything. I wouldn't be lying to say I wanted to cut my own head off while watching it.

PREMISE:

In case you've crawled out from under a rock, for the most part, the Highlander movies follow the adventures of Connor MacLeod (B-movie king Christopher Lambert) from 15th century Scotland. He discovers he's immortal.

Connor's achilles tendon isn't a tendon at all, but in fact his neck. Only a severed head can end his life. Connor's part in the "game" as an immortal is to kill all the other immortals because the number one rule of said game is "there can be only one"

The TV series follows the adventures of his "cousin" Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) born a good many years later. Explores many more social relationships and fleshes out the whole immortal premise.

Let's get back to Endgame specifically.

CRAP PLOT:

Someone new is gunning (or is it swording) for Connor MacLeod.

Is it an evil barbarian sworn to be the last immortal? No. Is it an evil General sworn to be the last immortal? No. Is it an evil wizard sworn to be the last immortal? No. It's some dopey priest whose father MacLeod killed in a rage after the villagers burned his mom at the stake. Basically pansy-looking Jacob Kell (crap actor Bruce Payne...bad guy from Wesley Snipe's Passenger 57) is looking for some good old fashioned revenge. It really only gets more boring.

CRAP SUB-PLOT

Kell's right-hand-woman is Duncan MacLeod's ex-wife who's mad at him for turning her immortal (not so mad she won't bonk him). How will Duncan help Connor fight Kell when he obviously has feelings for Kell's missus? Who cares.

CRAP ACTING

Christopher Lambert does the best he can with a meagre script. As Connor Macleod he's mostly complaining about how tired he is about living so long with various regrets and guilt. He also looks old and not up to the challenge of sword fighting.

Adrian Paul is a very energetic ladies man in the TV series and does it with just the right amount of camp. In this film though, playing the concerned cousin Duncan (or is it brother), it's obvious he's no Hollywood star. He spends most of the movie pining for his ex. Go back to TV man!!!

Bruce Payne is a very one dimensional actor. As the bad guy in every movie I've seen him in, he plays it the same. Evil eye and crazy madman speeches. Here the premise for his badness is as bad as his incessant ramblings. Shut up already!

Lisa Barbuscia is Kate, Duncan's ex. She's not been in many movies or TV shows. You can tell. She's a no-dimensional love interest for Duncan. Again, the crap sub-plot they put her in doesn't let her act as you'd expect in a fantasy sci-fi. Most memorable for showing her boobies in one scene. Has kinda freaky lips.

Sheila Gish who played Rachel in the first movie is back briefly in this one. She plays the best part of all...getting blown up very early on. Wise career move.

Other actors: all from the TV series. Shouldn't ever appear on movie screen ever again. Ever. Never.

CRAP CHOREOGRAPHY.

So, the plot's crap and our actors are old or untrained. Well, at least there's cool sword-fighting right? WRONG! Uninspired fight scenes throughout. Don't show us slow motion, it only helps illustrate the crapness.

Honestly, there is very little action. It's mostly talking. Yep, talking. The fight choreographer had almost nothing to do except sit on the set wondering how crap this movie would be when released. I'd have stabbed the producers with a sword had I been him.

CRAP PRODUCTION VALUE

Boring locations, cheap sets, dull music, very few special effects, short uninteresting fight scenes. It all comes down to the almighty dollar. See the reason below, but money on this was obviously tight. I don't think the theatrical release was very wide, and I'm surprised there was one at all.

It's not expensive to film two hours of mostly talking, so that's what we got. Fans of the TV series will think that the film resembles an extra long episode. Actually, had this been an episode of the TV series, I'd have liked it a whole lot more.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

The movie series started on a high note. Christopher Lambert played the role of his life that became a cult favourite. The first film also featured Sean Connery and the ominous Clancy Brown as the baddie. The dark New York atmosphere and brilliant soundtrack that mixed Queen's 80's rock with celtic music really got the emotions going.

The final chapter in the movies went for TV production values, losing all the New York grittiness. Christopher Lambert looked old and had no decent script to work with. Bruce Payne as the villain was very weak, being way too melodramatic and not the least bit scary. The rest of the cast were great in the TV show, but obviously not up to movie standards.

Like any movie with such low production values that turns into caca, there's always a good reason. This film was supposed to help bridge the story between two television shows-- Highlander: The Series, and Highlander: The Raven. Unfortunately for fans, the latter series was cancelled forcing many delays in making the movie and prompting budget cuts.

The only other film that springs to mind with such a big let-down value is Superman IV.

Summary: Wish "there could be only one" applied to the number of movies in this series.