I list Highlander as one of my Top 10 all time favourite films. The whole thing is a masterpiece from the action of immortals swordfighting to the brutal careless bloodlust of the Kurgan. And let’s not forget the entire soundtrack performed by Queen.
Now after a number of sad sequels and two interesting but not great TV series, a sixth film is being produced. But flavour of the year says REBOOT, and the movie looks like it will forget the rest and start all over again.
Work is moving ahead on Highlander: The Reckoning which will be the sixth in the film series. Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) is to direct. Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are working on the script.
However it looks as if it will be a reboot of the 1986 film and will follow the story of an Immortal from the highlands of Scotland, once trained by ancient Immortal Ramirez, fighting in modern times against other immortals in a “contest” called the Gathering; a contest whose ultimate end line is that there can be only one.
I think that The Highlander is deserving of a reboot. The terrible films that followed all paled in comparison for one reason, they had to dance around the premise of the film that was resolved already.
There can only be one!
And herein lies the biggest issue. If they do this film justice and it does really well at the boxoffice, history dictates that they will attempt to make a sequel.
THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!
What makes the movie work SO well is that they don’t go too deep into “why” they are immortals, who made up these rules, and how they even know about the Gathering. They don’t need to.
We see enough of the life of Lambert’s Highlander, how he deals with immortality and the perfect mix of fun, romance and adventure that leads up to the final confrontation and The Prize. And that’s the end.
I look forward to seeing how they handle a reboot, and wonder if it will ever do the original justice, but I fear that the success I hope for it might be its biggest drawback.
