Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)

[nthurkettle 148]

June would have so many theories about this movie. So, so many theories.

[Lando 2019]

There is a weird comedic undertone to this movie, especially with the Sean Connery stuff that has zero payoff. I think that the movie would still be a mess if it was played straightforwardly, but it would go from a horder's house of a mess to the morning after a party in films of a mess.

[DeathToMikeyBay 130]

Not obscure at all. Very very infamous when it comes to worst sequels ever lists.

[dask360 126]

This almost seems too obvious a choice. Why hasn't this been made?? Ah, because no one wants to revisit this nightmare. It taught us all "there SHOULD be only one"!

 

But seriously, Highlander 2, guys. Get on this one!

[greyman24 6]

Not obscure at all. Very very infamous when it comes to worst sequels ever lists.

 

Yeah. That's why I was surprised that this has never been done. The fact that I can't hear Paul, June and Jason dissect this is a hole in my soul.

[Sean Connery's Trophy Wife 1]

Ramirez says(spoiler alert, I guess), just before he sacrifices himself for no reason. [/i]

 

Obviously I'm biased, but this has got to be worth it for Sean Connery's exit alone. It's like he had an agreement that he would film for exactly so many minutes and when the timer went off, SIR SEAN OUT.

[steeeeve1 0]

Honestly, Christopher Lambert movies deserve a podcast on their own, he is one of the worst actors I have ever seen. You can call it "How did he get paid?" or something.

Anyways I think I get the deal with Highlander, at least the show was explained to me like this: They are immortal. But deep down they want to be mortal I think. There can only be one immortal, so they have to kill each other, which actually kind of makes them mortal. Then they can die because they are now mortal, because they killed all the other "immortal". See? Simple

[jarrycanada 2483]

seeing that this has been bumped.

 

 

highliner two fish sticks!

[deadlyfox 1]

 

Are you honestly saying that Goldeneye wasn't a fantastic game?!

yeah I hate that old line that people parrot.

 

No good movie games, except the Warriors (one of my favorite ps2 games, it's fucking amazing) ridick, scarface, wolverine origins, mad max, the James Bond series, and the Disney snes games.

 

Really, they could use the same odd logic to say that all games with psychic powers sucks because mind jack wasn't good.

 

Seriously, get the warriors. The Rockstar games one. It's actually better than the movie and completely builds that universe. Between missions, the Oracle radio lady describes your last "rumble" using the slang/sports code. It's so fully developed and detailed.

[deadlyfox 1]

Honestly, Christopher Lambert movies deserve a podcast on their own, he is one of the worst actors I have ever seen. You can call it "How did he get paid?" or something.

Anyways I think I get the deal with Highlander, at least the show was explained to me like this: They are immortal. But deep down they want to be mortal I think. There can only be one immortal, so they have to kill each other, which actually kind of makes them mortal. Then they can die because they are now mortal, because they killed all the other "immortal". See? Simple

 

What's your point? The movie is bad because it's not completely simple?

 

No, being able to die doesn't mean they must be mortal. The idea of beheading an immortal to kill them isn't new. Vampire lore alone backs me up on that. You remind me of the people in the boondock saints thread, trying to present a pretty basic story as some complicated mess.

 

 

There are immortals who are driven by a desire to kill each other for the grand prize. Btw you kind of spoiled the movie for people who haven't seen it. What a class act you are.

[Cockney Mackem 514]

Oh my days this is a shambles of a film

[NundercoverBrother 174]

This movie was the Seventh Sign of the apocalypse.

[nthurkettle 148]

Highlander 2 has to be all like "But we had hoverboards, too! Where's OUR nostalgia, huh? Where's OUR viral videos?"

 

This seems like such a no-brainer, but what really makes it such memorable garbage is setting it in the context of how radically (and unnecessarily) it re-writes the backstory of the first movie. So it feels like at least one of Jason, June, or Paul would need to be well-versed enough in the first one to explain why all this "Planet Zeist" stuff is so insanely random.

[Connor603 3]

I feel like you would need to do Highlander and Highlander 2 back to back, because the non-sense of 'The Quickening' only gets amplified after seeing the first one.

