The animation was really good, however the storyline seemed a bit rushed. It was great that they mixed real history into it, but there wasn’t really much time to develop the characters and explain the back story. I’m guessing they were assuming that everyone’s watched the original Highlander and knew what quickening is, but the animated movie was basically fight after fight, which may be a good thing for some. The fight scenes were indeed really cool.
Official Site
IMDb: User Rating: 7.4/10
Anime News Network
Amazon.com DVD
MY RATING: 7/10
You can watch the trailer on the official site.
Spoilers: (Show)
The story actually doesn’t follow the movie’s time line, but then again, neither did the movies and the TV series. According to Wikipedia:
To newcomers, the most confusing aspects of the franchise are the inconsistencies and paradoxes between the television series and the films. To explain the paradoxes presented, the entire Highlander franchise may be seen as completely separate storylines, occurring in alternate continuities. The common thread between the realities is the succession to the first film
Anyway, we start off when Marcus Octavius was ruling Rome and going around and conquering other nations. Colin was the leader of a tribe that Marcus wanted to enslave. Moya and Colin were in love, but Moya tried to save her people by attempting to assassinate Marcus. She would’ve succeeded if Marcus was a mere mortal, but was instead hung her on a cross and made her watch her tribesmen get slaughtered. Colin swore revenge and the story moves on.
Through many different eras, Colin’s tried to kill Marcus, who becomes the new ruler or high ranking official of each era. He was the there during the Samurai times, the Highlander times, even in World War 2, and a couple other eras. It is currently in the future of New York. Colin chases Marcus time after time, but always fails. He also always gets lucky and avoids being killed. Marcus had a funny habit. He couldn’t kill on holy ground and had to let Colin go twice. Once in the stonehenge and another inside a church.
The highlander sequence did occur, but Colin at this time already knew about his immortality and when he arose from death, he was told to leave the MacLeod clan.
Life continues on switching between flashbacks and current day. In current day, New York is in ruins. There’s a virus out that is killing a bunch of people and the only way to get the vaccine is to be enslaved by the new Marcus Octavius, whatever his new name may be.
To Marcus, civilization was a game. If it got to a point where he was no longer satisfied with the current state, like a game, he would just reset and start a new civilization. He was creating a new virus which would have a 100% kill rate.
What I found somewhat ridiculous was after Colin kills Marcus, the quickening help clear the virus and even destroy all the enemy robots. I’m not sure what exactly a quickening does, but I never knew it could be used as a weapon. The ending felt compromised.
I did like how the Dahlia stuck a bomb into that Japanese immortal and blew off her head to kill her.
