Highlander: The Source (2007)

***THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*****One of mankind's fondest dreams is no doubt to live upon this earth in vitality and youth beyond the paltry 75 to 90-odd years the healthiest among us get to enjoy. As such, one of contemporary fantasy's most compelling franchises has had to have been Highlander. The protagonist is himself immortal and gets to live indefinitely provided his head is not lopped by a fellow Immortal as these are destined to battle until there is a sole survivor among them as the catch phrase reminds the viewer "In the end there can be only one." It has been several years since an adventure of the legendary Scotsman, but if "Highlander: The Source" is any indication, it appears he is feeling his 400 plus years.For several years as this film plodded its way through production and distribution, fans were given hints that they would finally at last be provided with an explanation as to how the Immortals came to be in the first place. This convoluted story delivers none of that as the Source does not necessarily refer to origins.Though Highlander: The Source ultimately falls short in terms of the story, these shortcomings are compounded by the atrocious cinematography. Though broadcast in the early to mid 90's, the old Highlander TV series had better quality effects than the latest film in the series.For example, central to the milieu of the Highlander saga is the transfer of the quickening from the Immortal that has lost his head to the Immortal that has taken it. In the TV series, this was depicted by an impressive display of lightening bolts and electric shocks.However, in The Source, these scenes are not nearly as impressive. The electric charges are now less distinctive artistically with the emphasis now on the head rolling away, something that was only alluded to and seldom seen in the older episodes.Relatedly, in the TV series, the sword fights leading up to this dramatic exchange of life force were often depicted as elegant, almost dance-like encounters. However, in Highlander: The Source, these are now filmed with the same herky-jerky camera action used in many productions today such as the new Battlestar Galactica where viewers almost come away nauseated because the directors think they are too good to shoot images with a steady, smooth hand.Highlander: The Source is such a disappointment that, if one did happen to be an Immortal, one might just very well be tempted to slit one's own throat than rather spend an eternity watching this movie for an eternity.by Frederick Meekins

I've been reading the reviews for Highlander the Source and I have to say, I'm shocked. After viewing the movie for the first time I expected at least a few more defenders of a film that does in all honesty stay true to the TV series so many of us came to adore. Granted there are problems. That cannot be denied.For instance the ending. That should have been thought out better. Not to mention the final fight scene. I found it hard to understand why it had to look the way it did but aside from the minor problems, it's still a decent movie though not the greatest but better than fair.If you put your anger aside for the movie not being as you would expect it to be and judge it based upon a single, independent film and not part of a franchise, I suspect there would be more flavor in the reviews than just "I hate it". The movie deserves more than that I think.

Comparing this movie to Highlander II, Highlander II should have won an Oscar it is that much better than this movie. At least H2 was watch worthy and had some humor. In my life I have only seen a few totally unwatchable movies; this movie ranks a tie for 1st with Alien V Hunter. The only difference was I watched this entire movie hoping to find something good in it. There have been many comments about this movie and I was half surprised when some commented about how much they liked it. Hey so some people have no taste. The one comment I did think was absolutely ridiculous was the one about the movie was anti- religion because it portrayed the cardinals of the Catholic church in a bad light as being corrupt or something like that. My opinion is that the church and cardinals don't need any help harming their image because all by their selves they have been involved in murder and theft for centuries. ..And for the cardinals acting like Judas, No They Weren't; Judas was doing the job he was supposed to do as instructed. The church through the centuries have been doing bad all by themselves. BTW the reason I have commented on the church was I didn't bring it up first but I believed I should rebut the comments made. As far as spoiler this movie was a spoiler, it spoiled my entire evening.

As has been said this is pretty bad and low budget, but it's still watchable if you treat it more like a TV pilot or a TV episode rather than a cinema film, and after watching the television series you would be used to seeing the bad acting and lack of plot, also as it's only about 80 minutes it has the 'feel' of a TV episode, the ending has extra padded time filler, as it shows highlights of the film (like having a trailer for the film within it's own film?) And a kind of biblical ending where Anna, McCloud's wife gets pregnant (by God?)It also has some very Weird and wonderful crediting. Still bad and pretty lame but it could have been worst, as it's also anti church with the cardinal been crooked and betraying his friends (Judas?). Also for some strange reason they are all wearing tinted glasses. What more can be said? Bad sword fights, speeded up action, it's bad but NOT totally bad.