Rayyyden! Sorry, wrong movie, but at least I didn’t intro with an iffy “there can only be one” joke. Writing team Art Marcum and Matt Holloway previously scribed Iron Man (btw: 9/10) as well as this December’s Punisher: War Zone, and now they will envision a reboot for 1986’s bit of sci-fi brilliance Highlander for Summit Entertainment. And, of course, if this one proves successful, there will be more. Described as a cocktail of “contemporary settings, action, mythology and medieval Scotland,” Summit prez Patrick Wachsberger practically danced a jig, confessing to Variety…
“I have always dreamed of reinventing this franchise.”
The original Highlander was one of the first franchises from my memory that constantly got knocked up and squeezed out terrible (-looking) offspring at the neighborhood video store. The flick is also Will Ferrell’s (as Ricky Bobby) favorite movie. Partially set in the 16th Century (circa the ’80s), Christopher Lambert (above) starred as a Scottish warrior and one of the world’s Immortals, manly types who walk the Earth, including modern day NYC, looking to decapitate each other with swords due to a mysterious force called the Quickening. To this day, it still plays like a fever dream I had using my bookbag as a scratchy pillow. More on this as it develops…
Discuss: How do you feel about Hollywood’s latest recovery from their endless remake ball pit? I’ll watch a $100 million (just speculating) Highlander movie, fine. Â
May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
There can only be one!
seriously, only one please.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
the first one is an awesome action adventure
that was all that was ever necessary
May 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Thomas Jane must be the star. It’s a clone of Christopher Lamber and also good actor, not great but good.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
reboots, and remakes, and franchises oh my! reboots, and remakes, and franchises oh my! reboots and remakes, and franchises oh my! ahh c’mon we’re having fun here, right?! right?! why i oughta…
May 20th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I always thought this film could use a remake. It was so cheesy, and the fight scenes were terrible.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:37 am
Yeah, I’d agree with le Captain. Highlander always seemed more like a good idea for a movie, than an actual movie.
Also, Sean Connery: most unconvincing Spanirad ever.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:47 am
I’ve always thought the concept and idea was great. But the execution was never met. And the tv series plus straight-to-dvd spin-off’s only furthur buried it into the ground.
I still remember seeing this film quite a few times and it always looked and felt like a cheap tv movie. ALso, Lamber is a horrible actor.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:00 am
There can only be one Highlander! Wait, wait. No. The correct phrasing is: There should have only been one Highlander…made…period.
And on that note: The guys from Iron Man are doing it? Well alright then!
May 21st, 2008 at 4:21 am
sigh……. Is there any crap from the 80s that Hollywood won’t attempt to remake now? The answer is obviously no. This franchise as already been beaten to death and bled dry long ago.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:31 am
I LOVED the original Highlander movie back in the 80’s. It was a great concept. I agree that the name and franchise has been beaten to death by crappy TV shows and video games, not to mention Highlander 2 (where it’s revealed that they’re exiled aliens from another planet… Yeah…) I think if it’s written right with the right lead, it’ll be a great re-invention of a great movie.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:34 am
I say cast Gerard Butler in this. WOW What a concept an actual Scott playing the lead roll.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:42 am
This is one remake that seems worthy. Let’s see who
they cast…
May 21st, 2008 at 8:39 am
A Bladerunner remake should be just around the corner….
May 21st, 2008 at 9:59 am
I hope that’s just you being facetious, and not comapring Blade Runner to Highlander
May 21st, 2008 at 10:44 am
I thought I would feel completley put off by a remake/reinventing
of Highlander, but as I mulled it over, I’m pretty open minded
by the idea. I’m going to wait and see in what direction they
plan to go before I get huffy. lol
May 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I say cast Gerard Butler as McCloud and Antonio Banderas as Rameriez…..
As for Kurgan… I’d go with someone pretty big and ugly… Like Derek Mears.. AKA Jason in the Friday the 13th remake.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
The Highlander TV series was great in my opinion. I was really looking forward to movies based on the deep mythology that show developed rather than more stuff spawned from the original movie. “Highlander: Endgame” finally put an end to the movie series storyline and made way for the TV series to have a crack at the big screen. Now it looks like that was for nothing. Not that Endgame was a great movie by any means, though thankfully it did have MUCH better action sequences than the previous movies.
I just think the Highlander franchise would be a lot better off with a reboot that started from the current era of the series as opposed to the begining. The mythology is more engrossing, the newer characters are more interesting, you get the whole secret society thing with The Watchers, the ability to add value to all the old dvds and collectables, and so on.
Yeah, gotta say I’m not a fan of this move.