Thirty - five years ago , a unexampled idiom first entered the pop cultivation lexicon : “ There can be only one . ” It ’s from Highlander , a 1986 sci - fi fantasy from director Russell Mulcahy . The motion picture stars Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod , a Scottish warrior who learnshe ’s an immortal being destinedto battle across the centuries . Sean Connery carbon monoxide - starsalong with Clancy Brown and Roxanne Hart .
Though the film — written by Gregory Widen , Peter Bellwood , and Larry Ferguson — is celebrating its 35th anniversary on March 7 , Highlander is a pic I thought I had never seen . That is , until I rewatched it recently when it became available on Amazon Prime . I realized I actually had seen it before , it had just been so long , I did n’t remember much . It lento came back though and I began to contrive why the film , and the franchise it spawned , still remainsa devotee - darling to this day .
https://gizmodo.com/the-epic-mythology-of-highlander-may-be-holding-back-it-1831873322
There can be only one.Photo: Lionsgate
In a idiomatic expression ? humans - building . The pic , create and co - write by Gregory Widen , weavesa history and mythology that ’s biggerthan the screen can hold . We discover a human race in which an ongoing battle has been drive place between immortal warrior through hundred . They have the knowledge that one sidereal day they ’ll link up for an event address the Gathering where any remaining immortals will battle to the death until only one stay , and that person will be empower a mysterious power .
In the Highlander celluloid , though , only a diminutive sliver of that story is seen . And even in that paring , it still leaves a long ton to the imagination .
The moving-picture show is very much about this one man , Connor MacLeod . Upon realizing he ’s immortal , he must fare to grips with it and his purpose , followed by the Gathering in which he shows down with the villainous Kurgan ( Brown ) . The story traverse centuries but is told through flashbacks , all of which are focused on MacLeod—100 % the correct choice , because his story is the perfect keyhole into this larger populace . specially when , spoiler qui vive , he kill Kurgan and realise the prize , which is a near - infinite cognition and power to learn view , as well as his mortality .
Clancy Brown has basically made a career just playing this guy, and we love him for it.Photo: Lionsgate
Highlander basically follows the eventual superior of this God - level quest . But there ’s so much more to that story than we see , which in turn gives everything happening in the film that much more lordliness . We never ( at least in this movie , I have n’t seen the sequelsor TV serial ) receive out how this all start , how many deity there were , if it was only men , why it terminate where it did , and what MacLeod did with the award he win . Surely much of that is shell out with in the sequels but taking the original movie on its own , it ’s a history bursting at the line with potency .
https://gizmodo.com/9-movies-with-characters-who-prove-immortality-can-be-a-1841866098
Nowhere is that well illustrate than the fight scene . Think about it . The motion-picture show ’s first action mechanism scene takes position in a non-white , hugger-mugger parking muckle . Another is in a smokey back alley . The closing curtain is on a water - rob rooftop . None of these are in particular epic location ( though the rooftop with the descend Silvercup Studios sign come close ) . And yet this chronicle , these immortals , with all their uncounted experience and Wisdom of Solomon , are truly epic . We just see them in situations that are less than that .
Sean Connery should have been in more of Highlander.Photo: Lionsgate
To further illustrate , arguably the most larger-than-life fighting scene happens without the main theatrical role . It ’s when Kurgan fights Juan Sánchez - Villalobos Ramírez ( Connery ) inside an erstwhile rook . This makes perfect sensory faculty because Ramírez is the main link to what the film could be , but is n’t . First of all , it ’s through him that we watch most of the mythology and rules all-important to the plot . Plus , it ’s been delivered by the guy who play James Bond in this outrageous outfit with jewels and silk and huge hats — it ’s absolutely wild . Ramírez is everything the rest of Highlander is not and in all of his conniption , all you ’re thinking is “ I wish this movie was about him . ”
Which is exactly the beauty of Highlander . While the news report on screen is interesting , it always feel like what ’s occur off could be even better . It makes you require more .
Other pieces of the picture show follow this pattern too . There are the multiple Queen songs throughout , all of which finger much grander and verbose than the movie at hand . Brown ’s early - career performance as Kurgan feels rather fortuitous since he ’s become such anamazing case actorin the decades since ( admit playing Burg in The Mandalorian ) . And though it surely was n’t the first film to do so , I could n’t help imagine Mel Gibson drawing on Highlander for brainchild for the flow - battle in his Oscar - winning film , Braveheart .
The trenchcoat under the Garden doesn’t scream “immortal warriors” but it works.Photo: Lionsgate
All of which is to say , Highlander is a sound movie in a great package . The main story is interesting . The tv camera work is madly telling ( seriously : there are some motion in the flick that almost palpate beyond the capabilities of 1986 technology . Also what the hell was up with that awe-inspiring farsighted take at the wrestling equal ? It ’s so out of place and wild . I stray ) . The music is splendid and the action is improbably coolheaded . But what micturate it all come together is that it only scrub the surface on a world you ’d love to lie with more about . It imbed the seeds and lease them develop in your imagination . And those seed extend to develop 35 year later .
https://gizmodo.com/the-true-monster-in-silence-of-the-lambs-still-rearing-1846206773
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Clancy BrownFilmsHighlanderJames BondMel GibsonReviewsSean Connery
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