Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Henry Cavill, with all new long hair, has quietly released the first couple of stills from the Highlander reboot, which is currently filming. Judging by these two photos, it’s off to a good start too, notes Alasdair Stuart.

For those that don’t know, Highlander is maybe the oddest and certainly one of the most fun ’80s genre movies. Immortals are humans who receive a mortal injury and recover. The only way  to kill them is to take their head, and any Immortal that kills another receives their Quickening, a vast magical download of their skills, experience and memories. Immortals battle down the centuries for The Prize, a colossally powerful trophy that none of them understand but all of them want. Conor McLeod, played in the original by Christopher Lambert, is a Scottish clansman who finds himself facing The Kurgan (Clancy Brown in the original, Dave Bautista here) over and over as he struggles to deal with his newly endless life.

It’s great! Super over the top, great soundtrack, great performances and wild music video direction. Don’t bother with the sequels but do bother with the TV show which is great. Also, seemingly a major touchstone for the new movie.

But let’s look at those two stills because there are a couple of notable things about them. The first is the sword. You notice in the second shot that Conor is holding a sheathed katana. This is his signature weapon in the movies, normally concealed inside his trademark trenchcoat. It’s interesting that in this shot, he’s wearing what seems to be a bomber jacket. Literally a bomber jacket in fact, judging by the sheepskin collar. Add in the slightly damaged (maybe?), European church he seems to be standing in and I wonder if this is a shot from a World War 1 or 2 era flashback.

Where things get more interesting is the other shot. Connor has the same hair here, but a longer coat and interestingly, one with a similar looking collar. Nice that he’s found a look that works for him down through the centuries. Plus, if I’m right (and I’ve been wrong before), the graduation to the trenchcoat is especially nice, and has the feel of the character coming together as the story progresses and time passes.

But what I keep thinking about is that he seems to be on holy ground in both shots. The church in one and what seems to be a Buddhist temple in the other. Holy Ground is traditionally neutral territory in Highlander, although that doesn’t always take. Connor being there in both shots is interesting and potentially speaks to him being reluctant to join the battle for the Prize. Maybe.

Either way, the movie’s filming at the moment, from a script written in various forms by Ryan Condal (The Sixth Gun, House of the Dragon, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms), Michael Finch (Predators, John Wick Chapter 4), John Petro (early Henry Cavill vehicle The Cold Light of Day) and Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross, What Happened to Monday, Resident Evil). John Wick’s Chad Stahleski directs and Cavill, Bautista, Karen Gillan, Marisa Abela, Russell Crowe, Drew Mcintyre, Kevin McKidd and Jeremy Irons also star.