Connor Macleod was in 3 films and the Pilot episode of the series, the second film is completely discarded. Duncan Macleod was in about 120 TV episodes that are all 47 minutes long without commercials. Thats 4 hours for Connor and about 100 or so for Duncan...... what did you think was going to happen in this movie?
"In the end, there can be only one....Have you forgotten that rule." - Connor, Pilot.
Stop Crying.
And when they're now rebooting Highlander, who is the main character? Yes, Connor! No matter which of the MacLeods survived Endgame was quite frankly a half-arsed film and The Source wasn't worth the toilet paper the script was written on. The less that is said about season six the better.
Quality over quantity.
---------------------------------
500 years ago on the planet Zeist
for that very reason i thought they were going to give us a film all about Connor MacLeod. because those 2 sequels after the first film are completely dismissed in this 4th installment. so really all u have is Highlander 1 and the first episode of the tv series.
so really irked me that in Endgame we see very little of Connor and so much of Duncan.
had we been given more flashbacks of just Connor or just more screen time with the character, THEN i would have been alright with his death.
Yeah, its really weird that script writers don't watch previous movies and film studios don't care about fans of original movies.
I understand that Adrian Paul had more time on TV as a highlander (and I liked the series myself), and some people think that is why he deserved to survive, and surely Christopher Lambert wanted to appear as highlander for once more. I love both actors, but have they read the script? How could they agree to film this thing?
My point is, this kind of movies, which have a powerful hero in them, should never end like there's nothing more left. Could you imagine if one day will be last movie of James Bond, Batman, Superman etc shown? I mean, when original hero actually dies and the story ends? I'm not a huge fan of those movies, but I like the fact that they are always there for the fans and even if there was not a movie for ages, at least previous one ended like there is more to come.
What happened here is Highlander story appears to be ended and I hate it.
That's what bothers me the most!
Nothing can excuse making of Endgame and The Source!
wish they had let the writers of the tv series be behind the ones behind this film.
it would make no sense to have a character that has been well established for 6 straight years, be the one to be killed off in their big screen debut. makes perfect sense to kill off Connor MacLeod so there would only be one Highlander as the main hero. ive been more of a Christopher Lambert fan over the years, so i didnt want his character to be written off unless it was done in such a way that itd be an epic sendoff in a dramatic scenario. but they didnt quite pull that off.
Lambert agreed to do the film because he liked the script he was given in the beginning. he isnt opposed to doing Highlander movies as long as there is some kind of character evolution. with this film it attracted him at the thought of being the mentor and showing the pains of immortality.
Adrian Paul wanted to bring Duncan MacLeod to the big screen. so he was all for it. he was done with tv but was ok with doing a feature film every now and again.
the idea was good but the execution was very poor. and the script kept going through revisions during filming.
thats what pissed me off. because i was led to believe that Endgame was the grand finale to Highlander. that Connor would sacrifice himself so that Duncan could defeat Kell and be the one to claim the Prize. had it been done as like a 2 or 3 hour film, and catered to everything that makes Highlander so great. then i would have been very content if this was the final chapter in the Highlander saga.
but Endgame wasnt that epic conclusion. it left it open ended and the only ones killed off were Connor and all the new characters that appeared and didnt even get any backstory on.
its not truly over until theres only one immortal left who wins the Prize.even with that, what happens if a pre-immortal dies of a violent death and suddenly the winner is no longer the last??? so really the stories in this universe could never actually end. they closed the story of Connor MacLeod but there wasnt enough to justify that death.
the movie wasnt a total failure. and it has some fun moments. for me it just lacked budget and time. if it was given that then it could have possibly met my expectations.
in comparison to The Source,...Endgame seems like a work of art.
