Highlander 2: The Quickening - Awfully Good Movies
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The Awfully 90s Summer is winding down to its conclusion, and while COVID-19 may have made this summer far crueler than even Bananarama could have envisioned, let's end it on a high note by finally giving the Awfully Good treatment to one of the worst sequels/movies of not just the 90s, but of all time...from 1991, it's HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING!
Five years after HIGHLANDER underwhelmed at the box office only to gather a cult following on home video, director Russell Mulcahy finally got the opportunity to give us the continuing adventures of immortal Scotsman Connor MacLeod, with Christopher Lambert returning as the now-mortal MacLeod, who's used his newly acquired prize of unlimited knowledge to save Earth from that pesky ozone layer with a planetary shield that's put the world into permanent darkness.
And if you're already wary of this mid-80s fantasy movie suddenly fast forwarding to 2024 to become BLADE RUNNER out of nowhere, it gets even worse when the sequel retcons MacLeod's origin story and reveals that he and his mentor Ramirez--played again by Sean Connery--were actually aliens from the planet Zeist who were reincarnated onto the planet Earth amidst their fellow immortal aliens as punishment for trying to fight their tyrannical leader. Yep, go back and read that last sentence again...that actually happened, after HIGHLANDER II's Argentinian financial backers interfered with the movie's production to ensure the film made a good chunk of change amidst their country's financial crisis.
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#Highlander #AwfullyGoodMovies #HIghlander2TheQuickening
Watching Michael Ironside play an over the top villain totally makes it worthwhile.
I totally agree. I went to watch this movie at the Odeon in London when I was traveling then just to see Michael Ironside running free and wild.
I know it's quite off topic but do anyone know of a good site to stream newly released movies online ?
@Ishaan Curtis flixportal :)
@Ricky Zaire thanks, I signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :) I really appreciate it !!
@Ishaan Curtis happy to help xD
Highlander has more alternate continuity timelines than Halloween.
Halloween might surpass Highlander soon.
Highlander 2 timeline, Highlander Animated Series Timeline, and Movies+Show Timeline. And whatever the fuck was up with The Source.
@@bulbafett5001 A nightmare Duncan had sometime after the events of Endgame.
@@bulbafett5001 Forgot the anime film.
I enjoy this film in the "so bad, it's entertaining" category. Plus, the director's cut of this film is somewhat better.
Who doesn't love Micheal Ironside as Kitana. He's nuts and menacing. Especially when he grabs David Blake right in the Dr. Cox.
The subway scene is funny as shit
Honestly they need to make one more cut of this movie where it's just Kitana going around being an asshole for 15 minutes. That'd be a revered classic film.
I love this movie. Maybe it's mostly nostalgia coz I freaking loved everything that had something to do with Higlander when I was a kid. Highlander 2:The Quickening belongs to "my top 10 movies I loved as a kid and I still love now", although I never understood why they changed the storyline.
I never noticed the baby bouncing off the train seat before. This movie just got awesome!
This whole movie deserves a WTF episode about it
Highlander II: A Kind of Tragic.
Tragic tragic tragic
There's sadly more than one.
Lol
This movie is a perfect example of sequels are not always necessary or even needed.
Third one was pretty good.
I would argue that subway scene was very necessary
Eh, I disagree. There's mountains of potential with this, which the series tapped into but I think could really be one of those few franchises that'd greatly benefit from a reboot.
The problem is none of that potential included "secret main character history rewrites with aliens and/or time travel"
The 80’s and 90’s were full of horrible sequels, like Caddyshack 2, Crocodile Dundee 2, Weekend at Bernie’s 2 etc
@@sugreev2001 Oh no question. Good sequels were a rarity then, and they have gotten way more consistent now. Films like Aliens and Return of the Jedi were the exception, not the rule.
Part of it is (and I hate to say this) the fact movies were pitched AS MOVIES back then, not franchises. Every movie made today is already building framework for sequels.
I had the pleasure of working with Adrian Paul on the Eyeborgs movie. He said to stick with Highlander 1 and Endgame. Highlander 2 maybe.
Adrian Paul was great in the tv series.
That's very awesome! Not as familiar with the TV show, but Adrian Paul seems like a cool guy. Good to hear he's got a sense of humor.
