Highlander - Special Edition [Blu-ray] [1986] - £6.95 & Delivered Free

'Highlander' on Blu-ray really shows how a relatively old film can have new life breathed into it courtesy of HD mastering to a state that is about as good as can be expected, 'warts and all' !

I, like many fans of this highly entertaining and novel 'fantasy' film, saw it on release in 1986 and have since seen/owned it in all formats from VHS onwards - it is one of my most favourite movies. This edition provides a quantum-leap in terms of picture quality, which is for the most part excellent, and also provides a very passable DTS HD soundtrack which, although very occasionally hissy or muffled, is lively and presents things very well.

Those 2 aspects are crucial for 'Highlander' as the really notable elements of the movie are a series of spectacular scenery panoramics and a rousing musical soundtrack, largely courtesy of that marvellous rock group 'Queen'.

The plot is not that complicated and the Amazon synopsis does a pretty good job of summarising it - for the uninitiated I suggest you read that to get a good idea and avoid reading the description on the back of the Blu-ray box as it divulges too much...

Along with spectacular panoramas of the Scottish Highlands (you will see how Christopher Nolan got the idea for the sword training scenes in 'Batman Begins') and perfectly placed/relevant songs by Queen (the album 'A Kind of Magic' is essentially the source material), there are a multitude of novel cinematography elements such as unusual camera angles and methods to show the 'transition' from real-time to flashback and vice-versa.

There is also an engrossing contribution from Sean Connery (once again abandoning any attempt to hide his Scottish accent despite his character being Spanish !) as a 'brother' of the 'Highlander' (played by Christopher Lambert) and, most significantly, a supremely energetic villain-portrayal by Clancy Brown as the fearful 'Kurgan'.

Naturally, no CGI is to be seen with all the (fairly limited) special-effects being either visual or made with small additions post-filming; the outside sets are often vast and look authentic (the Clan village is centred on the spectacular, diminutive, castle of Eileen Donan - when I flew fast-jets in the RAF I always aimed to go past it as fast and low as possible if in the area since the setting is so beautiful !). HD also allows us to see the superb detail in those aged costumes and close-ups even reveal, for example, individual hairs in the bristling moustache of the warrior chief 'Angus'. I didn't notice any artefact distractions, but the film has not been tinkered with so you can still see the wires holding up actors during 'levitation' scenes for example.

For me, there are some moments of great emotion - the 'Who Wants to Live Forever' scene between 'Highlander' and his wife Heather always gets me. Moments of amusement are also liberally sprinkled throughout, ranging from the wild antics of the Kurgan (you will not have seen the music to 'New York, New York' provide a backdrop to the kind of action portrayed here before I guarantee !), a hilarious never-ending 18th century sword duel or the sarcastic one-liners and cheeky giggle from a street-seller to his bereft police detectives customers (eg 'What does baffled mean ?', 'What does incompetent mean ?') which never fail to crease me up.

The storyline rattles along with no pregnant pauses or superfluous scenes yet still manages to last nearly 2 hours. However, when the action, characters and scenery are as entertaining/interesting and stunning as they are in this film that doesn't matter at all. With the bonus of a commentary, featurettes etc anyone who has a liking for this film and a Blu-ray player will not be disappointed - it's fantastic !