Connor was clearly the more interesting character in the movie. If it had focused more on him, it would probably had been more successful....
shareEveryone who complains doesn't watch or watch much of the show. That's the difference. If you watched the show, imo Duncan is more interesting but that's based off of 120 episodes of growth and backstory. It's a bit more enjoyable thus seeing characters like Methos and Joe and taking off where series last episode ended. HOWEVER This movie was bad regardless... the concept wasn't Connor mentoring Duncan, pains of immortality and such - but just poorly enacted and could tell the budget was low and stretching. Fans of Connor or Duncan or both would agree the movie was beneath both.
shareISN'T CONNOR SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAST IMMORTAL?!! so much for continuity
shareNo kidding!
shareEven as more of a Connor fan, I have to admit the idea of someone who did not want to take his head having to do it was (dramatic narrative wise) a good one and it's by far the best scene in an otherwise pretty average film.
Also, Lambert himself was keen to kill Connor off (he's clearly too old in this to be playing a character who supposedly stopped ageing in his twenties) and the Highlander TV series and sequels had never been overly bothered by continuity anyway.
There is, however, a fairly obvious theory as to how Connor could actually still become "The One" after his death in Endgame (although it's not going to be a popular one on the Endgame board so be warned!)-
In Highlander II we see that immortals can "Call back" long dead comrades who they were "Bound to in a way that can never be broken, not even by death" in their past life in another time / world.
So, if all of the Highlanders were to exist as a single story (not counting the animations), the most likely explanation (to my mind) would be that someone (perhaps Duncan) brought Connor back in this way before they and all the other immortals were killed.
Of course, for this theory to work, Highlander III would have to be set before the TV series and Endgame and The Source would have to be set in 1998/99 to allow for Highlander II's 1999 scenes.
Stop!!!
shareWell, the call back in Highlander II is pretty vague, but it begs the question why does Connor not use it at any time? He needed to do it during the quickening and he only did it when he was the last immortal on Earth again, technically re-winning the prize. Much like he got mortality and some kind of ESP genius at the end of the first film. Mortality at the end of Highlander III, he gets Ramirez back after re-winning the prize the first time in Highlander II and after being the last for killing Katana gets the power to destroy the Sheild.
All good things must come to an end - Chaucer
i'm gonna jump out on a limb here and say that the first film, the quickening, the series, the final dimension, endgame, and the source are all non-canon from each other; there are so many plotholes between all of them that screws up so much continuity it's not even funny; from brenda's death to the fact that the last immortal was killed in endgame just proves that there should really not have been anything after the first film
if i were going for continuity i'd say the order would be:
the series-highlander-the final dimension-the quickening
\
->endgame-the source
that'd be the only logical way of thinking of it
to the fact that the last immortal was killed in endgame
dude i meant that connor is the last immortal, because he should be following the movies anyway; endgame screwed up the continuity in major fashion
shareWhat continuity? Continuity went out the window long before Endgame.
---------------------------------
500 years ago on the planet Zeist
I'd have to agree with that to be honest. There are too many holes to ever make complete sense of it but I still like to try to every time I revisit the Highlander films and series!
I find the most frustrating one that "1994" caption in Highlander III (just to let us know that's not a medieval helicopter that's flown into shot)- without that you've got a perfectly functional prequel to the TV series!
But then the series itself acknowledges the existence of alternate realities in it's final episodes (presumably what H3's original title "The Final Dimension" was getting at).
As to the original Connor / Duncan argument- Yes, Duncan has more hours of screentime to his credit but Connor has quality over quantity- the original film (and even Highlander II and III are more epic, grandiose and cinematic than Endagme and The Source).
Yes, Adrian Paul is more charming, better looking, much better in the fight sequences and does a less ludicrous Scottish accent. But he's simply not as interesting as what Lambert does with the character of Connor.
In the end isn't Connor and Duncan kind of like one now? So both survived but kind of in one body?
Come visit my blackrosecastle.com
stephentheblackroseenterprises.com
The second film made my cry, along with the raven series.
The last "monster" movie too........
Duncan was based off of Connor though. Honestly this movie could have easily removed either Duncan or Connor and worked just the same. It was a waste.
All good things must come to an end - Chaucer