A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander by Jonathan Melville

Way, way back, in that delirious summer vacation between my primary and high school years, I watched a film that I'd best describe as pivotal in my development as an author and musician. The original 1986 Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown, lodged itself in my imagination, and taught me two things: fantasy is my calling, and Queen's music is the best.

In A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander, Jonathan Melville sets about the ambitious endeavour of chronicling the making of the film that sparked a cinema and TV franchise, accompanied by tie-in fiction and card games that have garnered a small but rabid fan following over the intervening decades.

It can be argued that the original Highlander has its flaws, yet for those of us who've comfort-watched it more than a score of times (yes, I'm one of those people who can say the lines before the actors even open their mouths), it's an immortal classic that provides a visual feast thanks to director Russell Mulcahy's savvy eye and the creative team that had his back. And of course, let's not forget the killer soundtrack developed by British rock band Queen and composer Michael Kamen.

Melville's legwork and interviewing skills result in deep dive into the process of how a film comes together, from the writing to pre-production, filming, and eventual distribution, as well as life beyond the big screen. For all the things that did go wrong (as it inevitably does in the production of any film), so much somehow came right. We get the good, the bad, and the ugly, as well as a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes into the unique pressures in the industry back in the 1980s. Knowing what I do of contemporary filmmaking thanks to my own involvement in the industry, exactly how cast and crew managed back then absolutely blows my mind.

I savoured every chapter of this book, and value it as an important artefact and time capsule of sorts to both entertain and inform those of us who have enjoyed this fantasy cult classic that's part-romance, part-historical adventure epic. This is one for the fans.

Highlander: The American Dream

Something that I’ve started to do a bit more often these days is read comic books using my kindle app on my iPad – the experience has been quite painless and thoroughly enjoyable, especially when it comes down to purchasing and downloading collections. My friends will know I’m a huge fan of the Highlander franchise (and pity them, some of them had to put up with my obsession since high school – if one of you’re reading this now, realise that I’m waving at you right now). Lately I’ve been dipping back into the Highlander fandom, and it’s even more enjoyable now since it’s so much easier for me to lay hands on the assorted films, series and books – unlike the early 1990s when the internet wasn’t within the reach of mere mortals.

Highlander: The American Dream is a comic series that came out last year (2017) written by Brian Ruckley with art by Andrea Mutti. Generally I tend to be wary of tie-ins but this offering was solid, as in I immediately went back to page through particular sections and I felt that as a prequel The American Dream filled in some gaps for the Connor MacLeod we’ve come to know and love from the first film. More importantly, this offering stays true to the spirit of the very first film, so it will most likely keep the purists happy.

I’m happy enough to add the events here to my headcanon, and themes that are elaborated on are Connor’s loneliness and the burden placed on him and a few other Immortals to counteract the evil of other Immortals such as the Kurgan and, of course the antagonist in The American Dream – John Hooke, who has rather a lot in common with a rabid dog.

We also see the uneasy partnership between Connor and another Immortal, the monk Osta Vazilek (shades of Darius echoing there, perhaps?) as they hunt Hooke down through the ages – so expect hopping between the periods of the American Civil War, the 1950s and the mid-1980s. We also get to see the plucky Rachel in action – and she most certainly has gumption. I’ve always loved her as a character – she dedicated herself to Connor and clearly was utterly devoted to him, despite the fact that he held himself aloof from everyone around him.

Overall, the narrative was engaging – this is a stock-standard “hunt the evil Immortals” battle that dovetails well with the first film. The colouring was lovely; Vladimir Popov has done an excellent job. I especially loved the illustrations between the issues by Claudia Gironi, which evoked Connor so well. As for the art, I’m not hundred percent sure I liked the way Mutti drew Connor or the other characters – there was a lot of sameness in their facial features, and Connor just looked bland without the intensity of the stare that Lambert gifted him in the film. But this wasn’t a deal-breaker for me because the overall production quality was high, and it’s clear that a great deal of thought was put into the visual composition.