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( Max score: 100 )

67

Immortals, they have secretly dwelt among us for thousands of years but their origins have been shrouded in mystery. The answers, Prophets say, are to be found in The Source. The last band of eternal warriors, lead by Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander, have set out on a treacherous quest to find the origin of their immortality. But to learn the truth, they must first defeat The Guardian of the Source, a powerful killer and ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to bring them all to a painful end.

Beyond the original Highlander film I have not followed the series in any of its incarnations. This made for TV movie which originally aired in September 2007 on the Sci-fi network is the latest installment in the franchise which has spawned multiple TV series, novels, comics, and an upcoming video game. After watching this film I was left feeling unimpressed. The plot was simple enough in that a group of immortals are seeking the locate the Source and that within the group none of them knew which of them was the Chosen one whose destiny would take him there. There was also a mortal woman who was the ex-wife of the lead character Duncan MacLeod, who has begun to have visions and is being drawn to the Source. The last piece of the puzzle is the Guardian who is supposed to protect (I guess) the Source.

The film is pretty short at 86 minutes and it’s a good thing. The screenplay is a bit disjointed and very little is explained regarding who the characters are and why there is the need for this quest. Early on characters begin to get killed off and with no real connection to them having been established it was like “who cares?” There were some fight sequences mixed in but they played out very much like a video game and the story’s pacing felt the same way. In the end I found it hard to care about the outcome of the story and I suspect that fans of the series will feel disappointment with this 5th installment in the Highlander franchise.




Parental Concerns:

This film is not rated however I suspect that a TV -14 rating would be appropriate as there is some violence and mild gore.

REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65

(Each paw rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 paws per category)

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(Each paw rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 paws per category)

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Overall I was pleased with the audio presented here. It had some moments were it provided solid dynamics and a punchy low end. The video was another story. Resolution was a mixed bag in that it went from good to poor from a clarity perspective. Sometimes it appeared to be downright blurry. The color palette was reserved and lacked variation (although this was probably intentional) and fleshtones didn’t appear delineated at all. Shadow detail was fair but blacks were not very deep which negatively impacted dimensionality in the many dark scenes used throughout the film.

The bonus features offered here were good and from my perspective better than the film itself. Fans will enjoy the Tribute piece.

Highlander – The Source was not what I would consider a good movie. Anyone going in who had no prior knowledge of the series will have to try and catch up because very little background is provided. Aside from that the screenplay moves along pretty quickly and doesn’t give the viewer a chance to bond with the characters or care what happens to them. Fans will more than likely be disappointed with what will probably be the final installment in the Highlander series.

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