Highlander - Endgame (DVD)

...‘Highlander: Endgame’ is the forth Highlander movie, but the first to feature both MacLeod’s together, (although Lambert did reprise his role in several of series’ episodes).

~~~ The Movie ~~~
‘Highlander: Endgame’ initially follows Connor having grown tired of ‘The Game’ and after a brief conversation with Duncan, he seemingly disappears for ten years. Though few actually know where he has gone, he has actually gone into ‘Sanctuary’, ...
...Even if you’ve never encountered Highlander before the actually plot to ‘Endgame’ isn’t difficult to follow. What I would say though is that whilst the movie does a reasonable job of giving newcomers the details necessary to prevent them from becoming lost or confused, it is perhaps useful to have some amount of previous familiarity with the ‘universe’, just to have a slightly better understanding of characters.

Visually, ‘Endgame’ ... more

Connor MacLeod was born in the highlands of Scotland in 1518. After being killed during a clan war with the Clan Fraser, at the hands of a mysterious stranger, he miraculously comes back to life and is kicked out of his clan under the belief that he is possessed by the devil.
Duncan MacLeod is also a member of Clan MacLeod, but was born in 1592. Duncan goes through a very similar (in fact, nearly identical) ordeal as Connor, during another clan war with Clan Campbell.
Both men are in fact immortals, a race that has been on Earth throughout the ages and both men are known as The Highlander.

Most Immortals spend their long-lived lives within ‘The Game’, where they fight for ‘The Prize’ – to become the last surviving immortal. The only way an immortal can die is by decapitation. When one immortal takes another’s head, he gathers their Quickening, thereby earning their knowledge and experience, increasing their own power. In the end, (supposedly), “There can be only one”.

Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is the original Highlander, first appearing in ‘The Highlander’ movie of 1986. Duncan MacLeod, (Adrian Paul) is in essence his younger cousin and was the main character of ‘The Highlander’ television series. ‘Highlander: Endgame’ is the forth Highlander movie, but the first to feature both MacLeod’s together, (although Lambert did reprise his role in several of series’ episodes).

~~~ The Movie ~~~
‘Highlander: Endgame’ initially follows Connor having grown tired of ‘The Game’ and after a brief conversation with Duncan, he seemingly disappears for ten years. Though few actually know where he has gone, he has actually gone into ‘Sanctuary’, a place that Immortals can remove themselves from The Game indefinitely.
Through a series of flashbacks, we learn how Connor and Duncan first meet and how Connor takes his younger clansman under his wing and becomes Duncan’s mentor, teaching him what it means to be immortal.
Also through flash backs, we meet the villain of the piece, Jacob Kell, (Bruce Payne) who knew Connor back in the 16th century and was in part responsible for the burning of Connor’s mother, since she was believed to be a witch because of Connor’s unnatural resurrection.
In Connor’s attempt to rescue his mother, he ends up killing Kell and his adoptive father. When Kell comes back to life and realises he is immortal, he devotes his life to avenging his adoptive father’s death and so spends the following centuries trying to hurt Connor by killing those close to him. In the 20th/21st century, Duncan MacLeod is his next target.

The plot is actually easier to follow within the movie than it perhaps comes across on paper. Even if you’ve never encountered Highlander before the actually plot to ‘Endgame’ isn’t difficult to follow. What I would say though is that whilst the movie does a reasonable job of giving newcomers the details necessary to prevent them from becoming lost or confused, it is perhaps useful to have some amount of previous familiarity with the ‘universe’, just to have a slightly better understanding of characters.

Visually, ‘Endgame’ is neither terrible nor fantastic. In terms of special effects, were it a TV episode they are respectable – even quite impressive; as a movie they felt to me a little under-produced, almost as if there wasn’t the budget to do anything better.
That said, the actual feel of the movie in terms of camera angles, lighting, etc. is quite enjoyable to watch.
One thing a Highlander almost always does well is its’ fight scenes. Duncan’s fight scene with Kell’s Gang in particular is quite impressive to watch, mostly because of the various different weapons used other than the traditional swords found in most immortal battles. Not all the ‘fight’ scenes are quite so well done, but overall they’re fairly action packed and as an action/fantasy movie ‘Endgame’ does a reasonable job, perhaps not quite captivating all it’s audience, but never necessarily boring them either.

The script overall is well written and manages to reveal the plot in a coherent and understandable fashion. I think it’s strongest point is that it does manage to keep ‘Endgame’ as a self-contained entity enough not to alienate newcomers, but more importantly it also manages to incorporate threads from other Highlanders incarnations - particularly the series - so long-term fans won’t feel overly cheated.
The dialogue can be quite amusing in places, especially in certain scenes between Connor and Duncan. Also scenes between Duncan and other characters such as Joe Dawson, (Jim Byrnes) and Methos, (Peter Wingfield) are quite convincing and the characters interactions are believable.

Whilst I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the acting is superb, neither is it shockingly terrible. Lambert and Paul are both quite comfortable within their characters, With Adrian Paul in particular putting in a credible performance. I’m quite a fan of Christopher Lambert’s work overall, (‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Fortress’ as evidence), but I will put up a hand and admit that in places he wasn’t quite as convincing as Connor MacLeod as I thought he could have been. Nevertheless, there were only a few moments I thought he was a little lacking and I thought his portrayal of Connor were enough in keeping with his pervious performances not to make him seem like a completely different person.

Bruce Payne as Kell probably delivers one of the best performances of the movie. The fact that Kell is unlike previous Highlander villains, (given that he’s not out necessarily to kill MacLeod, but hurt him emotionally) is quite an interesting take on the villain’s role and I thought Payne played the part excellently, being not only villainous, but at the same time also showing an air of calmness and patience that suits Kell as a character – given just how long he’ hunted Connor’s closest companions.