@@JoBloOriginals He sure does. I asked about The Source, and he said "We don't talk about The Source."
I agree with him. I hate part 2, part 5, and I'm just meh on part 3 which is a glorified remake of part 1 tho there isn't much glorious about it lol.
@@AmsterdamComicGeek The first TV season was aweful. What was that? The Highlander family show? "DADDY's HOoME, Chopped of some Heads today.
From Season 2 it got better, but why did the main character had to be a tribe member of connor?
Why ignorring the Highlander movie ending?
Why not some random handsome dude living for 2000 years and just telling his story until he get killed by Kurgan in the mid 80s?
Besides all that, I got sucked into the show. It was at least second best after the first movie.
I am still scared from Highlander II The Quickening, which could make to one of the top 10 worst movies ever.
I have mixed feelings on the Quickening aspect. On the one hand, the best characters in the movie, the henchmen, are dead. But on the other hand, Lambert doesn't have to do that annoying old man voice anymore.
I saw this in the theater. I still want my money back.
This was actually the first Highlander movie i saw. Saw it in the theater and liked it. Didn't understand the hate i heard about it. So then i watched Highlander 1 and loved it. So i have a soft spot for H2 since it got me into Highlander.
So did I. This Film took my pocketmoney.
RIP Sir Sean Connery. You made Ramirez so beloved and badass.
When they said there can be only one. It should have stayed that way. I can watch the sequels but yeah, they arent great. It would be funny if in part 2 they said there can be only 2. Next sequel, there can be only 3.
Heh, this was actually the first thing I ever saw John C. McGinley in, and despite how terrible the movie was, he actually made an impression on me. I thought he was considerably better than the material, and was probably a very good comedic actor. So I felt rather vindicated when his career picked up a few years later.
As a Brit who watched this on VHS I can say this is the first I have seen that ending.
The one I watched had Sean Connery say "Remember McLeod you still have your whole lifespan ahead of you."
Also, having Zeist makes more sense than being the distant past. Hell being the distant future also works better.
None of it made sense. It didn’t matter if it was another planet or the past, it was just a cash grab toward the recent VHS fans of the original. The directors cut should be viewed on Fast Forward. There is nothing there that helps it be better, it’s a bore fest. I agree with the editors on this. The extra scenes do explain things better, but it’s just so silly and poorly executed that no one cares anyway.
@@p.granger8824 The Source exists. Therefore this is not the worst thing in the Highlander franchise. So the existance of that makes this better. Might be the only thing that makes it better.
15:54 "Katana, I can see my ass."
OH MY GOD HAHAHA, that Death Becomes Her joke killed me, I absolutely love that film. 🤣👏
...I saw Sean Connery and screamed "DAMN IT! I NEED TO REWATCH THE HIGHLANDER!" As a kid my big sister and I used to pretend to be "immortals! We have inside of blood of kings!" She was always Michael's character and I was always Sean in out little Highlander play pretend. We did learn how to fence (thanks great grandpa.) It kept us busy and "responsible" when trying to beat each other with wooden swords and covered in padding with real metal swords.
We'd be pretending reenacting, playing pretend, fighting with real metal swords, then we'd break out singing Queen. Me ask a child singing Queen doing Sean Connery 's voice. Oh good times. Still have a few scars from my sister and I getting a little to in to it and actually hurting each other with metal swords. But...totally worth it.
I saw this movie in the theater with my first wife (then girlfriend). We both loved the first film so we had high expectations for this one. Now my first wife rarely commented on a movie, but when this ended she stood up, turned to me and said, "What the f&%k was that?" She almost never swore so I had to laugh. All I could answer was, "I have no f&%king idea!" In later years my second wife and I got The Renegade Edition and agreed it was "better" than the theatrical edition, but still couldn't save the film.
Is your first ex-wife attractive (and open-minded)?
@@cjewe1z She was attractive. she has since passed away after we divorced.
@@gakabler, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make your personal matter into a joke. I'm going to watch it for Madsen. She's a great actress (from the time I saw her in 'Candyman').
On a different note, I heard two women next to me react exactly the same way at the end of 'Blade Runner 2049'.
That version is worse. It explains things but those ideas don’t really matter in this mess. Plus it adds a lot more junky scenes like the fight on the vehicle which was bad.
