I really wanted to see this film when I came out, but was told no because it looked too violent. Cue my disappointment and a few years of waiting before I finally got to see it. And damn it was worth the wait. It's a really good film, original, and beautifully told. Although I wish the studios hadn't tried to make a franchise out of it, and kept churning out inferior sequels. With each new one, the continuity gets more messed up, and don't even get me started on the Tv series. There should have been only one! Christopher Lambert is really good in this, even more so when you consider english isn't his first language. I also really enjoy Sean Connery, although he's one of those actors who'd be great even if he was just reading the phone book. Some stunning locations on show, makes me want to visit Scotland one day. Highly recommended!

Plot Synopsis:

Connor McLeod sits watching the wrestling at Madison Square Garden. He watches the wrestling and his mind drifts back to an ancient battle, Scottish highlanders in a bloody battle in the highlands. He suddenly gets up and leaves, going down into the parking garage. A man attacks him with a sword, and they fight. McLeod cuts Faziel's head off. Energy flares from Faziel's body, causing destruction throughout the garage, and coursing through McLeod. He hides his sword and runs when he hears the sounds of approaching sirens.

Flashing back to Scotland 1536, the clan McLeod ride out to battle. On the field of battle, a dark warrior tells the oppositions leader that ConnorMcLeod is his to kill. Both sides attack and fierce battle breaks out, but no one will fight Connor. The black warrior rides in and challenges Connor. He quickly stabs him through with his sword. Connor's clansmen comes to his aid and stop the warrior from severing Connor's head. The warrior tells Connor he will return.

Back at Madison Square Garden, Connor tries to leave but is apprehended by the New York police. He is using the name Russell Nash, and he is arrested for the murder of Faziel.

Back in Scotland 1536, Connor is read the last rights by the priest, and declared dead. Connor's woman weeps over his body.

The cops investigate the murder scene. Brenda Wyatt from police forensics has been called in to gather evidence. The police assume that Nash killed Faziel for his priceless antique sword, as he is listed as an antique dealer. Nash is questioned by the police about Faziel. Nash feigns ignorance, and provokes one of the officers into fighting with him. Without any solid evidence, the police are forced to release him.

The dark warrior is driving to New York. He checks into a hotel room as Victor Kruger. In his room he unpacks and assembles a very large sword.

Brenda is given samples of metal taken from Faziel's wound by the coroner. She analyses the metal and realises there must have been another sword involved. Back at the garage, McLeod is retrieving his sword, when Brenda arrives. Using a metal detector, she finds pieces of McLeod's sword embedded in one of the garage pillars. McLeod meets up with Brenda at a local bar. As he's leaving she follows him home.

On the way home, McLeod encounters the dark warrior. He has returned for him, and they fight in an alley. McLeod tries to protect Brenda who stumbles into the fight. Luckily a police helicopter arrives and interrupts the fight. McLeod warns Brenda to stay away from him and not to follow him again.

Back in 1536, the Clan McLeod think Connor is possessed by the devil because he is still alive and has recovered from his wound, when he was a corpse the night before. His woman declares that Connor is in league with Lucifer, and they drive him from the village, beating and pelting him with rocks. His clansman Angus banishes him even though the rest of the village want to burn him. He wanders off into the highlands.

Back in New York, McLeod is returning home. He goes into a room in his loft filled with mementos of his time alive. He remembers blacksmithing and building a tower with his new woman, Heather. As they finish making love, the Spaniard Ramirez arrives to speak with McLeod. He knows his story, and has come looking for him. McLeod is effected by a lightning storm, and Ramirez explains it is the Quickening he feels. Ramirez claims he is the same as McLeod.

Brenda distracts her captain, and then checks through the file on his desk, finding the pictures of Nash. Meanwhile, McLeod is repairing and resharpening his sword. He looks at a book about ancient swords, turning it over to reveal it was written by Brenda. He remembers Ramirez.

On a Scottish lake, Ramirez is training McLeod, and they are trading insults. Ramirez responds by tipping him into the lake, and Connor complains that he cannot swim. Ramirez tells him he can't drown because he is Immortal. McLeod walks across the bottom of the lake, surfacing to attack Ramirez on the shore. Ramirez easily avoids his attack, and then starts to tutor McLeod in proper swordsmanship. Ramirez explains to Connor about the time of the Gathering, when the few who are left will gather to fight for the Prize. He explains the only way they can die is if his head is severed from his neck. He is safe only on holy ground, and they will all fight until only one is left. They train and practice until Connor is finally able to beat Ramirez.

