Highlander II: The Quickening
Highlander II: The Quickening
R | 01 November 1991 (USA)
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In the year 2024, the ozone layer is believed to have been destroyed, and it's up to MacLeod and Ramirez to set things right. Opposition comes from both the planet Ziest (MacLeod and Ramirez's homeworld) and a corporation profiting from the supposed lack of ozone. Also, flashbacks show the story behind MacLeod and Ramirez's exile from Ziest.

Reviews
Pluskylang

Great Film overall

Gurlyndrobb

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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Aiden Melton

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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Hattie

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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rgm-24256

Good as a stand alone movie, not bad, just don't think of this as a sequel, I liked this, very well done, creative, nice, Beautiful.

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FlashCallahan

There can't be only one.... ......Version of this film. A review of The Renegade Version We first see Macleod in make up that was borrowed by Van Damme in the present day scenes of The Quest, an old man weary of sequels and with a voice that sounds like he is immortality constipated. It's not long before two maniacal birdmen lay siege to him, and he returns to his make up free age, along with his rock ballad hair. What should have been a fun scene is ruined by poorly staged choreography and confusing focus on the action. The audience know that these immortals can die by beheading, so why Mulcahy decides to focus on a headless body exploding beggars belief. But this early set piece does feature the funniest scene in the film, when a drunken onlooker asks one of the antagonists for a light. Predictably, it all goes downhill from there. Whichever version you see, the film remains one of the most incoherent films ever released, virtually ignoring the narrative from the first movie. This version almost completely ignores the alien aspect of the film, and the planet Zeitgeist, Macleod and Ramirez are just banished to earth by being covered in neon purple while looking a little agitated. But the film has that strange gift of having several scenes that are worth seeing alone, on a separate clip compilation. Any scene with Connery is a sheer joy, even if it's just to see him have the look of a man who is being paid presumably millions for a couple of days work consisting of smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, the man doesn't have a care in the world. Elsewhere, Ironside hams it up as the villain, finding it utterly hilarious to kill dozens of innocent people by driving a subway really really fast, and being pun-tastic whilst doing so. Bearing in mind he would have never understood the concept of modern transportation. Virginia Madsen pops up as the love interest, but you soon lose interest when you see her make love to Macleod literally minutes after him turning from a shrivelled member to a boss-eyed hero. It's a tragedy for sure, lots to criticise, but lots to laugh at. The fight scenes are slow, the effects are far from special, but when you are watching a film where a Scotsman is playing a Spaniard by wearing a little fake tan, being allies with a Parisian playing a Scotsman whom both use their natural accents, are you really looking for consistency? Plus when the Quickening happens, it looks like Macleod is guiltily climaxing whilst suffering from awkward constipation. And they all have big perfect hair. A tragedy, but a magnificent one...... Hopefully they will release the Coherent cut one day, or even a Rock Of Ages cut.

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slightlymad22

Highlander 2: The Quickening (1991)Plot In A Paragraph: In the future, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) must prevent the destruction of Earth under an anti-ozone shield.With literally three hours to waste, I decided to watch both versions (theatrical and renegade) back to back.In both versions, it's all style over substance. It's produced with a decent budget but the action was all visual effects and mindless violence. After The Hunt For Red October, Connery didn't need to wait to long to get his ponytail. Since apparently your hair still grows in the after life, Despite biting the dust in the first movie, Connery is back. "When you need me, you only have to call my name" Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez is a hell of a name to tell if you were in a tricky spot. Luckily simply "Ramirez" worked.Apart from James Bond, Ramirez is the only other character Sean Connery has played in more than one film. He received 3.5 million dollars for nine days of filming (which amounts to about 10 mins screen time). Connery used all the money as donations for charitable causes. Did he take this one for the money?? At least he did some good with it if he did. There are too many differences in the two versions to list, scenes are cut and changed around, dialogue is changed or missing, but in both versions, the plot is pretty much a muddled mess, there are a lot of continuity errors and most of the supporting cast are awful (Especially following on from watching The Russia House which was filled with wonderful performances). Virginia Madsen is gorgeous, but her character is annoying and her constant costume changes (every scene) are a distraction. Michael Ironside (whilst a decent actor) seems to be doing an awful impression of Kurgan from the first movie, however he is nowhere near as intimidating as Clancy Brown. John C McGinley (an actor I like) is awful and how on earth did Jerry The Cab Driver ever get cast in a movie?? In the Renegade version the end fight is split in to two scenes about 30 mins apart, making the end fight a tad anti climactic and over too soon!! Connery's scenes are more spread out too in this version too, to make it look like he is in it more. The airplane scene is split into separate parts for example. Sadly my favourite line of dialogue of his is missing in The Renegade VersionMaCloud "It sounds like magic" Ramires "Well it is..... hmmm kind of"Referencing the Queen song A Kind Of Magic wrote for the first movie. Highlander 2 grossed $15 million at the domestic box office to end 1991 as 73rd highest grossing movie of the year.

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thesar-2

Uh, maybe I shouldn't have started the Highlander saga with part II.Actually, I believe I saw the first one many years ago and wasn't a big fan, from what I can remember. But at least it was comprehensible, had a plot and direction. This piece of sh|t had nothing. Highlander II: The Quickening, or growing up, people used to call "Highlander II: The Sickening," was just one pile of a mess and quite literally one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't even know where to begin, but then again, neither did the cast & crew.Nothing made sense, just scenes spliced together. Things just happened and then the movie went on. The special effects were horrible, the acting was forced and the ideas underdeveloped. I am guessing a lot of this was supposed to be comedy, and I will admit one scene did make me smirk: the airplane "safety" video was pretty clever and funny. Unfortunately, in the entire film, those 15 seconds were the only mild- fun I had.I can't even give the synopsis because I doubt there was ever a finished script. But suffice to say, the "only one" had destroy the machine he built and the stakes aren't really that high, either way. This movie was an abomination, from beginning to end. It's the exact opposite on how to construct a film. And unfortunately, it's been over 14 years since I've seen the original – IF I saw it – and I cannot remember that one in the least to compare it. But, my bet is that this had nothing to do with that with the exception of some choked out lines and the actors. Just quickly walk away from this and pretend like it never happened.***Final thoughts: Aside from the airplane gag, the only other positive I could think of was: Thank God, the How Did This Get Made? podcast finally got back to its roots. I only watched this since they covered it and it's been awhile since they reviewed a genuinely bad film.

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