Who wants to wait for a remake? Forever! I always liked this messed up 🎥 Also one of my favorite 🎥 villians of all time!
I miss the old videos where the "Awfully Good Drinking Game" was for things the films did excessively (like an actual drinking game). In the new videos there just thrown in to highlight boring stuff.
Virginia Madsen is the only nice thing in this movie!
You forgot to mention the anime 'Highlander: The Search For Vengeance'. Also: The first episode of the TV series got a novelisation.
RIP Connery we all miss you so much.
I don't know about everybody else on here but I really actually had a fun time when I was in the 6th or 7th grade watching this movie. I really liked it and would like to revisit it again. Some people may be upset but I believe it made it into fun action sci-fi and I especially like the world building. I know it's not a purest film to the original but boy Michael Ironside was on the top of his game! There could only be one Highlander 2!
I remember watching this movie back when I was enjoying the TV series and sure made zero sense to me. After the ultimate edition came out it sure erased some of the nonsense and turned it into a guilty pleasure to me, I've seen it at least 20 times.
If you refer to the Renegade version um they tried but didn't really make it any better.
The series and final dimension both retcon this piece of garbage nicely.
@@edwardbloecher4563 it was pretty awful to begin with
@@makatron Lol very true Sir
I loved all the 90's to early 2000's references. Your the man now dawg!
That "you're the man now, dawgggggg!" had me deddd :D
hilarious stuff
I'm from the UK and I've never seen the Peter pan ending, the ending i know is the shield comes down and you get a Sean Connery voiceover
It was show in some theaters
This movie is brilliant and modern. A plot of idiots blocking the sun after the ozone has referred itself is brilliant and, again, modern. They probably shouldn't have shoehorned Highlander characters but the concept is great
The Highlander series and the Crow series are two that I always look at as, how the F*** did you mess them up so badly. Sequels are not hard, just make the first movie again but with more action. And with Highlander you can set it anywhere at any time, or have him fighting throughout time. oh well, at least we got good TV shows out of it
And both had TV shows that were exponentially better than any of the movie sequels.
"if i was going to be in a piece of shit, like that movie, i was going to be the most memorable fuckin' thing in it" - Michael Ironside
and this is precisely why MI is an absolute fuckin' legend :P
"I AM IMMOR-TAL, I HAVE INSIDE ME MACLEOD JOHN-SON"
- Virginia Madsen aka "boobylady2000"
If you think the sequels can't be worse you haven't seen The Source, which is way worse than Highlander 2. The Source was so bad that it skipped theaters in the US and went straight to the SiFi channel, you can watch it for free on Tubi if you dare.
I hate this movie more than I can possibly describe in actual words. It's more like the sound a moose with it's testicles caught in a bear trap would make.
Zeist actualy is a town in The Netherlands, near Utrecht
Have to go there.
The original Highlander is as good as movies get. Highlander 2 is good just on the strength of it's connection to it, no matter how bad it is.
No, this is a miserable movie. On opening night my buddies from the barracks and I went to see this most anticipated sequel to one of our favorite movies of all time. It was horrible. I felt like I had just watched a friend be brutally executed. We all agreed that this movie did not happen and have only fleetingly discussed it as you would death of your favorite dog. Dang you for bringing this up.
When this came out I was getting my engineering degree and a group of us all went to see this in the theater together because we LOVED the original and had it on VHS, playing it over and over and over.
I have never seen this movie again after that in theater viewing and I never intend to.
did it subvert your expectations?
No longer the worse Highlander movie, that honour now belongs to Highlander the source.
Thanks for the laughs and amusement you gave me this summer, Jesse.
Until next time.
I briefly stopped paying attention cuz someone started talking to me and then I heard the mst3k "Chief?", "McCloud!" and I started laughing like a maniac for no apparent reason in front of a complete stranger who had no idea I was wearing an earbud.
Awesome review! And wow, great job squeezing in all the information on the alternative versions. That's a swamp there!
The 80s and early 90s in hollywood and anime were the gold standard in not overexplaining things and having real mysteries. then came highlander 2, modern star wars, jj abrams, a million remakes and it all went downhill
Highlander 1986- Mythology, legend, unexplainable magic and mythos that inspired generations and remains one of the greatest films ever made…. Then they made highlander 2… ALIENS!
