I first saw the film, 'Highlander', ten years ago in its first week of release. I knew nothing about it then. In truth, it was a dreary, rainy afternoon and I was looking for something to do so I decided to go to a movie. I had not even decided what to see until I got to the theatre. I chose 'Highlander' on a whim. I didn't even know who was in it. I guess I liked the title. What followed was one of those rare movie experiences where the film made such an impression that it becomes indelibly etched on one's consciousness. 'Highlander' is certainly not one of the best films I have ever seen, but it will always be one of my favorites.
However, ten years ago, I was one of a very small minority. 'Highlander' opened to scathing reviews and abysmal box-office. Europeans, on the other hand, obviously saw something Americans at the time seemed to miss. The film did something like $70 million in Europe and established the lead, Christopher Lambert, as an international star. Meanwhile, here in the Colonies, home video proved to be the second chance this film needed to find its audience, amassing a legion of devoted fans and spawning two (rather poor) sequels and a syndicated TV series. I find it ironic that the medium that made this film successful has never been very flattering of it. Until now.
The second time I saw 'Highlander' was on VHS. The quality of that first video release was incredibly bad, even for VHS. Russell Mulcahy's striking visuals and Michael Kamen's eclectic score were reduced to grainy, blurry images and muddy, indistinct sound. The following laser release was only marginally better. Later, the film was reissued on laser by Republic Pictures (the current copyright holder) and, if anything, it looked worse. That state of affairs has finally been set right with a new 10th anniversary special edition that will give fans of this film cause to celebrate.
This new, THX certified transfer is so much better than any previous version of this film that it is almost like watching a different movie. Colors are strong and vivid without a trace of chroma noise. There is detail here that was not even hinted at in previous transfers. The image is extremely sharp and clear. Some shots exhibit a bit of graininess, but it is never bad enough, or lasts long enough, to be distracting. The frame has been matted to about 1.85:1 adding greater balance and symmetry to Mulcahy's compositions.
The soundtrack has been improved upon at least as much as the video. Seperations are crisp and clean and dialog is clear and natural sounding. The reason for this is that a new soundtrack was created using the original six-track magnetic masters. And this brings me to what is, for me, the most amazing aspect of this special edition. Those six-track masters were re-mixed and digitally "sweetened" into a new digital six-track master and encoded into Dolby Digital. If the quality of the visuals give the impression of a new movie, the Dolby Digital soundtrack confirms it. The layering and detail brought out here is simply incredible. There is very effective use of the split surrounds with several lateral pans across the surrounds as well as left/right specific sound effects. One of the most revealing demos of the difference between matrixed surround and discrete can be found in the first sword fight in the parking garage when the fire sprinklers go off. The balance and detail between all five channels puts you IN that garage. This is one of the most convincing audio effects I have ever heard. I wouldn't say a single movie can justify the expense of a Dolby Digital upgrade, but if I didn't have it and I heard this disc in AC-3, I would buy it.
In addition to this fabulous new transfer, Republic has put together a fairly interesting supplement. On the remaining analog track is a running commentary by Mulcahy and producers Peter Davis and William Panzer. The film is presented on two CLV sides with a third CAV side for the on-screen supplements. Opening side three is the original theatrical trailer (also letterboxed) followed by a rather extensive still-frame section containing production notes, a number of script rewrites, publicity articles and reviews (even some bad ones) and tons of photos. I found a good bit of this material interesting as it goes into some of the background of the story adding a bit more understanding of what the intent of the filmmakers was.
It should also be noted that this version of Highlander restores about six minutes of footage exised from the US release version. Some of this is merely extensions of other scenes but one sequence deals with the background of the charater Nash's secretary, Rachel, giving that character more meaning and resonance. This version of Highlander runs 116 minutes. The side break is not bad, but could have been better by occuring only a couple of seconds sooner. The two discs are packaged in a very attractive triptych jacket. The inner spread contains the chapter listing (71 markers for the film and supplement), some notes on the remastering process and a short letter from the filmmakers. All in all, I rate this an excellent package and a good value, even with a list price of $69.95. Enjoy and remember, don't lose your head.
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