DVD Review: Highlander (The Immortal Edition)
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: A-
DVD Special Features: A-

It doesn't seem so long ago that we had Republic's release of "Highlander",
which has since gone down in price to a collector's dream of $9.99 on sale.  
It was the first time that the film was presented in a Widescreen format as
well as in its original Director's Cut form.  The ultimate question is
whether or not we need a new version of the same film out there and what the
differences are.  Before getting into that, though, let's refresh some
memories here.

"Highlander" revolves around an immortal named Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert, "Fortress") and traces his life from the Scottish Highlands in 1536 to present day in the United States.  Connor first discovers his unique situation from Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery, "Finding Forrester") who takes the young highlander under his wing and teaches him how to survive.  Survive what, though?  It seems that a group of immortals exist on earth and will one day feel a pull to a foreign land where they will battle each other for "the prize".  In the end, there can be only one.

The nemesis in the film is a Russian warrior called Kurgan (Clancy Brown,
"The Shawshank Redemption").  He's the epitome of a bad ass and absolutely
enjoys the pain and terror he inflicts, especially when he cuts the head off
another highlander.  You see, it's the only way to kill one of the immortals
and every time a head gets chopped off, the power of that immortal is passed
on to the victor.  Unfortunately, Kurgan is one of the survivors who finds
himself drawn to New York to fight for "the prize".

A police investigation into several recent beheadings catches the interest of
Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart, "Chicago Hope"), an expert on medieval swords.    She's called in to examine a sword and some fragments left behind in one of the battles and begins to suspect that Russell Nash (Lambert with his current name) may be connected to it somehow.  Intuition is a wonderful thing, but not when it involves you in a centuries old fight for survival.

Of the four films made so far, "Highlander" is the best one of them all.  It
sets up a mythology that is sadly lacking from all but the fourth movie.  The
second movie has the immortals coming from another planet, then was reedited to show them coming from the distant past when fans screamed foul play.  The third movie ignored the second film entirely and the fourth movie ignored the sequels altogether while still never explaining how "the prize" could ever have been won in the first.  Director Russell Mulcahy crafted a visual feast in the first film with a killer soundtrack to boot and boasts some of the
most innovative transitional shots ever created.

Both Lambert and Connery are perfect in their teacher/student roles and the
chemistry is very catchy, so much so that the second "Highlander" film paired
them up again to cash in on their success.  Clancy Brown has had a number of
exceptional roles since this film, but none as memorable as Kurgan.  Roxanne
Hart does well in the role as the love interest with a brain and a knack for
seeking the truth.  "Highlander" is also enhanced with several scenes deleted
from the original US release that expand on the main characters as well as
many of the supporting cast.

Fortunately, Anchor Bay's "Immortal Edition" release boasts an extremely
decent transfer of the film (which is also the Director's Cut, but not
labeled as such).  There is still a little bit of film grain, but nothing
that wasn't visible in the original print.  Anybody ever watched the original
VHS release?  You could barely make out a thing, so this is a huge
improvement over that.  Audio quality is outstanding as well and contains an
English and French track.

What most of you are going to want to know is how the extras fare compared to the Republic disc.  Well, both contain the Widescreen Director's Cut of the
movie as well as the commentary track with Director Russel Mulcahy and
Producers Peter Davis and William Panzer.  It's a very lively track and the
produces take great delight in teasing Mulcahy about how picky he is about
certain scenes to this day.  There's also plenty of tales shared about the
sets, the actors, deleted scenes, unfinished scenes, favorite scenes and lots
of other odds and ends.  The commentary was so good, in fact, that I popped
in the second film just to hear what they had to say about it.

Both Anchor Bay and Republic also have a still gallery, but the similarities
end there.  Anchor Bay includes some of the poster art that Republic doesn't,
yet Republic features the script of the film, scripted unfinished scenes,
stills of those scenes and what seemed to be 2 to 3 times more pictures than
Anchor Bay's release.  On the other hand, Anchor Bay has included a Queen
still gallery as well as the music videos "Who Wants To Live Forever", "A
Kind Of Magic" and "Princes Of The Universe".  Not only that, but the limited
edition metal tin features a second companion CD with three additional music
tracks by Queen; "Princes Of The Universe", "One Year Of Love (Extended
Version)" and "Friends Will Be Friends".  It's a shame that Anchor Bay wasn't
able to acquire the rights to the rest of what Republic featured on their
disc, but what we have here does open up a new chapter for collectors.

Don't go trading in your Republic DVDs or using them for coasters just yet.  
Anchor Bay has put out a wonderful edition of this film, but I suspect
someone is going to come up with a documentary before the battle for the
ultimate disc is won.  I keep forgetting just how fantastic the first film is
and that's probably because the first two sequels are less than thrilling.  
"Highlander" will blow you away no matter which version of the DVD you have, but if you are looking for something with more unique material than you can get anywhere else, the new Immortal Edition is the way to go.  In the end,
there can be only one.

Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies, been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several novels. kage@modamag.com This site is a