So, I finally watched Highlander 3, which, until recently, was the only legitimate Highlander film that I hadn't seen. (Compare with "The Source", which I saw, and then immediately wished to forget.) I was both pleasantly surprised and kind of disappointed.
On the one hand, it felt much closer to the original film than Highlander 2, or even The Series. Along with the return of Christopher Lambert as Connor (The REAL Highlander) McLeod, the tone and direction of the film follow the darker tone of the movie, with more stuff happening at night and in New York. On the other hand, it actually felt a little more R-rated than the first movie, featuring not one, not two, but THREE sex scenes, and more F-bombs than I remember being in the first one.
Also interesting to note is the villain, Kane (played by Mario Van Peebles). Clancy Brown as the Kurgan from "Highlander" was one of my favorite movie villains. He just seemed to enjoy being evil so much. Kane, especially at first, can tend to come off as a stand-in for Kurgan, with the same raspy voice and psycho mannerisms, but slightly less interesting. The differences are mainly that Kane has magic powers (WooooOOOOoooo) and somehow manages to seem less honorable than Kurgan. Also, if you don't think he's a Kurgan stand in, just watch the scene where he kidnaps Connor's adopted son. It's almost a total replay of Kurgan's kidnapping in the first film.
All the negatives aside, this movie DID feel like a reasonable sequel to the first movie, even if it didn't evoke the cultish awesomeness that the original had. It mainly re-hashes the plot of the first movie. (Bad guy kills Connor's mentor in the past and returns to hunt him down in present day. Connor meets history buff/girl who discovers he is immortal, they do it, Connor fights bad guy, with several flashes back to Connor's history in-between.) I think this is both the film's best and worst point.
They do re-use the formula, but bear in mind that "Highlander" was a good movie, so more of it isn't necessarily a bad thing. This does, however, relegate it to a secondary status, falling just a bit short of that which it intends to emulate.
In the end, Highlander 3 wasn't bad, and most fans of the series will find something to like here (assuming you have the tolerance for/ability to ignore the sex & stuff). If you are less into the Highlander franchise as a whole, though, you could just watch the original. It's similar, but it has Clancy Brown and Queen, making it a generally better movie.
