Yesterday, I begged xkatjafx and mareen for support and managed to convince them to watch Highlander: The Source (IMDB entry) with me.

Yes, I'd managed to download the version pre-released in Russia. Go me.

Anyway, this whole post is one big spoiler. So if the header is already more than you ever wanted to know in advance, stop reading now, or otherwise be prepared to face:

In the near future, a group of immortals - among them Methos - decide to search for the Source, the legendary origin of their kind, and meet up with Joe Dawson and Duncan MacLeod. They have gotten a lead to a monastery in Eastern Europe where the secret of the location of the Source is being kept, and travel there. At the monastery, they encounter Anna, a Mortal and former girlfriend of MacLeod's, who has been led there by visions. The elder of the order, an Immortal cursed by the Source, reveals to them that they are supposed to follow Anna if they want to succeed in their quest. Shortly thereafter, still on the monastery's grounds, they have a run-in with the Guardian of the Source who's already killed one of their number, and who ends up killing Dawson when Dawson defends Reggie, the youngest Immortal of the group. They travel by ship to Armenia, following Anna's visions, where they are captured by cannibals living in the forest. They have to split up to escape, lose another one of their number to the Guardian, and when the Guardian forces Anna to accompany him to the Source, Methos tells McLeod to follow her; he will play bait for the enraged cannibals. At the Source, it is revealed that the Source's power can enable the otherwise sterile Immortals to procreate, and Anna's fervent wish to get pregnant with MacLeod's child becomes suddenly a possibility. MacLeod combats the Guardian, but at the end of the battle refuses to deliver the death stroke, thus circumventing the curse that would have otherwise turned him into the next Guardian. Anna and MacLeod unite in the glittering light of the Source.

Cast:

• Duncan MacLeod - Adrian Paul
• The Guardian - Cristian Solimeno
• Anna - Thekla Reuten
• Cardinal Giovanni - Thom Fell
• Reggie - Stephen Wight
• Methos - Peter Wingfield
• Joe Dawson - Jim Byrnes
• Zai - Stephen Rahman Hughes
• Elder - Patrice Naiambana

Questions raised:

1. When does this story actually take place? The creators were quite determined to not establish an actual date. Considering that Joe Dawson has not aged considerably, though, this "near future" is not too far away. Still, the world as we know it seems to have descended into chaos and anarchy. Immortals challenge each other on the streets and carry their swords openly. There is still a police force, but Eastern Europe especially seems to have fallen back in time. There is but one radio/tv tower for the whole region, and while there is evidently enough gasoline to waste it on bonfires, certain ethnic groups are in dire enough straits to have resorted to cannibalism.
2. What has caused yet another rift between Duncan MacLeod and his friends? When asked, Methos claims that Duncan is no longer the man he once was and therefore should better not be contacted, and when Dawson meets MacLeod, he has no compunction about shooting him in order to force a talk. MacLeod was unaware that the Watchers no longer existed until Dawson told him so.
3. MacLeod still seems to be unlucky in love? Indeed. As established in a couple of flashbacks, when he told Anna about his immortality, she decided to leave him because of the fact that he wouldn't be able to father her children. Either she had very specific ideas of what her life should be like, or she forgot about artificial insemination and/or adoption. Living with the man she loved took a backseat to the idea of raising children not sired by the man in question; she rather decided on having no relationship than a childless one.
4. What made Anna so special that the Source decided to send visions to her? Good question. A few thousand years back, when the later Guardian and the later elder went looking for the Source, they had a female Immortal among their number who seems to have held Anna's position since she stood in front of the Source during the final battle of her group with the first Guardian. But Anna is mortal and, as far as we can see, in no way unique or powerful.
5. What happened to Methos? That question remained open in the end. Methos, weaponless, led away MacLeod's pursuers. He was significantly outnumbered, and while we know that Death would have made short work of these pitiful mortals, Methos was, at that time, mortal himself and had no weapon against guns and crossbows. Was he eaten? We do not know. Thank you, Brett Leonard and David Abramowitz. Seriously.
6. What was that whole "mortal" and "alignment of planets" thing about anyway? Evidently the Source only has its special powers (or can only be found?) when the planets align in one row and bombard Earth with harmful radiation. Strangely enough, that radiation somehow never had any effects on the - then mortal - group the movie focused on. Anyway, the closer MacLeod and his companions came to the Source, the more they lost their Immortal powers and the weaker they became. Enough so that Reggie, cut up by the Guardian, was unable to revive. Would that effect have diminished with greater distance? Possibly. Would carrying Reggie to the other end of the world have ensured that his Quickening healed his wounds? Possibly. Was burying him despite the fact that he still had his head then a good idea? Most likely not.
7. In the beginning, why did we not hear any sound effects signifying an Immortal in close proximity, back when they were still immortal? Especially Methos' quite distinct Quickening would have been nice to hear. Would the Guardian still have had a perceptible Quickening? Reggie said that he felt his presence, and yet the Guardian was able to sneak up to him.
8. Why was Methos known under his actual name? Why had he dropped all caution and seemingly no longer cared about the droves of Immortals eager to avail themselves to the head of the oldest Immortal? Your guess is as good as mine; we supposed that the writers wanted to avoid confusing viewers unaware of the show's canon.