[Lando 2019]

I am watching Highlander 3 now. I feel like each one essentially ignores about 50% of the rules and mythology explicitly set forth in the previous films and inserts a bunch of new stuff. Highlander 3 feels like they're trying to get back to the spirit of the first one (and the out of place bad comedic stuff is missing, which is for the better), but it's still garbage. The first one they set out the rules that these immortals do battle and decapitate each other until there is only one, and then that happens and they have to invent new reasons to violate that rule. Really, the first one is maybe a bit of Thank God This Got Made, but the 2nd and 3rd are pure How Did This Get Made.

 

Edit: couple of stray thoughts:

This movie is centered around the hero--an immortal that MUST kill all other immortals eventually--refusing to kill his mentor to absorb his powers, but then running to get the fuck out of the cave when the mentor knows that the villain is coming to kill him (and thus take his powers)

Van Peebles (who I must say is easily the best part of the movie and despite sounding like a bad Harvey Firestein impression is a pretty menacing villain) is trapped in a cave for 500 is years in Japan and when he comes out he is somehow totally aware of Modern English and technology? Even to the point of knowing how to drive a car like a stuntman? This movie only makes slightly more sense than the 2nd.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

Van Peebles (who I must say is easily the best part of the movie and despite sounding like a bad Harvey Firestein impression is a pretty menacing villain) is trapped in a cave for 500 is years in Japan and when he comes out he is somehow totally aware of Modern English and technology? Even to the point of knowing how to drive a car like a stuntman? This movie only makes slightly more sense than the 2nd.

Which brings up the question, which I'm sure they didn't think of at the time of the first one, why is Lambert getting the Quickening in the first one treated like it's the last time it's ever going to happen, like he has ALL of the power, if Van Peebles is still buried alive in a cave somewhere?

[Lando 2019]

I think they tried to explain it with the "frozen in a cave for 500 years" thing. It would be like if they did another Lord of the Rings movie and explained it by saying "oops, there were actually 2 rings of Sauron, but the 2nd ring fell behind Sauron's dresser and he forgot all about it for 500 years." It really pretty much just ignores everything about there only needing to be one final Immortal in the 1st.

[MarcDickenson 5]

Lambert and Connery in such an epic level awful sci-fi film.. come on, you have to consider this!

 

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[nthurkettle 148]

Since this movie establishes that you can revive a character who died in a previous chapter just by yelling their name really loud; I would love to see how this could be applied to other film franchises. Spider-Man could just be like: "UNCLE BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!" Then lightning would strike and Uncle Ben would be back and then Spidey would just be like "Okay, I'm good, no need to fight crime now."

[MarcDickenson 5]

I still think they should do this next to keep the Connery renaissance going.. this scene from Highlander 2 makes the case..

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[McManister 1]

This movie is so bad (in a great way) that Highlander III is a stand-alone alternate sequel to the first movie; that's right, this movie is so bad they decided to ignore that it ever happened.

 

There is a TON to talk about. To give an example, and without giving away any spoilers, a major plot point in this movie is GLOBAL WARMING. You read correctly. This is a Highlander movie about GLOBAL. WARMING. I would recommend reading the Wikipedia synopsis for anyone who doesn't mind spoilers just to see how batshit crazy this movie really gets.

 

It's probably my favorite bad movie of all time. I highly recommend it for How Did This Get Made. You won't regret it.

[jarrycanada 2483]

Great cover of

 

Second greatest ending to a movie ever!!

 

don't watch it unless you haven't seen the film yet, and if you haven't seen highlander 2 fish sticks then shame on you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First place goes to

You mean that isn't the directors cut of jedi!

[tsdcs 15]

Since someone mentioned it: there was indeed a Highlander cartoon series (non-anime). Which has to be toward the top of the list of the "why did they make a cartoon based on this, the original is not suitable for children at all" shows. Conan, Robocop, Tales from the Crypt, Toxic Crusader etc.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUlEamQJ-1g

 

It was originally a French show, but it was syndicated in the US. It used to come on around the same time as Samurai Pizza Cats and Sailor Moon on weekday mornings around here, back when cartoons on non-Cartoon-Network were a thing.

[TrevorAlonzo 38]

Why hasn't this been done yet.

[SlidePocket 707]

Live show for next week!