User Reviews

I don't understand the hate for this movie. It's obvious that the movie has problems; in particular, it needs another twenty minutes of running time and more budget, but if those are the problems, it means there's still plenty of good ideas to enjoy.

The movie's biggest problem is that it sets up a whole lot of ideas and then doesn't follow through with them. The practical effect here is that thinking about anything going on will, every single time, lead one to realize that none of it actually makes sense. The characters, often maligned as flat, over the top, or, at the worst, simply phoned in by the actors, are actually the most interesting and sensible part of the movie. This is a big reason why the movie needs more running time, so it can include the expected flashbacks to previous decades and centuries And it should explore Reggie and Giovanni, and why they've been lead to where they are now. We know plenty about Duncan and Methos already. Reggie's Jack Sparrow attitude about perceived insanity and his insinuation that he was in the military are hints about his character that would've been great plot points. The writers could've concocted whatever BS they wanted to make it relevant and it still would've worked fine. As for Giovanni, the guy's an immortal Catholic priest with enough zealotry and instability to scare Fred Phelps. His backstory could probably make a movie in its own right.

The fact of the matter is, the characters are interesting already if you watch closely, but there needed to be more effort to make it actually matter. I'm also outright baffled that people use "The Guardian is ridiculous" as a criticism. Anyone who says this will invariably turn around and say that the original Highlander was either the best movie, or the only movie that should've been made, period. Was everyone watching a different movie than I was? Because I remember the Kurgan licking priests and scaring hookers with his level of kink. Ridiculousness in Highlander villains is hardly a thing to criticize. Duncan fought demons in the series like he was Buffy.

Naturally, the plot suffers the same problems as the characters; it's relevancy is simply not explained. Why does the Guardian just kill Reggie and Giovanni instead of giving them their chance to make the same choice Duncan does? If he believes they've already failed the test - Giovanni can obviously be explained this way - why isn't there a single line of dialog even hinting at it? This is even contradicted in the Elder's flashback sequence, which clearly shows two of the immortals from the last celestial alignment trying for the Source, and the Elder is implied to have been cursed because he skipped the Guardian altogether without being tested. Is there some kind of malfunction going on with the current Guardian? One might say there SHOULD be, given that the Elder never talks about the old Guardian leaving the Source and coming to them like he does with Duncan and friends. Methos even suggests that the Guardian's sole purpose for leaving the Source is to hunt down the specific immortals seeking it. Maybe he's trying to win the Prize the old-fashioned way? And yet, this is explored no further. It would've taken very little dialog to give these things some justification and logic, and more runtime could've let the movie do it better than just having throwaway lines.

Finally, I also don't understand the general opinion that the Russian cut of the film is better- sorry, "less bad" than the Sci-Fi cut. Anna's opening and closing narrations are, at best, annoying. At worst, they're outright stupid, especially the ending monologue where there can be no question that the meaning of the Game and the Prize is being completely retconned. With the Sci-Fi version, you at least get the implication that it's an alternative to winning the Prize if you don't want to play the Game, instead of saying "lol the immortals have been wrong all this time even though it totally cheapens the entire franchise to wantonly change this fact that has been established since the beginning." Was doing that in Highlander 2 not enough to prove it's a bad idea?

The world is in apocalyptic-ish chaos. Planets are aligning. Duncan MacLeod along with Methos, Joe, Duncan's wife, Anna, and a couple of other immortals try to track down The Source that they think will decide who The One will be and save the world from itself.

The movie is all over the place. It's about immortals. It's about "the one". Wait, it's about the planets aligning and the world coming to an end. It's about existentialism. It's about a new Jesus or something or whatever. It's about too many things. You know what it ain't about? Highlander, that's what.

Ever hear any of these words in the series or movie: "the source," "the guardian," "the elder," "planets aligning." No. Nothing from this even exists in the series or movie. They just kinda made it up here.

No flashbacks of Duncan MacLeod except for a brief go over of his relationship with Anna. Flashbacks are one of the hallmarks of the Highlander universe. And they had next to nothing. None of the historical flashbacks with costumes and at key points in history. Nothing. Are you kidding me? And Anna is special? We don't know why. She just kinda just is. She has visions etc. No mention of a special woman in the of the Highlander mythos from the series or movie.

The camera cinematography was weird with weird filters and odd movements. The amazing fights we saw in the series and movie which always took on a realistic approach are ruined here by Mr. Speedy, The Guardian.

Peter Wingfield, Methos, looked the most handsome I'd ever seen him. Despite wearing that stupid leather jacket with the fringes. Let's face it, Methos would be nowhere near this. He would very nicely go underground and wait for everything to smooth over. Bad take on him in this movie.

Joe got killed. I guess he lived up to what I always said in my series reviews which was that he had a man-crush on Duncan.

No mention of Amanda. I don't why, or why Elizabeth Gracen wasn't in the movie. But a mention would have been nice. This movie was targeting the series fans and this was Duncan-led. She should have been in it or got a mention.

