How An Iconic ’80s Movie Spawned An All-Time Worst ’90s Sequel
Nowadays, we’ve become numb to filmmakers and studios making changes to movies and TV shows after their initial release to the public. Whether it’s erasing a Starbucks cup from the realm of Westeros or touching up a digitally re-animated dead actor, any ideas of “final cut” have gone out the window.
A big reason for emboldening that attitude actually goes back to our favorite decade, y’all: the ‘90s!
In 1992, Ridley Scott re-released Blade Runner and dubbed it “The Director’s Cut.” It made significant changes to the theatrically released version that many fans of the film actually preferred.
Just a year before the Blade Runner: Director’s Cut release, a sequel to an ‘80s box office hit landed in theaters and was roundly rejected by audiences and critics. And by 1995, that film’s director got the chance to release his director’s cut and changed the movie to a degree that effectively changed history.
I’m Drew Dietsch for Giant Freakin Robot and this is why Highlander II: The Quickening failed.
I Love Highlander
Ok, real quick for anyone who hasn’t seen Highlander.
Number one: see Highlander. That’s the whole list. Seriously, Highlander is amazing. It’s one of the most enjoyable and stylish fantasy action movies of the ‘80s.
If you don’t want to bring joy into life for some reason, here’s the basic idea of Highlander: there are immortals here on Earth. They are all destined to fight each other for a mythic goal called The Prize. Last one standing wins, or as the series catchphrase goes, “There can be only one.”
If you want to get more in depth than that, check out our Rules of Highlander video. Or, you know, watch Highlander and be a happier person.
The first film took place in then-modern day New York and ended with our hero, Connor MacLeod, defeating the last immortal and winning The Prize. It was a perfectly closed loop of a story. So, when the time came to make a sequel, there were a lot of narrative obstacles as well as production problems.
For one, the ending of Highlander removed Connor’s immortality, the big hook of the entire concept. Plus, all the other immortals were now dead, including Connor’s friend and mentor, Ramirez, played by Sean Connery. And they were gonna bring him back no matter what because he was a big name actor and extremely fun in the first movie.
How To (Not) Make Highlander 2
So, how do you deal with all these issues? Well, the original version of Highlander II: The Quickening made some extreme decisions. The biggest one had to do with the origin of our heroes and their supernatural abilities. In the theatrical cut of Highlander II, the story retcons the immortals as aliens from a planet called Zeist.
In the first film, the Quickening was a blast of spiritual energy one immortal experienced after slaying another. In the sequel, it is retconned into a magical force that binds Connor and Ramirez and allows for Ramirez’s resurrection.
Needless to say, this was not going to fly with fans of the original film, but we’ve got a lot more issues to deal with than just upset fans.
The story is set in the future year of 2024 and mostly centers around the Shield, an electromagnetic barrier created to protect humans from solar radiation. It works but has also plunged the planet into permanent night and has been capitalized upon by a greedy mega-corporation.
A perfectly fine sci-fi concept but not something that really sounds in line with the swordfighting action fantasy of the original. And though the production design of Highlander II is undeniably impressive, the bleak dystopian setting of 2024 made audiences bummed out. As someone who lived through actual 2024, I can relate.
Director Russell Mulcahy returned for the sequel and his knack for visual filmmaking flair is present, but Mulcahy ended up being removed from the production. Highlander II was shooting in Argentina but had to eventually move production when Argentina’s economy experienced a devastating crash.
At some point during all this chaos, the film’s completion bond company and certain investors were able to take control of Highlander II, taking Mulcahy and any of his creative influence out of the picture.
A Horrific Release
Needless to say, the making of Highlander II was an ambitious, bold, and ultimately doomed endeavor. The theatrical cut that was released without Mulcahy’s involvement was widely derided by critics and rejected by audiences, opening at the number three box office spot on its opening weekend.
Our favorite Spawn-loving critic Roger Ebert gave the movie a rare 0.5 stars and called it hilariously incomprehensible. And we’re siding with Roger on this one. Highlander II: The Quickening’s theatrical cut is a jumbled and choppy movie with little to recommend outside of its novelty status. As much as I have some lingering nostalgia for this version of the movie, it’s legitimately bad.
After becoming an infamous flop and even called one of the worst movies of all time, director Russell Mulcahy was able to supervise a new cut of Highlander II dubbed “the Renegade Version.” In this cut, any references to the planet Zeist are removed or changed to imply a distant fantastical past rather than an alien planet.
You also get some editing fixes. For example, the theatrical cut merges together two separate sword fights between Connor and the movie’s main villain, Katana, played by Michael Ironside. In the Renegade Version, those two fights are restored in full. And I’m never going to say no to more Michael Ironside.
The Renegade Version became the easily accessible cut of Highlander II: The Quickening after its release, and because it was seen as an improvement, there wasn’t any substantial demand for home video versions of the theatrical cut.
So, unless you saw Highlander II in the theater, on its original VHS or laserdisc release, or caught it on TV back in the ‘90s, you have never seen the original cut of the movie. And this continues today with widely available copies of the movie being either the Renegade Version or the Special Edition, another reconfigured cut that adds new CG effects.
Look, it’s no question, the Renegade Version re-edit of Highlander II is superior to the theatrical cut. It’s still not a great movie and it’s still a pretty poor sequel, but it’s certainly a far more watchable piece of film editing and storytelling than the theatrical cut.
However, the fact that Highlander II: The Quickening’s theatrical cut has been shoved away completely is not something I support. That version of movie is a piece of film history and deserves proper preservation, archiving, and public accessibility. Just because the makers of Highlander II made a mistake with their sequel doesn’t mean they should get to erase history.
I’m sure there are people out there who genuinely love the Zeist-filled version of Highlander II and they deserve to have a preserved high-quality copy of it to watch. Just because a movie is bad doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. Highlander II: The Quickening is a failure and those who forget their failures are doomed to repeat them. That’s probably why there hasn’t been a good Highlander movie since the first one!
If there are any Zeist apologists out there, I gotta hear from you in the comments. Give the video a like and subscribe to the channel if this is the kind of stuff you’d like to see more of here at Giant Freakin Robot. Until next time, try not to lose your head.
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