Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)

I am going to start with this… I have never seen the original Highlander from 1986. But I have seen its sequel Highlander II: The quickening (1991) many times before. So I think that I have a rare opportunity to give this movie a review on its own merits only.

The movie takes place in the year 2024 and earth is under a protective shield since the earth’s own ozone layer is destroyed. The shields creator, Connor MacLeoud (Christopher Lambert), created the shield in 1994 because of a promise he hid to his wife who died because of the sun. But now there are rumors of that the ozone layer have repaired itself and the shield is no longer needed.

There are two plots in this movie. The first is about Connor and a group if terrorists fight the shield cooperation to shut down the shield. The second plot is the one that every highlander fan hates, the Zeist plot.

Yes, Connor MacLeoud, the scotish highlander, is in fact an alien from planet Zeist. He participated in a rebellion against a general called Katana (Michael Ironside). The rebellion was a failure and as a penalty, Connor and the rebellion leader (Sean Connery) amongst others gets send to earth where they become immortal. The only way to kill an immortal is to cut off his head.

After 500 years Connor where the last immortal on earth and he could choose to either return to Zeist or grow old on earth. Connor of course chooses to stay on earth. Now in the year 2024, when Connor is an old man, general Katana decides to travel to earth and end Connors life.

I can understand why fans of the previous movie Highlander (1986) are disappointed and even hating it. But I, who have never seen any other highlander movie, am satisfied with this movie. It is not great but I can’t say that it is bad either.

Sean Connery is always fun to watch in any movie and the lead actor Christopher Lambert is a decent actor. It is a fun action flick with some cool sci-fi ideas. I think the problem is that maybe this idea didn’t have to be a sequel to Highlander.

I would recommend that you see this movie once and kind of forget what the title says.