The movie seems like it's really some other story, and they slapped in Highlander characters to accommodate the story. It looked cheap with cheap fx. The quickening looked awful. We're not given an explanation as to what happened with humankind.

The explanation for the immortals just seemed stupid. So the universe only wants goodness, so they threw out this stupid thing about there can be only one. Only one immortal can have a kid. That's what they really meant? Huh. If they only wanted only goodness a lot fewer people would have died from their stupid rules. Isn't that evil in it, itself? I always felt if they were gonna continue the franchise the answer should never be reached. It should always be a mystery. It leaves endless room for more stories and adventures.

This movie was as if though it was written by a 10-year-old. I hated the exposition and narration. If you're a fan of the series and the first movie(or even Endgame), I don't recommend this. Skip it. Even if you love Adrian Paul in the series. Skip it. I gave it a 1/10

I am admittedly one of the biggest highlander geeks out there. I have all the DVD's (and VHS before that), I own swords and clothes from both the movies and the series. I am a huge sci-fi geek and I can always find some reason to like a sci-fi movie that nearly everyone else laughs at... UNTIL NOW!

The Source is probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. I wanted it to be good. I really did. From the first opening scene and voice over, I was trying to like this movie. I kept asking myself, "what is this?" I can explain in great detail every aspect of the Highlander mythology… and I don't see how this movie fits in it at all. I feel badly for Mr. Paul. What little he was able to do for this movie was not nearly enough to justify the existence of such a bad movie. I find it amazing that teenage girls would be able to hold Adrian's amazing physique as justification for liking this movie. And as much as I love to look at him, this movie is simply too horrible for even my beloved 'Duncan' to save. I will just have to watch the series or 'End Game' for my Adrian fix.

The writers should be shot but only after many long years of heinous torture. I know… we could make them watch this movie, over and over again. What were they thinking? Really, I would like to know. The Highlander mythology is so rich and wonderful it would have been easy – even for me – to write a plot for a movie. So, why was it so hard for them?

With the story alone being so horrible it makes the rest of the movie making process seem almost insignificant for discussion. However, I think it might have been possible to make the movie watchable through the other aspects of the movie making process. So to that end I sadly comment: •the director is horrible and should not be allowed to continue to work in the industry. •The editor's clumsy cuts show an amateur pretending to be a professional •The music. Oh, what have they done to the music? Seriously, how much would it have cost to get the original music or just pay any of the many out of work composers to come up with something fitting? •There were actual drop outs and wow's in the sound… again, most amateurs would probably not have made these mistakes, how could a professional? I have seen student films that got F's that were handled better. •What little the actor's were allowed to do was not enough. They came off a flat or two dimensional. The only character I actually recognized at all was Methos. I know that Adrian, Jim and Peter can act, but this movie hides that fact very well.

I was bitterly disappointed by this movie. I feel betrayed by the film makers who took a mythology that is precious to me and distorted it so much as to render it unrecognizable. I would have been there greatest advocate… but this movie is far too bad.

I really hate a movie that gives away the ending in the prologue. I spent the entire movie really hoping that the opening narration just didn't give the whole thing away... to find out it really did.

I came into Highlander with the TV series first, then the movies. The bad guys are always caricatures, but this time was worse. The Guardian is unreasonably evil with no real explanation.

I agree with everyone else's criticisms. Character development is nonexistent, the characters we know are unrecognizable, the post-apocalyptic future is inane, and seems just to help create a world where the masses are cannibals (what?!?). And random abandoned BMW SUVs manage somehow to look as if they've just been detailed.

I hope no one else has to sit through this, and the only thing I lost is time, since I Tivo'd it from SciFi.

Few movies can beat this one for unintentional hilarity. Okay, that was to be expected, the Highlander movies were going downhill for a while.

But if you thought it couldn't have gotten any worse after Highlander IV, you're in for a big surprise. First of all, the script has only one real idea - the Source of the immortals, the big mystery. The rest looks like a result of a brainwashing Monday morning session when no ideas were crossed out. Cannibalistic bikers? Check. I know, I know - hear this one guys - a leather clad S&M weirdo that talks like he just sat on his balls and makes next to no sense and we'll... we'll call him something big, like - what about The Guardian? Check. We'll kill someone to show the fans we mean business - what about Dawson? Check. We'll have planets moving! Check. A story that goes back tons of thousands of years! Check. A man fused with stone wall (no s**t). Check! Flashback to the stone age with 17th century swords! Check. Immortal archbishop who looks like he fell out of Scooter music video! Check.

Second, the whole point of the movie is that planets align themselves just so Duncan could get laid. Seriously.

If you're in a mood to see the Highlander intellectual property s**t on and have a good laugh, watch it. Otherwise you'll be better off not seeing it.

there is NOTHING about this movie, absolutely nothing, worth watching NOTHING

if you liked the movie, if you liked the series, do yourself a HUGE favor, do NOT WATCH this

1) the music is terrible (cheap at best)

2) the writing is so amazingly bad

3) talking heads, rather than acting

4) stilted acting, wooden heads reading lines from cue cards

5) worthless directing

6) INANE dialog

7) the ending? insipid

8) special effects? why bother, NOTHING could save this movie

9) sword fighting? nope, people banging sticks together

I really don't understand why anyone spent any money on this. I can't understand why the scifi channel broadcast this.

