Highlander (DVD, 2009)
Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), is the Highlander. So named for his people are the Clan MacLeod from the Scottish Highlands. He was born around 1500 and is immortal. At the age of twenty, he is run through in battle by the Kurgan, the strongest of the immortals. Connor, mortally wounded and dying is taken home to die in peace, but miracularly survives and heals overnight, prompting cries of supernatural witchcraft. The villagers, in fear of Satan, demand his burning, but his family member insists he be banished instead.
Connor goes on to live an idyllic life in isolation with his wife Heather, but they have no children. One day a knight of sorts comes to visit. He tells Connor great stories of himself and of Connor and his history. It is only now that Connor comes to understand how he survived the battle with the Kurgan. He finds out that he is among a kind-of brotherhood of men who are immortals, and how through the centuries the whitteling process has been going on. The immortals are all locked in mortal combat with one another, until only one remains, and he will have the power to rule the world. In any fight, the winner will only win by decapitating his opponent, therefore absorbing his power too. In his earlier fight with the Kurgan, although seriously wounded, he had not lost his head and survived the encounter. His new aquaintance, Ramirez (Sean Connery), has looked him up to teach him of battle and how to defend himself. Ramirez, though many centuries old, and victor of many battles, senses that Connor is ultimately the only one who could defeat the Kurgan, and save all humanity. Connor also learns at this time, that he will age as though centuries are but minutes, and that Heather and all others around him will die as he watches. While Connor is away, the Kurgan finds his home and kills Ramirez, and rapes Heather. He thought that she was Ramirez's woman.
Forward to present day New York City. A wrestling match in Madison Square Garden, but Connor can sense something is wrong. He is confronted in the parking garage by another immortal, Iman Fasil, and after a lengthy battle, Connor cuts off his head. In a process called the "Quickening", he receives Fasil's power. He is arrested while leaving the scene, but later released for lack of proof. Fasil's sword is recovered and peaks the interest of a forensics specialist with the police, Brenda Wyatt. Eventually finding metal schards of Connor's sword (originally Ramirez' sword) she begins a hunt to uncover the truth of what is going on.
Having met with Kastigir, another of the immortals earlier that week, Connor was for-warned of Fasil, and the final battle that was rapidly approaching. That night, Kastigir is killed by the Kurgin. Now only Connor and the Kurgan remain. As Brenda follows Connor she uncovers that he is an antique dealer, and he is apparently the same man, who has reinvented himself many times in a different identity, but always the same person for the past three hundred years. When the Kurgan attacks Connor, he has to tell her the truth. The Kurgan grabs Brenda to force Connor to confront him.
After a climactic fight at the Silvercup Studios building in Queens, Connor defeats and beheads the Kurgan and receives the massive quickening. Now mortal and capable of having children, Connor moves back to Scotland with Brenda, to live out his life with her. Connor now has awareness of the thoughts of everyone, which he uses to encourage world cooperation and peace.Read full review
