The Fake Life - Love movies? We do too!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

There Can Be Only One... Colin

Exciting news for those four people still interested in the Highlander franchise, as a new installment is currently on its way for release this spring. But there'll be no Christophe Lam-bearrr this time, as it'll be in that much (and some times rightly) maligned art-form anime.

Highlander: Vengeance seems to abandon the concept of the quickening and what have you, and has just gone for the oft-used revenge angle, hence the title. Here's the official synopsis:

"In revenge, patience is a virtue. And after a millennium, Colin MacLeod doesn't give a damn about virtue.

After four films and two successful television series, you've never seen the Highlander like this. MacLeod returns with a vengeance.in an animated feature-length epic! In the tradition of "Vampire Hunter D" and "Ninja Scroll," anime wizard Yoshiaki Kawajiri brings his unique visual bravura to the immortal "Highlander" franchise. For the first time, the MacLeod katana blade will find itself in the hands of a Japanese master.

In the new tale, the lone warrior Colin travels with the wise-cracking ghost Amergan through the ages searching for the immortal despot Marcus Octavius, who killed his lover on the Celtic plains tens of centuries ago. On his quest, he discovers New York is submerged, and one dominant monolith fortress towers over the seas. Colin can save the survivors, but his sword only hungers for the blood of one man. Despite many lifetimes of training, Colin has failed to vanquish Marcus on the great battlefields of history. Can he finish what he started and stop Marcus? Will Colin lead the people to freedom or become consumed by hate? There can be only one."

Colin? Colin?!? Why not just call him Harold and be done with it? As stated there, it's from the people behind Ninja Scroll, which I quite liked despite it being filled with the usual anime pitfalls, namely repulsive sexual elements. It's being written by David Abramowitz, who I've never heard of but apparently was the showrunner for the Highlander series, but funnier, was a writer on Cagney and Lacey. I hope they mention that on the poster.

On a personal note, I'm a big fan of the first Highlander, as it's such an extreme case of sheer insanity wrapped in a bundle of relatively-mainstream fun, but I haven't bothered to see any of the others, for good reason apparently. Although I used to watch the cartoon, and enjoyed it, but then again, that was a long time ago. Still, from as much as the trailer as I got to watch (the loading times on the official site are awful), it didn't look particularly enthralling, especially with that weird pseudo slow motion anime always has going on. Still, optimism is good, right? Right?

Highlander: Vengeance will be released on June 5th.