MovieChat Forums > Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) Discussion > Renegade Version problems

Renegade Version problems

posted 18 years ago by UnlovedSeason
9 replies | jump to latest

OK, it's better than the cinema version.
Better like ice-cream is better than a black eye.

BUT
• It still has Connor and Ramirez being close friends, as adults, prior to their first meeting in the original. So, they are exiled into the future and we might *assume* some amnesia or something...
• But they already have those names in the past, when we know Ramirez is only the character's most recent name as a 'Spaniard' – he's actually from Ancient Egypt. So we must *assume* they arrive randomly in the future millennia apart...
• But Connor was born, we know, naturally into the Clan Macleod and grew up as a kinsman in the Highlands, he did not arrive (with that name!) already an adult.
• Oh, and Katana still acts illogically and is 'doing the Kurgan' rather than being an interesting character. I suppose we must *assume* he's just insane for some reason...

ON THE PLUS SIDE
• It does feature and explain Brenda (differently to the reboot explanation given in Highlander 3).
• The plot makes a lot more sense than originally.
• The visual style and scene cutting is restored to Russell Mulcahy's classic Highlander style, with the story told in non-linear fashion and clever ways of flashing back and forth.
• In all, you get nearly 20 minutes more, including some good action as well as plot stuff, and that's even with some of the bad stuff now removed.

Has anyone seen the second reworked version (2004), which I believe is essentially this but with new Modern FX work? Both these director's cuts are available (Region 1) on Amazon, used, very cheaply...

[–] star_gladiator_2100 18 years ago

Yes, I've seen the Special Edition. And you're right, as far as I can tell the only real differences from the Renegade Version are the re-done effects.

Except for the scene near the end where Louise has to hold off The Shield Corporation guards with a machine gun. That scene has been cut.

I'm glad it's gone, because it always seemed to me that Connor was leaving her in some jeopardy in that scene.

[–] sabyelvis 18 years ago

• It still has Connor and Ramirez being close friends, as adults, prior to their first meeting in the original. So, they are exiled into the future and we might *assume* some amnesia or something...

Nope, from what I understood, they are sent in the future to be reborn in random centuries, without knowledge of their prior lives - until the time of the Gathering... Not very well explained though...

• But they already have those names in the past, when we know Ramirez is only the character's most recent name as a 'Spaniard' – he's actually from Ancient Egypt. So we must *assume* they arrive randomly in the future millennia apart...

Only Ramirez is called that way in the distant past. Connor is "the man with no name"! ;-) So one can assume that when, in the first movie, the old peacock starts to search for Connor its because he's remembering somehow his previous life. And then, when he presents himself as Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez to his student-to-be, maybe JSV is the name he uses as chief-metallurgist for Charles V, and Ramirez his real name! That's my theory at least...

Remember the King!

[–] tootcb 18 years ago

"Nope, from what I understood, they are sent in the future to be reborn in random centuries, without knowledge of their prior lives - until the time of the Gathering... Not very well explained though..."

This is a case of the producers overestimating the audience. The "rebirth" idea was clearly stated in the original script, but Davis/Panzer thought that audiences didn't need the explanation. "Let them figure it out for themselves," so to speak.

You're gonna need a bigger thread.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ferdinandhudson 17 years ago

there's also the issue of what year the shield went up. according H2: RV the shield went up in 1999, but he tells Louise that Brenda died 29 years ago (counting back from 2024), making that 1995.

Even for a man like Connor MacLeod it would take some time for them to come up with and construct the shield, thus the 4 year difference.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ferdinandhudson 17 years ago

According to the priests they were destined to have their first death at the age they were when they got banned. Another point that went missing during production.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] gunnehill 15 years ago

<<<Excellent point about the man with no name comment.>>>

Except from the fact that Katana already knows McLeod's name before he travels to the future to kill him.