HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME is the worst HIGHLANDER film yet, and that's saying something considering the quality of the second and third film in this series. The main problem is that this film has the unwieldy task of tying together both the film and TV series, two entirely different beasts that just don't gel. The resultant film feels like a television movie or a longer episode of the series with Christopher Lambert in an extended cameo role.
It's hard to know what hurts this film more: the derivative script or the pitifully low budget. Certainly the dialogue is stale and the characters boring, with the storyline content to rehash tired concepts and formulas instead of bringing anything new to the table. Unsurprisingly it's Lambert's last appearance in the chronology, and you have to feel for him here: he's looking old and tired, his wind stolen by an actor who's both younger and better looking. Adrian Paul is okay, but speaking from the point of view of somebody who's never seen him act before he didn't really impress.
The story jolts from one historical flashback to the next, throwing in some cheesy bedroom sequences en route as well as the requisite number of swordfighting sequences. Bruce Payne pops up as – surprise, surprise – the bad guy, and he's really slumming it here, never really getting the chance to shine as the evil immortal madman that he plays. It's also slightly embarrassing to see Donnie Yen popping up in the role of a minor thug – knowing his abilities and stardom in China, his relegation to the sidelines here is nothing more than a slight and his frenetic martial arts work sits ill at ease with the mannered swordfighting found in the rest of the movie. The filmmakers desperately throw in some shoddy gore effects in an effort to attract viewers, but they can't disguise the fact that this is a movie that never should have been made.
It's hard to know what hurts this film more: the derivative script or the pitifully low budget. Certainly the dialogue is stale and the characters boring, with the storyline content to rehash tired concepts and formulas instead of bringing anything new to the table. Unsurprisingly it's Lambert's last appearance in the chronology, and you have to feel for him here: he's looking old and tired, his wind stolen by an actor who's both younger and better looking. Adrian Paul is okay, but speaking from the point of view of somebody who's never seen him act before he didn't really impress.
The story jolts from one historical flashback to the next, throwing in some cheesy bedroom sequences en route as well as the requisite number of swordfighting sequences. Bruce Payne pops up as – surprise, surprise – the bad guy, and he's really slumming it here, never really getting the chance to shine as the evil immortal madman that he plays. It's also slightly embarrassing to see Donnie Yen popping up in the role of a minor thug – knowing his abilities and stardom in China, his relegation to the sidelines here is nothing more than a slight and his frenetic martial arts work sits ill at ease with the mannered swordfighting found in the rest of the movie. The filmmakers desperately throw in some shoddy gore effects in an effort to attract viewers, but they can't disguise the fact that this is a movie that never should have been made.