Poorly acted sequel wastes
advantages of original film
“Highlander 2:
The Quickening”
By Anne Steyer
Senior Reporter
Two reels seems generous for
“Highlander 2: The Quickening”
(Stuart). The second reel is for Sean
Connery because he is, well, Sean
Connery.
Otherwise, this is a flick that takes
too long going nowhere.
Its predecessor was based on an
interesting and innovative premise:
A group of immortals, good and bad,
progress through time fighting each
other, with decapitation being the only
way they could die.
They fought to achieve the “quick
ening,” the end of their journey. Only
one of these immortals could achieve
this quickening, though, hence the
fighting. The quickening gives the
winner more power and the choice of
mortality.
In the sequel, Christopher Lam
bert reprises his role of the Scottish
highlander, Conner MacLeod. In the
original, MacLeod was the focus of
the film and the one who achieved the
quickening. He chose to be mortal.
Unfortunately, “Highlander 2”
confuses this premise. It uses flash
backs to another planet, 500 years
before, to set up a storyline. In so
doing, it completely disregards eve
rything in the first film.
The film uses this lame plot device
to give MacLeod back his immortal
ity, bring back the long-dead Ramirez
(Sean Connery) and create new bad
guys.
The bad guyscome from the planet
Zeist. For social and political rele
vance, Zeist is polluted beyond re
pair.
Of course, no action film would be
complete without the female charac
ter who immediately falls in love
with the hero. Virginia Madsen is
stuck in here. She meanders about,
looking attractive and doing little else.
Given the excitement of “High
lander,” this sequel had enormous
potential. But throughout the movie,
it is impossible to think about any
thing but how bad and long it is.
The story requires a big stretch of
the imagination, and even then is full
of loopholes. The dialogue is full of
the requisite good guy/bad guy ban
ter, but is neither clever nor witty.
The characters arc not compelling
and Lambert and Madsen arc terrible.
Michael Ironside (“Total Recall”) is
an OK villain, but he is more cartoon
ish than fiendish.
Without the flair of Connery, the
cast would be nearly devoid of talent.
The look of “Highlander 2 is dark
and gloomy, but not as slick as the
Gotham City of “Batman.” It looks
more like the camera had a dirty lens.
There are five or six minutes of
good special effects, but nothing to
compare with the original.
The few special effects and the
moments with Connery (without
Lambert) provide hope, but turn out
to do little more than punctuate an
otherwise complete disappointment.
A University-wide canned
goods drive will take place
on Nov. 18 - 22. CAN-IT
boxes for donations will be
located at the front desk of
each Residence Hall,
Greek houses, and at
CORNERSTONE (640
North 16). Contributions
will be given to the
Malone Community
Center Thanksgiving
Basket Project. Spon
sored by UMHE
CONERSTONE. Please
help us help others.
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Scorsese movie chilling, witty
“Cape Fear”
By John Payne
Senior Editor
When Marlin Scorsese and
Robert De Niro get together, great
things happen. Given their remark
able track record (“Taxi Driver,”
“Raging Bull,” “GoodFcllas”), any
Scorsese-De Niro collaboration
creates high expectations. And
rightly so.
“Cape Fear” (Cooper), a remake
of the 1962 classic, is a towering
accomplishment for both the di
rector and the actor. Part morality
talc, pan rollercoaster ride, it’s the
best psychological thriller to come
along since “Fatal Attraction.”
The story begins at the Georgia
State Penitentiary, where convicted
rapist Max Cady (De Niro) is re
leased after serving a 14-year sen
tence. While in the joint. Max has
plotted revenge against his lawyer,
who, as Max puls it, “sold him
out.”
In truth, his grievance is justi
fied. Max’s attorney, a public de
fender named Sam Bowden (su
perbly played by Nick Nolle), bur
ied evidence that would have helped
his defense: Max’s victim, a 16
year-old girl, was sexually promis
cuous. That fact, Sam reasoned,
would have lessened the jury’s
sympathy for the girl, in turn less
ening Max’s sentence.
With that in mind, Sam makes
the rather unethical decision to sit
on the information and allows his
client to go to prison for 14 years.
Once illiterate, Max emerges
from his cell a student of Nietzsche,
the Bible and American law. The
latter enables him to torment Sam
and his family without winding
up in jail.
At first, Max’s harassments arc
subtle. In a movie theater, he sprawls
out in front of Sam, his wife and his
daughter, puffing away on a cigar
and laughing wildly at the film.
When Sam lakes his family out for
icc cream, Max is there to pay the
bill.
Before long, Max is spying on
the Bowdens at their plush estate,
menacing Sam’s wife (Jessica
Lange) and seducing his daughter
(newcomer Juliette Lewis).
Had it played out on this level
alone, “Cape Fear” may have been
a routine drama. But with each
scene, Scorsese lightens the screws
a little more, allowing his film to
gather strength like a storm.
As Max stalks the family, he
forces them to confront the per
sonal lies that exist just beneath the
surface of their picture-perfect
world.
Much of the fun derived from
this taut chiller — and there are
several darkly humorous moments
— is the product of Scorcesc’s
scaring wiL In the legally-minded
’90s, it’s probably fitting that the
cruclest thing Max could do to
Sam is take him to court.
Ultimately though, “Cape Fear”
is De Niro’s movie. With his most
drastic change of appearance since
“Raging Bull,’’ his portrait of a
calculating psychopath is liable to
give folks nightmares.
"•JeTma'ITctW1
Phillip Glynn, a senior art major, prepares to hang one of his paintings Sunday in preparation
for his exhibit in the the Nebraska Union. Glynn’s collection is the first in a series of student
art displays sponsored by the Union Board.
grandmother's
1 /2 rita Mondays
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Art
Continued from Page 9
of math and science courses, he said,
and needed a creative outlet. He ended
up failing those classes and switching
to a liberal arts program.
Glynn said he decided to study on
photography, fearing that studying
other types of art would make them
less appealing to him.
“1 was afraid if I made it academic,
I wouldn’t enjoy it anymore," Glynn
said.
UPC-Visual Arts chairwoman
Kristine Mueller said the committee
hopes to provide three rotations next
semester. Each rotation will show
case a different artist or group of
artists.