Being a huge fan of the Lambert Highlander series, I had to watch this although I've never seen Adrian in the TV series. Gave this 5 stars because its so bad its good and will provide lots of laughs. First off, Adrian Paul is good, in fact he was probably 90% of the budget. The Guardian seems cool near the beginning where he kills a highlander after announcing "There Can Be Only Me" but when you get a good look at him and hear his voice, he's like a punk rocker with a double lobotomy (thats a slice down the middle and a left-to-right slice). Its cool that he can zip around at about 10X speed but when he does you hear this sound like a playing card in a bicycle, or a drawn-out fart (is that how they did this sound effect?). OK, it post-apocalyptic and these highlanders team up and cruise around is a shitty old sedan. Do immortals need a car? They find out the "Elder" has knowledge of the "Source" so they travel to this Transylvania looking monastery which looks like it was repossessed from Count Alucard himself and lo and behold, Duncan MacLeod's ex-wife shows up by coincidence and they drive their crummy vehicle through this like 100 Ton door and the monkeys inside stand there like they're thinking "Come On In" and they go inside to see the Elder and the Elder looks like a flattened version of Jabba the Hut! (Actually the Elder ate all the Sauce is why they can't find it -source). Anyhow they continue their search in some woods full of cannibals and they all get tied up by these drunken stOOpiD slob cannibals. They get away, that is the idiot cannibals let their "Food" run away! Oh, I forgot to mention the Cardinal Giovanni character would get his head lopped off by me just for having an OBNOXIOUS HAIRCUT! There's another youngish immortal traveling with them and he appears to be a moron, but with a twist - he explains to Duncan's wife that he is very bright, but just acts stupid! Shortly after the Guardian takes his moronic butt out. There's a scene where Duncan's wife and he are having a romantic conversation and its about as authentic as a 3-cent piece. Don't miss this great comedy!

This movie was definitely a disappointment, and had a lackluster soundtrack. The original movies, flawed though they were, came out at the birth of "the cgi era" so their effects weren't special, but they looked like most every other sci-fi film of the time and were at the time "cutting edge."! The Source granted was based on the Highlander story, but fit in more with the late 80's than the early 21st century. The original had a edgy soundtrack, that fit the story well, even the TV show which came out much later incorporated the original music,, why did they try to update the song by making it tame and horrible, it felt like a "crooner version". Music is ageless, if it stuck with the original movie, and stood the test of time for decades, then don't mess with it.

Adrian Paul is the ultimate Highlander, so I rented this because of his character, that wasn't as good an idea as I thought though. Duncan was a jaded warrior as opposed to Duncan in the TV series, where he was the altruistic hero capable and willing of dealing with anything. The guardian was more laughable not to mention out-of-place as "the guardian of The Source" who didn't do a very good job as he was traipsing all over creation to kill the immortals or something. Methos was and is one of the best secondary characters in the story. The Source itself was enough to motivate the immortals. A little rough language at appropriate times, but the violence was more silly gore than shocking, so it's probably not a good flick for young kids, but older kids might like it, but why would they, there's so much better out there! Worth a watch for a popcorn fix, but I'd try to catch it on TV.

While I must agree that The Source was a terrible embarrassment (made The Quickening look like Oscar material), and that I think they should've thought it through and pounded out a few more drafts (it is played like a first or second draft screenplay), I do have to say that there is one element in it I kind of like.

If we remember that the idea of The Gathering was dropped after the first season of the series, it becomes apparent that there are still more immortals out there, maybe many more that have yet to find their destiny. This does, in effect, create a paradox. How can there be only one when the supply keeps on getting bigger? Enter the idea that The Source is supposed to represent the final prize. Put in a supposedly unbeatable immortal in the name of The Guardian, and we have one solution to the paradox.

The One, then, would be someone who only participates in The Game for his own life's safety, one who feels every death and mourns every passing, and we get Duncan McLeod, earning the prize by not killing an enemy that was bent on his destruction.

The basis of the story is okay. The movie sucked big time. Of the 5 movies, this one ranks at the bottom, even lower than The Quickening.

The Highlander films were good, but I fell in love with the series. The quality of the production was excellent and the characters were superb. I saw 'Highlander: the Source' on the SciFi Channel and couldn't believe how second-rate and sad it seemed. There seemed to be no excitement, no passion, no interest on the parts of the actors. It was as though the veterans of the series were just going through the motions because they had resigned themselves (with great resentment) to being typecast and performed mechanically out of some sort of obligation (or necessity?). I am happy for Duncan that he was finally able to have a child, but the film was a great loss to the tradition. I will stick to watching the original series and just be glad that I can get videos of the series at second hand stores for $1.95. I am so sorry :-( for our loss. At least I have immortal memories.