Monday, August 7, 2023

Highlander: Endgame (2000)

Highlander: Endgame (2000)




Starring: Christopher Lambert, Adrian Paul, Bruce Payne, Lisa Barbuscia, Donnie Yen, Jim Byrnes, Peter Wingfield, Damon Dash, Beatie Edney
Director: Douglas Aarniokoski
Action Director: Donnie Yen

 

Back in the late 90s and early 00s, mainly before I left for my religious mission in September ’01, my friends and I did our very best to support Asian actors in Hollywood. We saw Black Mask in the theater…twice. I saw both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Rush Hour 2 no fewer than three times at the cinema. Hell, we even paid weekend evening prices to watch Chow Yun-Fat in Anna and the King. We did our best to show our support to those from Hong Kong who tried their hand at Hollywood.

It was that same mentality that drove us to watch Highlander: Endgame at the theaters, despite none of us being fans of the franchise. To be perfectly honest, in 2000, all I could recall about Highlander was the director’s cut of the infamous subway sequence from Highlander 2: The Quickening. But, Donnie Yen was making his Hollywood debut in this movie—far less auspicious than Jackie Chan’s return to the Silver Screen in Rush Hour and Jet Li’s villainous take in the popular Lethal Weapon franchise. But work is work, and Yen’s Hong Kong career was in a bit of a slump by that time. So, we were just glad to see him working at all.

The movie opens with an older lady being killed by a bomb inside of an antique shop. That lady is Rachel Ellenstein (Sheila Gish, reprising her role from the first Highlander), the adopted daughter of Connor MacLeod (Mortal Kombat’s Christopher Lambert). MacLeod is obviously heartbroken to lose the closest thing to immediate family that he’s had in centuries, so he heads over to The Sanctuary, where Immortals go to spend eternity in a sort of forced slumber.

Some years later, a bunch of Immortals led by Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne, of Passenger 57) raid the Sanctuary and murder everyone there, both the normal humans who guard it and all of the Immortals, too. We learn that Kell was the son of a maniacal clergyman back in 16th century Scotland who had Connor MacLeod’s mother burned at the stake for witchcraft. I guess giving birth to a son who can survive getting killed in battle would raise a few eyebrows at that time. In his subsequent bloodlust, MacLeod slays Kell’s father and runs Kell himself through, too. Unbeknownst to both of them, Kell was an Immortal, too.

The story switches back to Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul, who starred in the Highlander TV series), who has had dreams of IMPORTANT STUFF happening, even though he’s not quite sure what’s going on. He learns from a colleague, Methos (Peter Wingfield, also from the series), about the bloodbath at the Sanctuary, which he didn’t even know existed. Thinking Connor is dead, he visits the ruins of the MacLeod antique shop, where he is attacked by his ex-wife, Kate (Serpent’s Lair’s Lisa Barbuscia), and Kell’s minions. There’s a big fight and Duncan is eventually knocked out the window and impaled on a spike. A Shady Van comes to take his body away.

The Van belongs to a group known as The Watchers, mortals who make sure that the Immortals are playing The Game by the rules and not interfering with mortal affairs. Following the sacrilegious attack on the Sanctuary, there is now a shortage of Immortals and The Watchers are volunteering Duncan to be the first member of a new establishment. He gets saved and finds out about what he’s up against: although Duncan MacLeod has about 180 kills and Connor MacLeod had around 270, Jacob Kell has racked up more than 600. The odds are stacked against him…

Highlander: Endgame
was meant to the be the Stark Trek: Generations of the franchise, allowing the movie MacLeod (Connor) and the television MacLeod (Duncan) to share the screen for the first time. The result is lukewarm. There really isn’t much of a plot: Jacob Kell wants to make Connor MacLeod’s eternity miserable and Duncan gets caught up in the middle. That’s about it. About half of the running time is dedicated to flashbacks detailing the time that Connor and Duncan spent together back in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the other half is spent with the small kernel of a main storyline and a couple of subplots that go absolutely nowhere. That said, I’m sure that Highlander fans were glad to see their two leading men spend as much time together onscreen as they do here.

The fault belongs to writers Eric Bernt and Gillian Horvath. The former is best known for Hollywood action films like Romeo Must Die and Surviving the Game. Those aren’t really the best written movies in the genre, but the former had a particularly complex story and the latter was a decent Most Dangerous Game rip-off. Horvath has spent the vast majority of her career working for TV, which is basically what this movie feels like: an extended TV episode (or made-for-TV movie). The extensive flashbacks combine with the thin plot to kill any forward momentum, which gives it that less-urgent TV episode feel.

The acting is just okay. Christopher Lambert is his usual self. If you like him in other things, you’ll like him here. If you don’t, this movie won’t change your mind about him. Adrian Paul’s performance is a bit uneven, as if there were a difference between TV acting and film acting and he hadn’t figured it out yet. Lisa Barbuscia is mainly around to look pretty and occasionally show off skin, which she also did in Serpent’s Lair. Then there’s Bruce Payne, once again overacting a storm like his notorious performance in Dungeons and Dragons. I thought he overacted with a bit more nuance in Passenger 57, but by 2000, the man was completely unhinged. I guess you need him to provide a counterweight to Lambert’s understated muttering.

Donnie Yen was the film’s action director and also has a supporting role as an immortal named Jin Ke. Yes, that Jin Ke. The same one who tried to assassinate the Emperor Qin. The same guy who was the subject of the critically-acclaimed The Empress and the Assassin. The same one who was the inspiration for Jet Li’s character in Zhang Yimou’s Hero. That guy. According to Donnie Yen’s website: “Yen contributed to the development of his character. Inspired by the assassin who fails (and appearing recently in The Emperor and the Assassin), Yen gave Jin Confucian values and made him an honorable man. Look for him in fight sequences and dramatic scenes.” [1]

What that basically means is that he gets two short fight scenes, a couple of lines of dialog, and then gets killed in a particularly ignominious way. I mean, do any of us really believe for two seconds that Bruce Payne can kill a sword-wielding Donnie Yen in a single blow? No. The entire scene in which Donnie kicks the bucket is so stupid that even 18-year-old me wanted to scream, “[Eff] you, movie!”

That said, the fight scenes aren’t bad. Donnie’s first fight has him doing his trademark double jumping back kick and a few other quick kicks. During the melee between Duncan MacLeod and Kell’s minions, Yen shows up wielding a kwan do and has a one-on-one with Adrian Paul. There is some good weapons choreography here, especially by Hollywood standards. The two eventually go at it hand-to-hand and both do some nice, complex wing chun-esque handwork—Donnie also unleashes his other trademark move, the jumping back kick. Sadly, the scene is interrupted by Bruce Payne and after that, there’s little reason for martial arts fans to continue watching. If you’re not a Highlander fan, just watch Donnie’s scenes on Youtube and move on.

1 comment:

  1. The fight between Adrian Paul & Donnie Yen is the best thing about this movie. Other than that, it's a wasted effort. Shame, too.

    ReplyDelete

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