dx23

From dvdtimes.co.uk:

cover art here

TheNightFlier

Didn't they release an SE a year or two ago?

dvd_luver

I cannot believe that Paramount greenlights crap like this for a SE yet 1492: Conquest Of Paradise and Almost An Angel hasn't seen the light of day on dvd from them. And just very recently they announced The Thing Called Love and Sliver for release on dvd. Yet, some of their rumored SE's like Face/Off and Braveheart haven't been greenlighted either. It really makes you think can they be any dumber.

fitprod

Yes, Lionsgate released it, but their distrubution rights to the Republic catalog have expried and are now under the control of Paramount.

Yes, we'll be seeing a whole bunch of Republic re-releases the next few years. Hopefully some of the more marginally presented titles will get new transfers.

fitprod

dvd_luver

Paramount has to really start trying to release more and more of their titles onto dvd, the Paramount catalog keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Joe Molotov

I'm sure the release date was just a coincidence.

I bought the Highlander 2 Special Ultimate Restored Director's Cut "It's Really Good Now, We Promise!" Edition a few years ago. Don't think I'm going to double-dip on this one.

KnightLerxst

The SE they released a year ago is pretty good...they fixed up the special effects...again. I see no reason at all to pick this up.

cactusoly

you can't polish a turd.

big e

Was the one that was released last year the renegade version or the regular version?

ScissorPuppy

It was the renegade version but with new special effects, except it was missing a shootout scene towards the end.

I wonder if they will reincorparate the scene that was missed, and I doubt paramount is going to include all the bonus features the lionsgate 2 disc had.
I doubt it, probably just a trailer only release. Or they might add a commentary track.

Pick up the lionsgate disc while you still can if you enjoy this film for any reason.

RocShemp

Same here.

What missing shootout?
All I remember that was missing between the renegade version and the last SE was that the music and audio effects during the banging on the wall scene were changed (the moaning is now drowned out by a newly inserted reprise of Mark Kamen's love theme from the first Highlander feature) and that Ramirez' line of "like to site on men's faces" was replaced by an incoherent mumble.

ScissorPuppy

Best discription I could find is from IMDB.com

"The 2004 Special Edition version has a scene cut (featured in previous versions). The 2004 version doesn't have the breaking into Shield Control scene near the end of the movie and the shoot out with the Shield Control guards. In the 2004 version, it goes from the shot of the Shield Control guards outside to Louise looking on as Connor walks in to fight Katana."

Snowmaker

So, its no longer called Highlander 2:The Quickening?

Fok

I didn't buy the first one that was released, now I can't find the SE anywhere

ScissorPuppy

The producers haven't recognized that title since 1994. when they did the original renegade version with added footage shot in 1993.

RocShemp

Interesting. I remember that scene you describe (Connor leaves Louise alone and when last we see her, before the beginnning of the MacLeod/Katana fight, she's unsure if she killed all the guards) but I didn't notice that it was missing from the SE. I'll have to check it again.

To be honest, I wish we'd get a version will all the visual tweaks from the SE but featuring the cut of the French release. That version had most, if not all, the additions made to the renegade version but also kept all the scenes the renegade version discarded. Let's face it, no matter how they try to explain it away, any version of Highlander 2 ends up contradicting key points (and not just the ending) of Highlander.

Superman07

Stop. Just stop. I'm a fan of the H, but this one just sucks. 3 was pretty good (comparatively), as was 4 (better than 3), but I felt like it was a bit of a retread on 3. I think they actually dumbed down the 4 baddie as to not make him too similar to the guy in 3.

Also, keep in mind 5 is supposed to address their origins. Here's hoping that is throws 2 out the window to do this. However, I'd rather they just leave that storyline alone and do something else. I think it was best answered in 1 when Connery said something to the effect of "who knows? why does the sun rise...etc. etc."

ShagMan

I must be the minority, but I liked the "we're really aliens" whole backstory. No, it doesn't really jive with the rest of the movies, but so what. It's just a movie people

Joe Molotov

I thought the alien backstory made a lot more sense than the future one. What happened to the immortals and their civilizations, and why is their now trace of it on Earth? If you're an immortal, why would you banish someone into the future to get rid of them? And why do they have a TV screen that allows them to see into the future, but only at the exact moment that is the present for Connor? Couldn't they just look like 5 minutes farther ahead, they'd see that the goons they were sending to kill Connor were going to get whupped?

It's crazy, and it doesn't make any more sense with relation to Highlander 1 than the alien story does. Whether their from the past or another planet, it still completely screws up the continuity.

RocShemp

That's exactly why I wish they'd keep the alien backstory for any subsequent releases of this film. All attempts at "fixing" this film just lead to bigger and bigger plot holes. Just accept that Highlander 2 (and 3 and 4 to lesser degrees) cannot exist in the same continuity as the first film.

I view the series and each sequel as alternate realities because too many key points are different. For instance, in the first film, although immortals never fought one another on holy ground it was due to tradition (as Ramirez himself stated to Connor during the training montage) not because of some mystical joojoo that would result in a Pompei-esque destruction (a'la Highlander: The Series and Highlander 3). Highlander: Endgame tried to play by the rules of the first film but that contradicted the series (and irked fans of the series as well) so the extended producers cut on the DVD omits all references that the Sanctuary was built on holy ground. Of course, all this is ignoring that the first film had a clear cut ending that negates all possibilities of their being sequels.

masetodd

A few more releases of this dog and it may rival some Anchor Bay titles as the most frequently released DVD (of course, no one will ever catch the Evil Dead series).

Breakfast with Girls

Does this release include an extended apology to me for having sat through it once already?

dx23

From dvdactive.com:

cover art here:
http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...hlander-2.html