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There was only one: Highlander (1986) |
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 Some years later he meets up with a charismatic personality by the name of Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, or just Ramirez as he is refered to. This role is played by Sean Connery and you can't help but love the guy in this movie. Ramirez explains that Connor Macleod is infact immortal and can not die unless his head is cut off. The story is that there are several immortals on earth, scattered around in different contintents and countries. Ramirez who himself is spanish, further explains that there is a race going among these special humans to kill eachother in order to become the one and only immortal. Killing off opponents gives the person the victims power, elliminating every immortal would give the survivor immense power to controll the world. This is refered to as The prize, "There can be only one" is one of the taglines in the movie.
Ramirez teaches Connor how to work with the sword and also shows which superhuman skills they possess. Worth mentioning is the ability to breath under water and have a nonstop stamina. Something that hits Connor hard is the fact that he will have to outlive his lovedones, specially his lifepartner Heather.
 The action starts when Connor gets into the life of becoming a immortal and himself starts the search for "The prize". We see small scenes showing Connor in every decade untill we end up in the present (being the 80's). His past has been haunted by The Kurgan that stabbed him centuries ago, his real name is Victor Kruger and is the most viscios of the immortals. He wants Connors head so that he can claim the prize. Connor has to fight off Kurgan and also revenge the death of his loved ones.
The reason why i said that this movie was a piece of art is because it has all the artistic elements. First and foremost i have to highlight a very important reason for why this movie works so well, the soundtrack. The whole soundrack is by the legendary Queeen and follows each mood and setting of the movie. This soundtrack isn't like other movies where you can't actually listen to it without watching the movie, all the tracks are fantastic. '
 I mentioned earlier that movies from the 80's used real nature and not dead backdrops, "Highlander" in no exception. The landscapes in the movie are teardroppingly beautifull, scottland is a beautifull country and the filmmakers have used this fact throughout the movie. We're mostly in Scottland in the beginning of the movie, but scenes taking place in New York are also equally nice because of the use of wide shots that give you a sence of being there yourself.
The action is also top notch, swordfighting has never been cooler. Remember this isn't like fencing, in the movie they use big, huge, swords that give you quite a impression. By reading this one might think that something must be lacking in this movie, maybe the acting and cast are terrible. That's not the case. The cast is made for this movie, Christopher Lambert gives as i said the best role ever. Sean Connery is Sean Connery, not much to say there, but both these characters have great charm in everything they do and say. There's a lots and lots of humor in this movie, most of it is sarcastic as when Connor is taken into custody by the police. The officer is trying to intimidate him by asking Are you a faggot?, to which he replies Why Garfield? Cruisin' for a piece of ass?. Fantastic.
Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers) plays The Kurgan, i don't know how or why, but he still frightens the crap out of me in this movie. He is scarier than anyone, and his voice is deep and chilling. Him saying "Ramirez" still sends chills down my spine.
Explaining the artistic features of the movie, i can't skip the transitions that are done from one scene to another. It's almost like morphing but without the use of cgi, they only use their filming skills to overimpose the next scene. One example is when we see Connor in Scottland and there's a transition from his face to a poster of Mona Lisa in New York where we now find him in a different scene.
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80s Classics