Highlander: The Source
Here Is What You Need To Know:
Have you ever been to a wedding where you knew that one of the happy couple would rather be marrying someone else? Its awkward stuff and if you haven’t experienced this, well, I hope you never do. Highlander: The Source is much like one of those weddings. If you are a fan of the show The Source is sort of like being told you’ve won a million dollars only to have a television over your shoulder tell you that the economy has just collapsed. Yeah, its like that. The gang is back together, MacLeod, Methos, even Joe, but The Source just doesn’t work and all involved know it. All involved must have had big hopes that the television series would someday have a big screen incarnation, I can only imagine the disappointment? Gone is the enthusiasm of the days of the television show, replaced with a sort of deadness behind the actors eyes. Hey, its pretty sad stuff, if you were a fan of the show, you will watch The Source and you will suffer. As one of seven know female fans of the Highlander television show, I can tell you we were all disappointed.
The story is mostly focused on finding, no shocker here, The Source. I immediately knew we were all in trouble, as the story takes place in a low-budget Mad-Max future in Eastern Europe, because, just in case you missed the memo, Eastern Europe is now the official location of the future sucking, especially in low-budget science-fiction. Regardless, a group of immortals set out to find The Source in order to salvage the world and what happens from there. Fans of the movies and television show will likely not be too pleased with more than one of the conceptual developments. This is a tough one to review without ruining anything, but major characters die in silly, rushed ways, the ending is weird, I could go on and on. Sorry fans, we deserve better. Return your Highlander display swords.
What Was Cool:
I wish I could say that there was a lot that was cool, but there just wasn’t. It was great to see the major characters back and interacting, but for god’s sake they seemed sad. The script seemed more like a wrapping up of the television series, sort of a shot to the head if you will. Now, with science-fiction anything is possible, but it is clear by the end that the actors know that this is the end of their collective fantasy of resurrecting the old series. Gee, this really isn’t all that “cool” to be in the cool section, but…
In fact there is one cool aspect to the film. After all these years we finally see an immortal who wears a metal collar around his neck to prevent his head from being cut off, that’s the only way to kill these guys, in case you are unaware. It was always a major flaw that Immortals were hundreds or even thousands of years old and it never occurred to ANY of them that wearing a metal ring around the neck, might be a good idea. This happens early on in the film and for a moment you are left thinking there might be hope, but that feeling won’t last too long.
What Was Stupid:
The entire film was awkward and a little bit lame. You were just left feeling ripped off given the potential of the television series. The visual and special effects were cheap and the fighting sequence were definitely not up to what fans had grown to expect. But what was most stupid of all was not just greenlighting a movie in the 80's based on these Highlander television series characters -back when the series was fresh in people’s heads. Once upon a time, the producers might have been able to build a successful series of films. Sad.
The Film's Real Genius or Geniuses:
The grief councelor that kept the cast from killing themselves
Overlooked Performance/Accomplishment:
Smoke machine guy…yeah, you read that correctly, the smoke machine guy. “What, a Highlander film in a post-apocolyptic Eastern Europe and you have a smoke machine guy, dam you bet I’m in!”
Story D+
Use of Science D
Acting B (The acting is really good considering the script is very weak and all involved are obviously disappointed with the project.)
Portrayal of Women D- (In general, Highlander the series had some strong female characters from time to time, but in The Source, women are treated like livestock of sorts. I could say more on this but it will only ruin some of the amusement of the film.)
Style/Sex Appeal B
Enjoyability Grade D
Home Theater/HD Factor C
Gut Check (Level of Studio Executive Guts) D (Funding a Highlander film is easy, but holding out to get a little bit more money to make sure a Highlander film doesn’t totally suck, I guess that is hard.)
Overall Innovation D (Highlander: The Source was definitely not innovative, in fact, this script hurt the overall francise. Now, let me be clear, The Source did not harm the Highlander commodity as much as the second Highlander film, but its still pretty darn disappointing.)
Overall Grade D
A Little Fact About Cherie:
I feel stupid for looking forward to this film.
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