Highlander II: The Quickening
- RichardJuly 22, 2026And unlike some movies from that era, the original Highlander actually deserved a sequel… which makes it even funnier that the sequel we got was Highlander II: The Quickening, a cinematic crime against humanity. This movie doesn’t just miss the mark, it sprints past the mark, jumps a fence, gets lost in the woods and never finds its way back. It’s the kind of sequel that feels like everyone involved forgot what the first film was about, then confidently wrote something completely different while hoping nobody would notice. The biggest insult is the lore. The original gave us immortals, ancient battles, centuries‑spanning drama. The sequel gives us… aliens. From another planet. Because apparently someone thought, “What if we take everything people liked and replace it with nonsense?” It’s a bold choice, bold in the same way jumping off a roof with a bedsheet is bold. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery do their best, but you can see the pain in their eyes. Connery especially looks like he’s wondering why he agreed to come back and the answer is probably “money.” Lambert tries to hold the movie together, but even an immortal can’t survive this script. The tone is a mess. The action is loud but pointless. The world‑building contradicts itself every ten minutes. The villains feel like they wandered in from a completely different movie and the whole thing is drenched in that early 90s “we spent money on sets, so we’re going to show them for as long as possible” energy. It’s not just a bad sequel, it’s a sequel that actively attacks the original. You can’t even pretend it’s canon unless you enjoy emotional damage. There’s a reason fans pretend this movie doesn’t exist. There’s a reason the franchise had to quietly reboot itself with Highlander III and there’s a reason The Quickening is still used as a punchline whenever people talk about disastrous sequels. A sequel was deserved. This… was not it.
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Highlander II: The Quickening was released on January 31, 1991.
Highlander II: The Quickening was directed by Russell Mulcahy.
Highlander II: The Quickening has a runtime of 1h 49m.
Highlander II: The Quickening was produced by Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer.
The Prize has been won. Connor MacLeod is mortal... Now an old man on the verge of death, memories of his past on the planet Zeist resurface, where a vengeful enemy, General Katana, plots to destroy him once and for all.
The key characters in Highlander II: The Quickening are Connor 'The Highlander' MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery), Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen).
Highlander II: The Quickening is rated R.
Highlander II: The Quickening is a Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action film.
Highlander II: The Quickening has an audience rating of 2.3 out of 10.
Highlander II: The Quickening had a budget of $34M.
Highlander II: The Quickening has made $15.6M at the box office.