Quartile rating: 4.5/10 · 1 rating
The Prize has been won. Connor MacLeod is mortal... Now an old man on the verge of death, memories of his past on the planet Zeist resurface, where a vengeful enemy, General Katana, plots to destroy him once and for all.
Highlander II is widely regarded as one of cinema's most infamous sequels. The plot catastrophically retcons the original by inexplicably making the immortals aliens from the planet Zeist, destroying the mythology and internal logic of the first film. The acting ranges from wooden to overwrought, with even Sean Connery unable to salvage his underwritten return. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable dark sci-fi aesthetic with little visual inspiration. Novelty is marginally above the floor because the sheer audacity of its retcon is genuinely singular — no sequel has quite so aggressively dismantled its predecessor's premise — but that distinction is more infamous than creative. The ending resolves nothing satisfyingly and feels rushed and incoherent, a fitting cap to a deeply troubled production.