A gloriously oddball cult fantasy that mixes swordplay, immortal lore, and neon-soaked 1980s style. It’s messy and often silly, but the atmosphere, music, and villainy give it a very specific charm that has only grown more durable over time.
32% ★★☆☆☆ (271,400)
Highlander
Where to watch: Amazon
Movie · Adventure · Action · R
1986 · 1h 56m · ★ 32% (271.4K)
There can be only one.
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown
Overview
He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.
Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, Sean Connery, Beatie Edney, Alan North, Jon Polito, Sheila Gish, Hugh Quarshie, Peter Diamond, Billy Hartman, James Cosmo, Celia Imrie, Christopher Malcolm, Ian Reddington, Alistair Findlay, Edward Wiley, John Cassady, Sion Tudor Owen, Damien Leake
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A gloriously oddball cult fantasy that mixes swordplay, immortal lore, and neon-soaked 1980s style. It’s messy and often silly, but the atmosphere, music, and villainy give it a very specific charm that has only grown more durable over time.
Best for
fans of cult 1980s genre movies
viewers who enjoy earnest but goofy mythology
people who like stylish sword-and-sorcery with urban fantasy elements
audiences drawn to memorable villains and quotable camp
fans of practical effects, synth-rock energy, and moody visuals
Skip if
you need polished dialogue and airtight plotting
you dislike camp or tonal whiplash
you want realistic action choreography
you’re allergic to cheesy accents and broad performances
you prefer fantasy that stays fully in one era or setting
Overview
Highlander is the kind of movie that feels like it was beamed in from an alternate 1980s where every idea is bigger than the execution can quite contain. It’s a sword-and-sorcery myth wrapped around a contemporary New York crime story, and the result is both ridiculous and strangely elegant. The film keeps finding new ways to be clumsy and cool at the same time.
Worth noting
What really sells it is the atmosphere: misty visuals, fish-eye lenses, smoky interiors, and a propulsive sense of doomed romanticism. Christopher Lambert’s detached intensity gives Connor MacLeod an alien quality, while Clancy Brown’s villain is the movie’s true engine, all menace and swagger. The soundtrack helps too, turning the whole thing into a grand, slightly unhinged pop opera.
Bottom line
It’s not a clean or especially coherent fantasy, but that’s part of the appeal. Highlander builds a mythology that feels larger than the movie itself, and even when the seams show, the movie keeps moving with enough confidence to make the nonsense feel intentional. For the right viewer, it’s a cult classic in the purest sense: flawed, memorable, and weirdly iconic.
Top Letterboxd reviews
DirkH (4.5★) · 1124 likes
I love Christopher Lambert's brooding eyes and wicked smile the clumsy but epic fight scenes Sean fucking Connery that music. Fuck I miss Queen. the complete absence of convincing Scottish accents. Bar Mr. Connery's of course. But he's playing an Egyptian Spaniard or something the fact that it is historically more accurate than Braveheart that one of the nastiest and creepiest villains ever is played by a guy named Clancy how it takes time to build its mythology without outstaying its welcome at any time that no matter how many shitty sequels you throw at it, it only proves there really can be only one
Adryon Thomas (2.5★) · 983 likes
Still a fun terrible movie. Christopher Lambert can't act - at all. Sean Connery gives his most ethnically perplexing role of his career. Mr. Krabs is Insane. And everything is so bad, but so funny.
Will Menaker (4★) · 835 likes
Another movie, another metaphor for having gay sex and being gay. Lots of great 1980s NYC in this one. Update: been thinking a lot about how tight Christopher Lambert's jeans, sneakers, and trench coat fit is in this one.
Patrick Willems · 662 likes
Very dumb, like dumb enough to cast a Frenchman as a Scotsman and a Scotsman as an Egyptian Spaniard…and yet I cannot deny that it kinda rocks
Sean Fennessey (3.5★) · 595 likes
I still love this and still can’t figure out what the fuck Christopher Lambert is going for.