Highlander: The Source

[tenaya]

Well, I suppose it could have been worse.


Okay, what I'd like to know is why is there such a big discrepancy between decently done productions and these SciFi Saturday movies and the like. The nuts and bolts of these productions are okay. They images on the film look good, but why are they so bad? Is it the writing? The directing? The editing in this seemed competent. I know some of these actors can act so why was this so lame?

But what about this film in particular? I actually had some hope the first couple of times Joe, Methos or Duncan talked to each other. But then they killed Joe after the one line in the film that actually had me with them for instant. And then Methos walks off as Joe, with his dying breath, tells Duncan--who's been sullen and pouty--that he is The One. In the series, I actually think that Joe and Methos were closer friends that Joe and Duncan. I said, "HUH?" when Joe proclaimed Duncan his best friend. Maybe that's because Duncan let's Joe get away with shooting him more than Methos does? *g*

The supporting characters were all such red shirts, but I was really looking forward to Giovanni getting killed. That Euro hair stuff was too silly. The Guardian was creepy with his quick movements but his contemporary lines were out of place.

And is it just me, or does anyone else think Methos wouldn't wear a fringe leather jacket?

Speaking of Methos, are we to assume he is dead? Well, I don't believe it.

And Duncan. :::shakes head::: I wonder what the Duncan fans will make of all this. Personally, I was fed up with his sullenness. The only thing that made him want to DO anything was his wife (?!) and then he came across as being so whipped it was painful to see. And in the end, he gets to have a baby. Since many Duncan fans are shippers, I imagine they might like it that he got the woman, and got to have a family. Is he mortal now for good?

Personally, I'm not too thrilled with it all. It makes The Game nothing but a river and the Immortals are just salmon trying to be the only one to spawn. I kinda like that the answer is life, but it really doesn't go with all the rest of canon. I also disliked that the whole thing was really about the Anna. She narrates it, she is the one that gets the monks to cooperate, to motivate Duncan to move is ass. And really, she is the Prize at the end. "Come to Momma, baby! I'm popping an egg just for you!"

Why do the movies have to try to answer what the Game is all about? The tv show went on for 6 years and never was too compelled to question that, yet they made episodes that did delve into ethics and asked a lot of questions.

At the end of this, I asked my mom what she thought. She simply said she hoped they all got a nice paycheck for it. That about sums me up, too. Even though it's produced by Panzer Davis, I don't consider this part of canon. Even though it means giving up that Methos had met Jesus.

I think I'd probably decided that I wasn't buying what they were selling when they said the planets had suddenly aligned themselves. In my mind: "Oh my God, Saturn has skidded to a stop while Mars has cut across the face of the sun to jump in line!"



At least Mega Snake made me laugh.

Comments

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

Hey, you can always pick and choose your canon for fanfic. You can still have Methos meeting Jesus and drop everything else in the film. Personally, I've always felt the answer to what the prize is to be lame from the first movie on. I mean, if the whole point of it is to be mortal, why not just go out and get your head chopped off as soon as you don't want to live any more? Perfectly acceptable way of suicide and more than one immortal has chosen it. I mean, really. The whole breeding thing? Ugh! As if there weren't enough children in the world? This goes back to my whole thing against mpreg about women/men being less because they don't have children sprung from their genes.

I haven't seen it. I'm beginning to think I shouldn't. So, supposedly Methos is dead and there isn't a crater where he died? I mean, seriously. Considering how much destruction takes place when an older immortal dies, Methos getting his head chopped should destroy at least one city in its entirety, possibly even a small state. "Hi, this is the 11pm news. Delaware seems to now be a smoking crater. Pennsylvania now has beach front property. Real estate values are expected to soar for the Keystone State..."

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

And that's how it was staged, too. Duncan had to defeat the Guardian while Anna stood wide legged, seemingly heaving with anticipation of who would win. Hurry Duncan, defeat him so we can make a baby! And after they embrace with energy floating about them, she does say, "I can feel life!"

Methos lets Duncan go fight for the prize. He jumps on a horse, taunts their pursuers and rides off with many in pursuit. Since they all lost their immortality as they drew closer to the Source, he is now mortal now. I don't know if he'd be an Immie again if he put some distance behind him or not. Maybe Methos knew what was going on. Stay, be mortal and have a baby or flee and be immortal again.

Methos Lives!!

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

Can I be sick now?

As far as the rest is concerned, I think you're right. Methos ran away from the source and now he's the lone Immortal. So, in the end, he's The One.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Damn right!