Later, Ramirez warns McLeod that he must leave Heather because they cannot have children, and it will be too painful to watch her age and die. Ramirez explains that he has been alive for over 2,000 years, and when his last wife died he was shattered, and he does not wish him to experience that pain.

Back at McLeod's tower, Connor tells him of the black knight. Ramirez tells him he is the Kurgan from Russsia, and explains that he is the strongest and most evil of the Immortals. He must help stop the Kurgan or mortal man will endure an eternity of darkness.

Ramirez is entertaining Heather while McLeod is away when the Kurgan arrives. Ramirez attempts to protect Heather. They fight in the tower, and leave it in ruins. Ramirez manages to slash across the Kurgan's throat, but doesn't sever his head. The continue to fight and the Kurgan gains the upper hand, taking Ramirez's head, and raping Heather.

Back in New York, Brenda has come to see Nash, and is asking about a japanese sword with the metal in the blade folded 200 times. McLeod invites her to dinner. The police are watching Nash and they report back that Brenda was talking to him. Rachel, McLeod's assistant in his shop, asks what to tell people when they ask about him. He flashes back to World War I, when he found Rachel in the rubble of a destroyed building, and saves her from the Nazis.

Rachel tells him that she knows he is lonely and he should find someone to be with. McLeod leaves to go on his date with Brenda. He arrives at Brenda's place, and quickly discovers her hidden tape recorder, a .45 pistol, and the police unit watching her home. He seems amused by her deception, and tries to get the truth from her. He brings a bottle of brandy from 1783, and then tells her about the events of the year. She asks about the gift he bought for her, and when she opens it she finds her book. She realises the jigs up, and he confronts her. She tells him she just wants to see the samurai sword, because it shouldn't exist. She says its far too advanced for the time it was made. McLeod leaves her.

Flashing back, McLeod has built a new home near his ruined tower with Heather. We see a montage over time as Heather slowly ages, and dies. He stays with her to the end, unchanging.

McLeod meets with Castigere, another Immortal who has come for the gathering. They talk of the Gathering and decide to have a celebration. McLeod remembers the last party they had in 1783, when McLeod had a drunken duel with Mr Bassett on Boston Common. Bassett becomes frustrated when he is unable to kill McLeod despite repeatedly stabbing him with his rapier. He eventually turns his duelling pistol on his man servant and shoots him in the buttocks.

The Kurgan is fighting with Castigere. An American military veteran driving past witnesses the fight, and gets out armed with a machine gun. He witnesses the Kurgan take Castigere's head. He unloads the entire machinegun clip into the Kurgan, and when he goes to look for the body, the Kurgan stabs him with his sword. Kurgan takes the Quickening, then flees into the street, stealing a car with a little old lady in it, and then terrorising her all over the city.

The cops go to see the veteran in the hospital, and question him about the swordsman. They show him Nash's photo, and he confirms it wasn't Nash. The veteran tells them about Kurgan's scar across his neck. He can't understand how he got up after he filled him full of lead. He then tries to tell them about the Quickening, and the cops dismiss him as a kook.

Brenda is researching Nash's background and discovers that his identity belongs to a child that died young. She trails back through history, a succession of newborns that died, and their identity's taken, the previous identity leaving their posessions to the new identity. She has the handwriting on the birth certificates checked and compared to Nash's, all the way to 1796.

At a cathedral, McLeod goes to light a candle for Heather to remember her on her birthday. The Kurgan arrives and threatens McLeod, telling him Castigere is gone and they are the last. He provokes McLeod, and says he will come for him soon.

Brenda confronts McLeod about his past. He takes her to his treasure room, and tells her the truth. He stabs himself to prove to her that he is telling the truth. They end up kissing and making love. The next day at the zoo, McLeod tells Brenda that it won't work and he cannot get involved again. The Kurgan spies on them, and abducts Brenda when she gets home. He then calls McLeod and tells him to come meet him or Brenda will die.

McLeod goes to the Silvercup Building. He finds Brenda tied to the Silvercup sign, and the Kurgan attacks while he is freeing her. A fight breaks out atop the sign, moving down to the rooftop when the sign falls from its mounting. They fight on the roof, and they both fall through a skylight to the warehouse below. McLeod gets the upper hand and manages to cut further through Kurgan's neck, severing his head.

McLeod wins the prize, his mortality, and supreme knowledge. He goes to start a new life with Brenda.