Monday, June 15, 2009

Sword Fights and Tight Pants! (Unsurprisingly, the Band, Queen, is Involved)

My roommates and I watched the original Highlander movie this weekend. I got the "immortal" edition DVD set from the library, which includes Queen videos from the soundtrack. Sheer '80s awesomeness.

As for the movie itself, it helps if you know what it's about before you see it -- which I did, thanks to a few random epsisodes of the subsequent TV show from the '90s, viewed on some lazy Saturdays in my college dorm. So, in the spirit of helpfulness, here you go:

There are these immortal guys who can't die unless their heads get cut off. They have a kind of Spidey sense about when another immortal is in the vicinity. There's no rule saying they can't be friends with each other, but there is a rule saying there can be only one in the end, so most of them try to cut off the heads of the others with swords. If one immortal cuts off the head of another, he gets to soak up the dead one's power in a nifty lightning show called The Quickening. Being immortal has its drawbacks, because you outlast your spouse(s) and you have to keep assuming new identities, but it's fun because you get to enjoy changing fashions throughout the centuries. (If you make it to the 1980s and you're Freddie Mercury, this includes tight pants and phallic microphone stands.) The movie focuses on one immortal named MacLeod, who was born in the Scottish highlands, which is why it's called Highlander. Early on in his life, he discovers he can't die after fighting a Russian immortal who wears this really cool animal-skull hat. My roommate Adam wants one.

1 comment:

Eric said...

You seem to have impeccable musical tastes. However, cinema...