"Highlander II: The Sickening" LOL
True story: because it was heavily played by local TV in the early- to mid-90s, Highlander II was the first entry of the series that I ever saw. I really wanted to know why Planet Zeist wasn't mentioned in any episodes of the tv show...
I really miss local TV showing more than infomercials and sports I don't care about on weekend afternoons though.
Louise: Okay, now let me just see if I can get this straight. You're mortal there, but you're immortal here until you kill all the guys from there who have come here... and then you're mortal here... unless you go back there, or some more guys from there came here, in which case you become immortal here... again.
MacLeod: Something like that.
Roger: (from All of Me) Is everyone here bananas?
Haha, I still need to see ALL OF ME. RIP Carl Reiner.
All of me was incredible
my suspension of disbelief was broken at "dearly missed Roger Ebert"
Always love your work man. Perfect comedy and editing. Was hoping to be on the team, but happy to always be a joblo fan!
Actually Frodo and co being robots in a Westwolrd style theme park makes more sense than this time traveling/ Alien horseshit.
No. Nothing Good about this movie besides the effects at the time. It shouldn't exist and is an abomination.
Thank you Jesse for the Awfully good series. They make me laugh every time. Love it.
nothing better than connery saying dude
BEST MOVIE EVER! Oh God, there JoBlo I said it, can I have my $5 now?
Why does MacCloud sound like Werner Herzog?
Sounds also like that doppelganger woman from Us.
You missed the bizarre costume inconsistencies with the last half hr of the movie. Christopher lambert shifted from 2 different costumes throughout the attack on the tower...like they’d had 2 different films stitched together..although maybe that was from the theatrical release and not the various attempt to fix the movie later
I watched this movie as a kid, I had no clue what the hell was going on but I enjoyed it very much. As an adult nothing has changed.
I'm looking forward to someone trying to make a positive spin on this film. Should be er... interesting. Either way, it's a thumbs up for the sheer nerve.
Tom Cruise was planning to do a reboot. But at the end he lost interest.
Maybe because The Mummy bombed 🤔
I am crying with laughter watching this. Thank you. Sean Connery and Michael Ironside make this worth watching; all it needs now is Brad Dourif and Sly Stallone - watching this makes me think of Judge Dredd.
I remember renting this movie with my uncle in 1991 thinking "cool, more highlander". Then they were suddenly aliens on another planet.
I watched the movie many times to try to understand it
But then I figured out that nothing mades sense
Here’ a guy who lived through Oliver Cromwell, the Jacobite rebellion, the Napoleonic wars, the French revolution, the American civil war, the wild west, Chicsgo’s gangster era and two world wars.
ANYONE with a pen should be able only through flashbacks and/or sequels to spit out scripts ad infinitum.
What did they do?
Aliens named MacLeod and Ramirez.
Surfing space pigs.
How about letting movie makers make make movies and suits settle for the money?
I want to see this even more now. It looks so cool.
The Highlander movies are my guilty pleasure 😂😂
Unfortunately, I think this one's actually the best sequel. What it lacks in coherence, it makes up for in production design and scope. Highlander III is nothing more than an inferior remake of the original that retcons the ending of the original film just long enough to throw in three extra immortal villains who prove as disposable as the movie itself. Endgame is the Star Trek Generations of the series, with all of the poor execution implied by that comparison, but it also looks like a typical direct-to-video product from Dimension at the time. And then The Source is a SyFy Original that manages to insult the first film's premise far more thoroughly than Highlander II ever did.
The french version also had the Peter Pan ending.
I was stoked to see this opening night and have not been able to go back into a theater ever since. TRAUMA
I was excited for this. Then so dissatisfied. But the various editions and it's history has made it a cult film for sure
Rest in peace Sean Connery
Mulcahey left the theater 15 minutes in? Lucky man.
The franchise's biggest mistake was beating the MacLeod story to death, hundreds of immortals and a villain who fought with Genghis Khan but still they stuck with it..
Katana said...
"When this baby hits 700 MPH, You're going to see some serious shit"
Starship troupers had Kurgan and Katana in it. "You wanna live forever?"
Always love it when MST3k gets a mention.
I liked to think that was just how Connery was dressed every morning.
I remember watching this as a kid, after seeing the first highlander at the time was one of my favorite movies, and just thinking, yeah I'm gonna forget that ever happened.
