May 301994
 
two reels

Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), an immortal swordsman who can only die if he is beheaded, thought he was the last of his kind, however, the psychotic Kane (Mario Van Peebles) had been trapped in a cave for four hundred years.  Now free, Kane plans to kill MacLeod, who must protect his adopted son, as well as Alex (Deborah Kara Unger), an archeologist who has taken an interest in MacLeod.

While Highlander II: The Quickening, the sequel to the imaginative Highlander, was odd in ways that are hard to comprehend, this second sequel, Highlander III: The Final Dimension, switches to generic sequel mode.  The story is the same as in the original movie, though weaker in every way, and, as with most sequels, overdone.  Mako, playing his Conan The Barbarian character in all but name, acts as a tutor for Macleod, taking over the Sean Connery part.  Mareo Van Peoples does his very best to imitate Clancy Brown’s performance from the first film.  Replacing Brenda, the girl-friend who gets kidnapped, are two characters, Alex to be the girlfriend, and John, an adopted son who does absolutely nothing in the movie except get kidnapped.  The villain’s wild driving scene with the abductee screaming is even duplicated.

In a rare show of competence, the filmmakers ignore the existence of The Quickening and everything that happened in it.  Instead, Brenda has died in a car accident, Macleod has adopted a son, and no mention is made of the powers he was supposed to have gained at the end of the first film.  From that basis, this film unrolls just as the first did.

Laughable sequences demonstrate that no one cared if the script made sense or was believable.  So, we end up with McLeod committed to the mental ward for waking up anxious from what was first thought to be a gunshot wound; the doctors at that hospital are rather touchy.  I don’t know why all the patients don’t escape since it is such an easy thing to do, but it is only fair that it is easy to get out considering how easy it was to get in.  Besides questionable psychiatric care, this is also a world where an archaeological dig in Japan makes the news in New York the day after not much is discovered, and that report is watched in bars.

Highlander made good use of its soundtrack, performed by Queen.  Highlander III has to make due with the guitar part from Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood for the climactic battle.  It’s no replacement.  However, the Celtic-inspired songs of Loreena McKennett bring some real emotion to the films romantic moments.

Still, as exploitation, Highlander III is watchable, perhaps shown in the background while your attention is turned toward something more interesting.  It has numerous swordfights, beheadings, and a few moments of nudity from Debora Unger and a gratuitous prostitute (though the nudity isn’t nearly as gratuitous as McLeod’s son, or the cop with a bad accent, or the illusion magic).

Also known as Highlander III: The Sorcerer, Highlander 3: The Final Conflict, and Highlander: The Magician.

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