Highlander: The Final Dimension (1995)

The Highlander movies are a great explanation why people like me throw out a lot of hate about remakes.We are going to take what you love, ret-con away all the things that you loved about it and remake the movie only worse.The joke is that the movie was actually titled Highlander III: The Apology.Now, for those of you that haven't seen them, or don't read my reviews it worked like this.Highlander was fantastic and the game was over at the end of the movie. Connor won it by taking the Kurgan's head and he claimed the prize. It was a stand- alone and the audience adored it...myself included.Highlander II was a sequel, and because the first one was a stand alone and the game was over leaving no room for a sequel...they did a retcon, made them all aliens, and took away everything the fans and critics loved about the first one. Just like remakes and reboots tend to do.Highlander II realized the mistake of Highlander II and they did yet another retcon, ignoring the abysmal failure of Highlander II and brought back the things that the fans loved about the original...but, the original was a stand alone, so they retconed the ending again to give us a third movie and it didn't work.It did not work.Again, these are movies about immortals, there are thousands of years in which to make a movie...but instead of doing the obvious thing they did a retcon, of a retcon and it doesn't exactly work.But it didn't fail as much as Highlander II, and they didn't bring Sean back from the dead again, so...we were stuck with the TV show to redeem it all.

What can you say about the highlander sequels. Highlander II and Highlander the source are prime examples of complete cinematic failure and Highlander Endgame is just below average.I have heard a a lot of people say that this film is just terrible and barley any better than Highlander 2. This is a point I disagree with. While this movie has quiet a few problems, the biggest of which the story being almost completely duplicating the first. there are definitely are a few things that are good.What is good. In my humble opinion I think that that the performances are not half bad, both Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles are good in their roles. The Special effects, While not great, are well used and fluid. And lastly the Action sequences a reasonably well done, while far from being the best ever put to screen they are o.k.As I said there are problems. The big one being, as I mentioned a bit further up, is the story. it is almost a complete copy of the first. Even a lot of the same things are done. such as the scene with Kane going in out of traffic with one of Conner's loved ones in the passenger seat.All in all this is not that bad a film but some people may have trouble sitting through it.

As an uncorrectable "Highlander"-fan, I eyed the copy of "Highlander 3: The Sorcerer" with suspicion when it turned up in my video store. For one, the awfulness that was "Highlander 2: The Quickening" was still too fresh in one's mind. Secondly, there was no trace of Sean Connery (not that his presence saved "The Quickening", it merely alleviated). And thirdly, despite studying the cinema magazines (this was a time before IMDb, mind you) and being relatively up-to-date, I had not even heard about a third part being in production.The first reaction as the movie began: at least the tedious science-fiction storyline of "Quickening" was ignored, making this a prequel but despite ignoring "Quickening", "Quickening" had one advantage to "Sorcerer": it was real cinema while "The Sorcerer" reeks of television production, being shot on TV-sets that look like they were leftovers from a "McQuade"-episode.An action-franchise, be it "Highlander" or "James Bond" lives and dies through the villain and hence Mario Van Peebles, as villainous immortal Kane, is one of the film's biggest letdowns: Van Peebles mimics the original villain Kurgan one-to-one but where Clancy Brown came across as threatening and psychotic, Van Peebles grimacing and growling reminds us more of a Halloween-bogeyman, dressed up like Genghis Khan. Granted, all major villains of the "Highlander"-sequels have essentially been carbon-copies of The Kurgan but Van Peebles hams it up so badly, it's almost embarrassing. Even for "Highlander"-fans."It's a kind of magic", was not only one of the catchphrases of the original, it was part of the concept and partial reason to it's success: what made those warriors immortal, why they had to fight and what the fabled prize would be, was pretty much left out or only hinted at in the original film. What killed the magic in "Highlander 2" was the attempt to explain the background and reasons – something the fan didn't actually want to have explained; what's killing the magic in "Highlander 3" is the actual depiction and use of magic. Perhaps the producers didn't realize it but the "Highlander"-fans didn't want magical gimmicks or sorcerers – they wanted immortal warriors who fought each other for reasons not known or understood.One was glad when *spoiler ahead* the evil Kane was finally beheaded – not so much because Connor McLeod prevailed (again) *spoiler end* but because the movie was finally over and that there would be no more sequels, like "Highlander: The Series", "Highlander: Endgame" or "Highlander 5: The Source", which one would inadvertently have to watch. Don't ask why – it seems to be a kind of magic.

After fans was disappointed with Highlander II: The Quickening William Panzer and Peter S. Davis decided to try again and make the true sequel to Highlander meaning Highlander III: The Sorcerer would have to disregard Highlander II: The Quickening, a movie which could be considered a stand alone film since it's plot completely changes the Highlander mythology.Highlander III: The Sorcerer does have some flaws, the main flaw is that this movie tries to hard to mimic the style of the original but lacks the punch that made the first film such a cult classic. A prime example is the main villain Kain, he seems like a rehashed version of the Kurgen. Mario Van Peebles is a great actor and does a good attempt at copying the Kurgan but sadly he can't match Clancy Brown's performance.Another example is the car scene where Kane tries to scare the kid by playing chicken with planes. It's just a copy of the scene in the original Highlander except changed slightly.The chemistry between Connor and Ramirez was one of the things that made Highlander so memorable. It was like a father and son relationship, sadly the chemistry between Connor and Nakano isn't the same. Mako does a great performance but sadly the film doesn't give him enough screen time, if the film delved deeper with the mentor training Connor it might of had the same power the original had.The flashback scenes are pulled off well giving the movie more depth.The training scene in Scottland is beautifully shot and the song "Bonny Portmore" definitely makes it more powerful. The sword fights are choreographed well and move at a good pace.The special effects are okay.The plot of Highlander III sees Connor MacLeod living with his adopted son John in Marakesh until an evil Immortal named Kane is released. Centuries ago Connor was training with a sorcerer named Nakano, Kain and his two henchmen stormed his hideout searching for Macleod. Nakano fought back but was killed by Kane, while absorbing the Quickening the cave collapsed. When Kane beheads one of his henchmen Connor senses it, so he decides to leave Marakesh and return to New York. The game is back on and the prize is at stake once againHighlander III: The Sorcerer lacks the charm of the original but despite it's flaws Highlander III is a watchable sequel.