Opened US f-1-sep-2000
Rated R
87 minutes
Dimension Films
According to the "Highlander" franchise of not-entirely-consistent films and TV series, the occasional human is born with the potential to become a so- called Immortal, immune to death except by decapitation. Such a person won't know this himself, but can be sensed by mature Immortals, who may take steps to gain an ally or eliminate a future rival. After the proto-Immortal's first death (necessarily violent; slow poison won't induce the change) he becomes sterile, his bio-age is fixed and he can survive any number of horrible, painful injuries; should he kill another Immortal, he'll gain the victim's lifeforce and skill. It's traditional for all Immortals to be proficient with a blade, ever-ready for the one-on-one duels that are the core of their so-called Game; eventually the last survivor ("there can be only one!") will attain some great, ill-defined boon. Immortals have walked among us for at least 5000 years; for almost as long, a secret society of Watchers has traced their movements and contests.
The 87-minute film "Highlander: Endgame" is really just an oversized television episode, with production quality to match. The story is sufficiently self-contained that ignorance of the larger saga is merely a hindrance, not a fatal injury. Despite the title, it's only another chapter, not the end of The Game.
There's plenty of blood, bullets, stabbings, slicings, impalings and carefully-obscured decapitations, plus one sex-nudity scene (or possibly two, depending how you count the interlaced-flashback); but very few profanities. It's probably no more explicit than the "uncensored" version of the TV series that airs outside the U.S.
The plot traces almost 500 years of history through (in the standard fashion) bunches of flashbacks -- Scotland, Ireland, France. In particular, there's the obsessed rule-breaking crusade of one Jacob Kell (and gang), former Scottish priest, to kill every friend of Connor MacLeod (from the movies), merely because Connor killed Jacob's mentor when said mentor burned Connor's mom at the stake for witchcraft, just because Connor was displaying devilishly non-dying tendencies. No, I'm not trying to make this easier.
One of those friends is Duncan MacLeod (from the series), and one of Kell's gang is Duncan's estranged wife Kate (now calling herself Faith). She's estranged because, when Duncan realized she was a proto-Immortal, he explained by stabbing her through the heart. On their wedding night. Owch -- not good with words, I suppose.
Zooooom, it's a copter-eyes-view of the Scottish highlands and assorted castles! And a bunch of Immortals who retired from the Game by lying around IV-anesthesized in a crypt! And a Watcher laptop with an executive summary of cumulative kill-scores for each Immortal! And Connor convinces Duncan to kill him so he'll be able to defeat Kell! And all sorts of lightning and collateral property damage! And -- oops, I guess I just spoiled the film.