Highlander 2: The Quickening *** (1990, Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Virginia Madsen, Michael Ironside) – Classic Movie Review 2332

Director Russell Mulcahy’s likeable and agreeable enough 1990 sequel unfortunately lacks the kind of magic of his 1986 hit, so it must be counted a disappointment. With nowhere to go after the first film, it’s set in the future, when The Highlander has to prevent the destruction of Earth under an anti-ozone shield.

Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery make a welcome return as the immortal sword-fighting Highlander Connor MacLeod and the Spanish grandee sword-master Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez. And director Mulcahy goes into overdrive to try to recreate the success of his original success.

In 2024 the ozone above Earth has gone and MacLeod has helped build a giant shield to protect people from dying. As the last immortal, MacLeod has become just an old man, until other immortals arrive on Earth…

Lambert’s energy, Connery’s twinkle, Virginia Madsen’s feisty talent as Louise Marcus, strong villains (Michael Ironside as the evil General Katana), some good visual effects for its time (though not all are good), impressive stunts, splendid explosions and wonderful sets are the movie’s very considerable assets. And that’s a lot of plus side – but they’d be better served with a much, much better script.

The only real problem here, though it’s a very serious one, is Peter Bellwood’s muddled, virtually story-less screenplay, betraying a lot of difficulty in carving out a space for a sequel story. And Bellwood shows his desperation to please by swerving vertiginously from daft comedy to four-letter words and violence to keep the audience distracted from his story’s deficiencies. The story, such as it is, is by Brian Clemens and William Panzer.

Nevertheless, the movie is much more compact and coherent than the first film and is whizzed along at a fast pace by Mulcahy in eye-catching visuals by Phil Meheux, to a lively score by Stewart Copeland.

Also in the cast are Allan Rich as Allan Neyman, John C McGinley as David Blake and Phil Brock.

There are various versions – the 100 minute cinema release, the 86 minute DVD, the 91 minute cut version, and the 109 minute Director’s Cut.

Highlander 3: The Sorcerer followed in 1994.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2332

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