.
I re-watched
Highlander over the weekend and got a laugh out of this review:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_(film)On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "People hate Highlander because it's cheesy, bombastic, and absurd.
I loved it, but am amused by the comments of those who don't share my opinion. I like the historical epic aspect of the movie, that spans centuries and landscapes worldwide, with a fantasy aspect of swordfight batltes to claim immortal souls, beautiful both in the highlands of Scotland, and the night-lit cityscapes of 1986 New York City. One man's "cheesy" is another's well-played comedy relief, but y'know, whatever.
Also great from start to finish is the high-energy Queen soundtrack.On re-watching, the number of great sons well incorporated into the movie was many more than I remembered.
The rest of the reviews...
And people love it for the same reasons."[43] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[44] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.[45]
In 1998, Halliwell's Film Guide described Highlander as a "muddled, violent and noisy fantasy" and stated that "the explanation doesn't come until most people will have given up."[31]
In 2000, Matt Ford of the BBC gave the film three stars out of five, writing, "From the moody, rain-soaked, noir-ish streets of late 20th century America to the wild open spaces of medieval Scotland, Mulcahy plunders movie history to set off his visceral fight scenes with suitably rugged locations. ... What the film loses through ham acting, weak narrative, and pompous macho posturing it more than compensates with in sheer fiery bravado, pace, and larger than life action."[46]
Also in 2000, IGN, awarding it eight out of ten, wrote, "This 80s classic has a lot going for it. The hardcore MTV manner in which it was filmed is common these days, but was groundbreaking then. This movie features some of the best scene transitions committed to celluloid. ... To this is added some fun performances by Connery and especially Clancy Brown."[36]
In 2000, Christopher Null of FilmCritic.com gave the film four-and-a-half stars out of five, writing, "Highlander has no equal among sword-and-sorcery flicks."[47] Null later called Highlander "the greatest action film ever made," saying that it features "awesome swordfights, an awesome score, and a time-bending plotline that only a philistine could dislike".[48]
In 2002, giving the film three stars out of five, Adam Tyner of DVD Talk wrote, "The screenplay spots a number of intelligent, creative ideas, and I find the very concept of displacing the sword-and-sorcery genre to then-modern-day New York City to be fairly inventive. The dialogue and performances don't quite match many of the film's concepts, though. The tone seems somewhat uneven as if Highlander is unsure if it wants to be seen as a straight adventure epic or if it's a campy action flick."[49]
In his 2009 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, describing it as an "interesting notion made silly and boring", but acknowledged that "Connery, at least, shows some style." He added that "former rock video director Mulcahy's relentlessly showy camera moves may cause you to reach for the Dramamine."[50]
Tom Hutchinson of Radio Times awarded it three stars out of five, calling it "so confused as to be hilariously watchable". Hutchinson praised "some great sword-lunging duels — the best of which is set in a Madison Square Garden garage — but the story is never that engaging."[51]