The ‘peripheral’ actors all put in reasonable enough performances. Lisa Barbuscia as Kate MacLeod/Faith is particularly notable, although her overall scene time is somewhat limited.
Equally, Beatie Edney’s reprisal of her role as Heather MacLeod, (Connor’s first wife and “true love”) is something of a pleasant touch that, whilst perhaps trivial to non/new fans, it added to my enjoyment of ‘Endgame’.

~~~ The DVD ~~~
The DVD is somewhat surprising since it’s the only Highlander movie disc I own that actually contains a fair amount of bonus material. The Special Features are: -

- Behinds The Scenes Featurette
- Audio Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- Hidden Special Features
- Interactive Game
- Visual Effects: A Historical Progression
- DVD ROM Features

The ‘Behind The Scenes’ feature is quite interesting and give you a good insight into the process of making the movie. For me, this gave an insight into how some of the good, (and not so good) aspects of ‘Endgame’ came about and I think most people, or certainly those who enjoyed the movie on some level, will find the interviews and other “Behind-the-scenes” sections enjoyable.

The DVD ROM Feature is quite interesting. It’s very well produced and is one of the better interactive features I’ve encountered, though it’s appeal really is for more the die-hard fan than someone who simply had a mild, passing interest in ‘Endgame’ or the Highlander universe on the whole.

Overall, whilst the Special Features aren’t necessarily ‘amazing’, they are entertaining enough to keep the viewer engaged. As always, actual enjoyment of these types of things depend on personal taste, but I for one found all the features worth watching and there was nothing within the Special Features that really struck me as particularly disappointing.

At the time of writing, it's possible to buy 'Highlander: Endame' for around the £4 mark from Amazon. I think at that sort of price it's an absolute bargain that no-one could really grumble about too much. The movie is resonably entertaining and the Special Features are good enough to enjoy without any great effort, so for £4 I think it's excellent value for money.
Personally, I wouldn't want to spend more than £7 or so, but I think most places will sell this relatively cheaply these days. As ever, have a shop around to see what's available.

~~~ My Thoughts ~~~
CAUTION: This may get a little geeky – though I shall try my best from stumbling into that pitfall…no promises though, :o)

Continuity is something of a rarity in the Highlander Universe and across it’s various incarnations, (movies, TV series, Animated Series, even a couple of graphic novels) there have been many changes within the Universe.
I very much grew up with the movie Universe of ‘Highlander’ and it has to be said that the original movie is one of my all time favourite movies. Whilst I have seen several episodes of the TV series, (and enjoyed them I hasten to add), I’ve never watched in series in great depth. Even so, Connor MacLeod is the one I consider the true ‘Highlander’. That said, I long ago, (about the time I saw the second movie) accepted the fact that the ideas presented in the first incarnation were not going to survive.
Long-time fans will argue for as long as the movies remain in conscious memory about the errors, but that’s a discussion for another time.

For me, ‘Endgame’ does manage to make some sense of the continuity-error’s and marry the worlds of movie Connor to TV-series Duncan. As a merger of the two worlds it’s actually surprisingly successful and I myself didn’t feel too disappointed by the effort.
I think the inclusion of characters and thread from the TV series is well done, (though I will admit that I have only a very basic knowledge of the series).

Were you to come to ‘Endgame’ from the sole perspective of the movies, I suspect many fans would be as disappointed with it as with the Highlander II and III. If you were coming from a knowledge of the series, or indeed no knowledge whatsoever of Highlander, then I think ‘Endgame’ holds a little more water. Compared with the original movie, ‘Endgame’ pails in comparison, compared with the sequels, it’s makes a lot more sense than ‘Highlander II’ and can only be criticised against ‘Highlander III’ because of Duncan, (though, to my mind, it’s a poor criticism), since Adrian Paul not only plays the role well, but he’s also an engaging and as an intriguing character as Connor – a worthy successor to Connor’s throne if you will.
I always think of ‘Endgame’ as something of an official “handing over of the torch” of Highlander, from one MacLeod to the other.

I think ‘Endgame’ is more geared towards fans of Duncan MacLeod than Connor and is more in keeping with the overall feel of the TV series than the movies and I think if anyone is likely to be disappointed, it will be the movies fans. That said, if you managed to stomach movies II and III, then ‘Endgame’ is certainly better than the second movie and on par with the third, (as far as the third movie went). If you hated the TV-series, you’ll probably hate ‘Endgame’ too for the same reasons. If you found any amount of enjoyment from Duncan MacLeod then ‘Endgame’ is at least worth watching to make your own decision about.

~~~ Conclusion ~~~
I think if you’re overly precious about the original ‘Highlander’ movie, ‘Endgame’ is a poor sequel.
If you’re either new to the Highlander-Universe, or first encountered it through the TV series, then ‘Highlander: Endgame’ holds some value – though, personally, I’d always recommend the original 1986 movie before any of the others.

As a movie itself, ‘Endgame’ is fairly enjoyable, with scenes that are interesting and a plot strong enough to carry the viewer through the movie. It does have its’ problems and I suspect it’s not something that will appeal to all kinds of people. For me, it’s a movie I’ve watched several times without excessive effort and, whilst perhaps never likely to feature in my ‘Top Ten Favourite’ movies of all time, it’s not something I’d personally avoid like the plague. As a DVD, for the right price, it can hold a respectable enough place in your collection, though it won’t necessarily be a movie you rush back to watch time and time again. 

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