There can only be one Highlander film! The OG
I'm so going to watch this movie later
It's like the Ending of Beverly Hills Cop, was replaced with the Intro to Meet Dave
I have walked out of two movies in my life. This is one of them.
I was a teen when I last watched this movie, but I actually enjoyed it and how different it was than the original.
That I agree with, it was out of left field and kind of cool (for the first 10 minites). Too bad the script etc was nonsense because it could have really been something if the writers weren’t snorting coke.
I’ve attributed this film to Connor having a drug induced fever dream when entering the sanctuary as seen in Endgame.
I’ve yet to be able to make sense of the Source.
@ 13:00 describes Michael Ironside's decision making on his performance. And well... he's 100% correct. His over the top performance fits the movie well, and is in no way a detriment. (I've never head anyway say 'I liked Highlander 2 but Ironside was too over the top') And hell... nothing wrong with having a little fun and getting paid. The acting, by anyone, isn't this movie's problem.
As far as im concerened Highlander is a self containd one off movie, with no sequels or spinoffs.
I mean, if you're going to retcon it into time travel, at least have them come from the distant future, not the distant past. That would at least make a little mire sense.
I kinda liked this movie... also had a crush on Virginia Madson which may have helped.
I thought this movie was a lot of fun when I first saw it in 1992, but I was six, so my opinion has evolved over the years.
Budding script writers should be made to sit n watch this and learn how not to write a film by law
I enjoyed this film. The futire-noir aesthetic is remarkable, the fights practical without handicam and quick edits and Connery is hilarious.
As for the exile into the future, people are focusing too much on the plot device and not the hidden meaning. The punishment of living forever is the pain of losing loved ones and losing oneself in the sands of time. As from the first film, Connor is optimistic and youthful. As he passes down the ages, you see the pain of memory in his eyes. He is disheveled and scared of forming relationships. He lost his best friend and the love of his life. The banishers knew what they were doing.
Let the lynching commence....
No lynching here. I enjoy this movie as well. To me it feels like a fever dream version of Highlander.
@@thrashpuppy2010 Wow! Great interpretation 💯👍
This is a terrible movie but the thing I always find entertaining is Dr. Cox and Michael Ironside. If this was just a movie about Michael Ironside going around being a huge asshole it'd be 5 out of 5.
ED: LOL that Michael Ironside quote. Succeeded you did my friend, succeeded you did.
Spoony was right: nobody should be forced to watch Highlander 2
To best enjoy Highlander 2, I think it has a big dependence on how familiar with the source material you are.
Knowing the first movie makes the "Aliens from the Planet Zeist" retcon in the first minutes of HL2 go from silly... to ascending to another plane of reality. Like the Prize of bad movies
9:27😅😅😅😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣I lost it there!
A classic example of a sequel shitting on the original!!
The other films definitely can't compare to this one in terms of awfulness. 3 was alright and 4 was a meh ending to the TV series (though it does have Damadar from Dungeons and Dragons as the villain, though this was before Bruce Payne played that role, but only by a few months) but I could swear I'm forgetting something.
Nah, that can't be. It's not like there's another Highlander film that was made for TV and is actually worse in every way than Highlander 2 because that would simply be impossible...right?
Wrong.
Even though Michael Ironside clearly didn't give a shit and was hamming it up on purpose. He was still a more entertaining and enjoyable villain than Bruce Payne's Kell from Highlander Endgame.
okay.... i NEVER right reviews BUT this goes on for about 8 minutes to long of absolute perfection. This movie from state to finish has been an inside joke for me and my small group of friend for about 20 years and this video ... holy fucking shit I'm old... outlined every single reason this movie not only was a terrible movie on its own but a horrendous extenuation to the established lore! I am so happy they abandoned the idea of the highlanders being aliens BUT considering the success of the following media I firmly attest to the damage being done. All we can hope for is them casting Gerard Butler as McCloud and aim for a STRICTLY "Punisher" Netflix rating.
Michael Ironside has a scar on the left side of his face and they incorporated that into his character in both this and Terminator: Salvation. Did you ever watch Spoony's review of Highlander 2?
I was so excited to see this movie...and then I noticed the obvious wires on the flying bad guys. It all just went downhill from there...... 😏
RIP Mr Connery!!