[leviathanmuse.livejournal.com]

*Is now a happy camper.*

I always figured that Duncan would depress himself to death.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Argh! I forgot all about this one too! I need a SciFi reminder page. Honestly.

But, since it sounds like it was bad, maybe it's okay that I keep missing them?

The final prize was to have a baby? Are we sure Duncan isn't going to let this one grow up and then lop its head off too? (His surrogate children have done so well...) And this Anna was...what? Better than Tessa? More his 'one true love'? Something else that gave her the extra egg-popping skill? (And was it the same Anne from the end of the series? If not, why go with almost the same name?)

Wasn't becoming human the ultimate prize of the Christopher Lambert Highlander movie too? You know, the one that was thrown out with the bathwater in order to have the series work? After hundreds (or thousands) of years of life, why would being human be the prize? It doesn't make sense. (Of course, I'm not sure what *would* make sense.)

Oh dear. If I can snark that well after just hearing one review, maybe it's best I didn't see it...

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

You didn't miss much. Duncan scowled through it all. And Methos and Joe had very little to say. Not very 'series' like at all. Kinda icky, really.

Yep, having a kid is the thing that can make planets and the stars realign themselves. Very funny that Duncan would kill his own kid. These things happen. :::shrug::: *g*

Anna was a new character. And she is Duncan's true love, someone he mopes after. Duncan is the only man who Anna has ever loved. Yuck.

Yep, being human was the Prize in the first film. The trouble is, after seeing the cool experiences of Methos and the like, it seems like a waste to have them mortal.

Oh, as our group of intrepid explorers got closer to The Source, they lost their powers and became mortal.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Wow. Way to deconstruct your own mythology.

It sounds pretty dire, actually. Worse than season sux...er, six. (It was season six where they killed off Richie, lopped off Duncan's hair, and started pursuing demons and kick-ass chick substitute Amandas, right?)

Why is it that successful science fiction shows with long runs seem to ultimately die (or, at the very least, become warped beyond recognition) at their own hand? Only Star Trek seems to have mostly escaped that phenomena.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Do you suppose the writers want to be free of it and so they foul it's memory then kill it?

[khek.livejournal.com]

I guess that makes as much sense as anything. I'd guess they want to escape its clutches and move on to somiething more "interesting" and successful.

And Panzer/Davis is doing...what, now?

Hmm. Doesn't really seem to work, does it?

[joolz01.livejournal.com]

I've wondered about why the movies are so bad, too. The series was, for the most part, very good, so why does more time and money screw it up? I think they're trying to do too much, be too *meaningful*, and miss the reasons we liked it to begin with. The OC's with weird hair were always fun, but the relationships between the (preternaturally gorgeous) main characters was the strength.

Duncan has always been totally weak-willed and slightly obsessive when it comes to pretty women, but I notice he moped endlessly and could not be consoled about Joe's death. Kind of liked that part. ;) If he's going to be emo, that's a good reason!

I was disappointed by Joe's death-bed speech. Oh my god, a fanfic writer could have done something so much better with it! It played into the plotline of the story, but seemed so out of character. I couldn't imagine Joe saying that stuff, even as I saw it on screen.

But I see no reason to think that Methos is dead. Unless I missed it, they never said the little group seeking The Source were the last of the immortals, so we're not into 'Duncan is the last immortal alive' territory. Surely 'Death on a Horse' would have no trouble evading the motley crowd chasing him, even if he's now mortal. He's just so much *smarter* than they are, and at the end he didn't have the drawback of having to watch out for his less resourceful friends. No, Methos is still out there. Gonna be Uncle Methos to the little miracle baby. Aww! (And, are we supposed to think the baby is going to be the savior of the world or something? Was that the point?)

BTW, did they ever say why Methos (and why is he openly going by that name now?) was so hot after The Source? Doesn't really seem like his kind of thing.

[deej1957.livejournal.com]

I would guess that the saturday movies have a lower budget. I can't say about Highlander, as it's not my thing, but with Megasnake and such, it's poor writing, directing, and very often, poor acting. Cheap, budget movies.

[margec01.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, I taped this while I was in Vegas and just started watching it a little while ago. It was looking pretty lame right from the start, but I hoped it would get better. I read your review, since I had a sneaking suspicion you just might save me a lot of wasted time.

I always did fast forward through the fight scenes. When you've seen one swashbuckling swordfight with resultant lightning, you've seen them all. Looks like I'll be fast forwarding through more of it. And they kill Joe? Just great. The most likeable character of the bunch.

I skipped a lot of the last couple years of the show because it got dumber, and meaner, and darker. Looks like the movie unfortunately just keeps that tradition alive.

Thanks for the review!