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| Not exactly like good wine |
So what "went wrong" with Highlander and what could have been done differently to keep today's generation glued to the tube. For one, actors - good actors do of course make a difference and both Christopher Lambert and Roxanne Hart hammed their way through the whole thing. Looking for real moments? Not from those two! I'll be the first to admit, though, that this didn't bother me one iota back in the 80s. It certainly helped that, back then, it was far easier to dazzle audiences with special effects. Who had time to emotionalize with actors when there was all that head-chopping-lightning-windows-exploding stuff going on?
Today the Highlander effects are beyond antique. So if you want to create a film that stands the test of time - don't rely on special effects to tell your story. They're cool, they're fun, they're exciting - but only for a glimpse in time. Case in point - take Star Wars. When the entire planet of Alderaan is destroyed, the excitement level remains at subzero today. But when Luke and Leia do the old-fashioned swinging across the missing bridge thingie, when the garbage container walls close in on all of them, or when they do the time-honored saber-fighting - all of those still work. Those are, frankly, down to earth, simple - in the context of a SciFi tale, sure, but very much grounded - and that's why they'll never get old.
Can we, as long-time writers or greenhorns, worry about this? Do we have the luxury? Probably not. We'll always be scrambling for that first or next job and we'll be thrilled to get it and we'll do our darndest to make it as exciting as possible. That "test of time" thinking probably won't enter ... but then again - maybe it should. Maybe it would indeed improve our stories if we were to think away the current times and focus on the core, the universal tale - the bit that'll still work for audiences 100 years from now.
4 comments:
Personally I still love Bill & Ted - I can watch it again and again.
But I agree about Highlander - and the point you're making :-) but it does have the redeeming feature of the Queen soundtrack.
Absolutely agree - the soundtrack still sends shivers down my spine - and I also still love The Kurgan - Clancy Brown's wonderful - "I got something to say - it's better to burn in hell, than to fade away!"
I thought Roxanne Hart did a good job in a two-dimensional part, being little more than the love interest cum damsel in distress.
OTOH, Highlander might have lasted longer had they had, I dunno, someone with a Scottish accent to play the Scot, and someone who was at least vaguely Spanish to play the Spaniard.
Also, a lot of the screen wipes (if I understand the term), which were cool in the day, now seriously get in the way of the storytelling - at every scene change, you're reminded you're watching a movie.
Big fan of series, not to mention I have 2 ids with the word "Duncan" in it... Our hero quite beautifully used katana with perfect sword practice samurai style! His sword practice sequence is still in my subconscious.
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