Fantasy Highlander Remake

[gwynplaine]

There's really no need to remake Highlander.

 

[Thundarr]

MacLeod: Henry Ian Cusick (he's actually Scottish - bonus!)

Ramirez: Antonio Banderas (he's actually Spanish - bonus!)

Kurgan: Javier Bardem

Highlander is one of those films which is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. It's highly flawed, but I love it all the same. I don't really pay much heed to the sequels as I consider everything after the original to be absolute rubbish, if I'm honest.

But the story driving the film is sound, and it's one that (for once) I feel a reboot would actually do no harm to. The original was far from perfect, and they can't do anything which was worse than the original sequels. It would actually be interesting to see them explore the original Highlander concept more; who was the first immortal? Who made the rules? So an immortal can only die by decapitation - what if they're blown up? etc.

That's a pretty good dream cast.

 

[Lilbaz]

Highlander needs to be fairly young. It was his first battle where he dies for the first time.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

...

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

There's really no need to remake Highlander.

There can be only one...hundred.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

There's really no need to remake Highlander.

Perhaps. But there is no reason to remake Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Star Trek, Batman, Superman .....and thousands of others. But Hollywood does because there is a chance of $$$$$

 

[Mike_D202]

Highlander really is falling into obscurity, I dislike remakes/reboots but I think it's time for revival.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

one of the main problems i would have would be the soundtrack, the queen songs are so linked and iconic with the film it would be easier to replace the cast

 

[Thundarr]

one of the main problems i would have would be the soundtrack, the queen songs are so linked and iconic with the film it would be easier to replace the cast

Definitely keep the Queen soundtrack. At least Princes Of The Universe and Who Wants To Live Forever (those are two separate songs, right?). They're as much a part of the Highlander franchise as the main theme for Star Wars is a part of their franchise. Could you imagine if Disney were to not use the scrolling text and Star Wars theme in the opening of Episode VII? Fans would be livid! Same thing here. The first fight doesn't necessarily have to take place in the parking lot of MSG during a wrestling show, but it certainly should still open with the same song.

 

[StarLord]

If treated right, there's potential for an amazing reboot, but I guess you could say that about any film.

This will end up being directed by Len Wiseman, with Scott Speedman as MacLeod. Ugh.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Highlander really is falling into obscurity, I dislike remakes/reboots but I think it's time for revival.

Trying to think how a revival would be different or better then reboot.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

If treated right, there's potential for an amazing reboot, but I guess you could say that about any film.

This will end up being directed by Len Wiseman, with Scott Speedman as MacLeod. Ugh.

Or perhaps even worse......Michael bay

 

[Marz69]

If they do this, I'll watch it. The TV show & movies were fun

 

[Thundarr]

Highlander needs to be fairly young. It was his first battle where he dies for the first time.

There's young for us, and then there's young for them. Boys were sent off to war as young as 12 or 13 back then. You want to keep the spirit of the original story, but at the same time you can't be too historically accurate.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Still in development hell. Last I heard something on this was Ryan Reynold's playing Connor and Tom Cruise I think in the Ramirez role.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Get Tom Hiddleston to play Conner.

 

[Mike_D202]

The Protomen did a pretty awesome cover of "Princes of the Universe":

 

[Captain Tired]

There's really no need to remake Highlander.

I kind of agree. One of the best characters in the original film was that inimitable '80s New York grit. And as someone else said, Queen are so firmly entrenched in peoples' minds as being the sound of Highlander. It'd be so incredibly weird and alienating to be without those two elements. So much so that, to me, at any rate, it'd feel as being fundamentally not Highlander. That's definitely how I feel about the subsequent films and the tv series. And also, the original film has its share of flaws, no one's gonna tell you differently on that one, but one thing it did perfectly was the sense that this event - the Quickening - had indeed been building up for thousands upon thousands of years. You really did get the sense that it was the culmination of a long and incredibly epic journey that would never again be attempted. Nothing in the subsequent film series was able to match that mammoth sense of scale. The rest of the franchise always felt like it was cheating the audience. So I don't think I'd be cool with trying to build a franchise off the back of a remake. My own personal canon starts and ends with Highlander.

Connor dies
Connor wins the prize in '85
****'s done.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

I thought many episodes of the TV series were better than the first movie. I would love it if a new universe created by a remake included some of the elements of the TV show (The Watchers, Methoes the 5000 year old immortal, etc).

 

[Teelie]

They did that with one of the innumerable sequel moviess (the fourth, maybe the fifth?) and totally botched it up.

A total reboot with the themes from the series would be nice though. I always enjoyed the series more than the movies.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I still think a Connor & Duncan shared universe could be a different way to go. Introducing Connor in the 1st, maybe Duncan in the 2nd & a 3rd together.

 

[Avenger]

I thought many episodes of the TV series were better than the first movie. I would love it if a new universe created by a remake included some of the elements of the TV show (The Watchers, Methoes the 5000 year old immortal, etc).

Some stuff like that will probably have to be incorporated if they want to spin this remake off into a new franchise. And in Hollywood nowadays, it's all about the franchises.

Which would be fine by me. The first movie is one of my all-time favorites, but the rest of the movies were pretty terrible, and overall I consider myself more a fan of the show.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Some stuff like that will probably have to be incorporated if they want to spin this remake off into a new franchise. And in Hollywood nowadays, it's all about the franchises.

Which would be fine by me. The first movie is one of my all-time favorites, but the rest of the movies were pretty terrible, and overall I consider myself more a fan of the show.

I think the show was much better ,but the 1st movie has important elements from it that the TV show incorporated into it.

 

[Thundarr]

I think the show was much better ,but the 1st movie has important elements from it that the TV show incorporated into it.

I love the original movie, but the way it was written made making a decent sequel next to impossible. They had to constantly retcon why, when Connor McLeod is the last of the immortals, more immortals keep popping up.

In that way, the TV series was way better. They retconed the original movie, saying that "Connor did the world a favor by beheading Kurgan" and ignoring the part about Connor McLeod and Kurgan being the last two immortals. For the remake, they should just make the conflict between the two immortals a personal rivalry (Kurgan kills any immortal he meets so long as they're not on holy ground, and McLeod want revenge because Kurgan killed Ramirez and raped his wife). No mention of The Gathering, unless they're talking about it in the far future (ie: it's not happening during the film).

There should still be more duels than just McLeod vs Kurgan of course. In the case of the opening duel between McLeod and another immortal, have them be settling an old rivalry rather than "The Gathering is here." And then when Kurgan is killing other immortals (in modern day NYC) he's selecting immortals who are friends of McLeod's (like Caine did in the TV series). The rest I'd keep more or less the same (the police think that there's a serial killer on the loose, McLeod's their prime suspect, they bring in a beautiful female forensics expert to help with the case, she and McLeod fall in love, etc).

 

[Mike_D202]

I thought many episodes of the TV series were better than the first movie. I would love it if a new universe created by a remake included some of the elements of the TV show (The Watchers, Methoes the 5000 year old immortal, etc).

I watched the tv series off and on, I took a small hiatus from the show and when I returned I was like "....wtf are the watchers?"

I'm still confused by that concept. I prefer just the "secret minority of immortals fighting to the death in privacy" thing.