Moments of Duncan/Methos friendship incl. possibly slashy subtext:

• When Joe died, MacLeod called him his "best friend". Upon hearing this, Methos left without a word. Gen fans may say it was to grieve in private; we know he was furiously jealous.
• After Joe's death, Methos needled MacLeod until the Highlander threatened him with his Katana. Methos' position with his head tilted back looked very much like the one already seen twice in the show; first when he offered MacLeod his head in order to allow him to defeat Kalas, the second time when they sparred in the dojo.
• When they hung in the Armenian forest, trussed up by the cannibals and soon to be eaten, Giovanni managed to free himself, yet left the others behind. When MacLeod also burned through his bonds, he of course freed Methos. After pressing up quite close to him. Mhmmm.
• Methos, determined MacLeod be happy, even if it were with Anna, offered to distract and lead away their pursuers, knowing it might very well cost him his life. Self-sacrificial to the end - just as we know Mr. "I always put myself first" as soon as MacLeod is concerned. Cute.

MacLeod's characterization:

Consistent with the later seasons of the show - mostly. MacLeod was in a funk? Of course he dealt by running away and severing all contact with his friends. Losing yet another "love of his life" because she couldn't deal with his immortality threw him for a loop. Any resemblances between Dr. Anne Lindsey and Anna were par for the course coincidental. In "The Source", however, he seems to have lost many of his boyscout qualities, and was very reluctant to interfere even when innocent mortals were in danger. It was Reggie who couldn't watch innocents being tortured and committed his companions to doing something. Evidently that was what Methos meant when he said that MacLeod no longer was the man he used to be, and yet, in the end, he still saw MacLeod's life as being more worthwhile than his own. Wishful thinking? A crush?

Compliance with established canon:

1. In the forest, hunted by the cannibals, Methos acquired a horse almost as if by magic, and rode away on it, the cannibals in hot pursuit. Nice.
2. MacLeod's Katana survived many centuries - until it was broken by the Guardian. A shame.
3. Methos was introduced as a physician. Evidently "Benjamin Adams" made a reappearance.

Other points of interest:

Connor MacLeod and his death were never mentioned. Neither were Seacover or Paris. None of MacLeod's old friends were even alluded to.

Gratuitous property damage and gore:

1. Zai, an archaeologist and an associate of Methos' group, lost his head to the Guardian; in fact, it got ripped off and bounced down the stairway of Eastern Europe's radio/tv tower. Yummy. Also, the whole tower blew up and left only burning rubble.
2. Reggie got shish-kebab'd by the Guardian, yet thankfully bled little. And while they lugged around his body for a while, we didn't have to deal with any close-ups of this dead face. Thanks.
3. Arriving in Armenia, MacLeod and his companions were faced with a group of bullies later to be revealed as the local cannibals who'd stuffed a man into a pile of car tires soaked in gasoline, and were about to set him on fire. They interfered, but whether or not they freed the victim was never established. The gasoline was ignited and set a nice toasty fire in which a tank truck exploded as well. Boom.
4. In the selfsame fight, Methos, with an expression one might call blood-thirsty, impaled/slashed at two mortal opponents. Yummy again.
5. Trying to free a trussed up mortal in the forest, the cannibals set fire to a tree. Instead of driving off, MacLeod and his friends jumped out of their jeep just seconds before the tree fell on it and blew up its gas tank. Boom number two.

Super-special BSDM extras or, the embarrassment of the Smurf-Mole-Whirlwind Who Wouldn't Die:

The Guardian. A real experience. Cristian Solimeno and the role he surely omits in any future curricula vitae. The Guardian had a very unhealthy skin color ranging from light blue (therefore: "Smurf") to a sickly yellow (urgh), depending on the light, and wore a black leather getup more fitted to a BDSM club than the normal world. Its top looked kind of like a corsage with dual leather straps going from a spot atop the breastbone across one shoulder. With buckles. He also wore a close-fitted leather cap under which his ears stood out quite a lot. Pretty as a picture. He also seemed to be bald since no hair was visible. He also liked to repeat part of his opponents' comments, most often in a high, mocking, insane-sounding voice. Add to that that he often blurred with speed and made Matrix-like jumps and moves, e.g. somersaults, and rose whirling and turning on his own axis from the sands of the Source (therefore: "Mole" and "Whirlwind"), he was more of an overplayed cartoon villain in terms of the early Batman movies than an enemy to be reckoned with. Whenever he appeared, we were hard-pressed not to dissolve into giggles. I'd like to suggest that each such re-appearance counts for at least two mouthfuls of something highly alcoholic in a drinking game. Oh, and double the amount for every instance the Guardian sings snatches of the theme song.

Similarly... unique... was the personage of Cardinal Giovanni. Evidently in the aforementioned "near future", cardinals of the catholic church have an apparent age of no more than forty, dye their hair with peroxide and favor a hairstyle with lots of gel in the front and a feathery ponytail in the back. Oh, and they wear ankle-length leather coats. I swear.

Before this entire entry descends into bottomless mockery, I'd better stop now. To make a long story short, "The Source", to fans of the original series, is yet another development impossible to integrate into the world of Duncan MacLeod as we know it. I already deny that "Endgame" ever existed; trust me, I have absolutely no problems at all in denying the events of "The Source" as well. Joe, dead? Not in my universe.

Conclusion:

Either the actors signed their contracts before the script was written or at least before they were allowed to read it, or they were sure as hell desperate for an income. The producers and writers must have been on a very interesting drug cocktail.
Why no-one test-screened this movie with a handful of viewers herded in from the street is a mystery that will never be solved. Why the movie's makers didn't watch it after completion and either agreed to re-shoot it or else snuck off quietly to blow their brains out is equally as much of a mystery to me.

Embarrassing. Laughable. Not canon.

Have fun, and don't forget the alcoholic beverages when "The Source" comes to a cinema near you.

P.S.: xkatjafx insists that I stress that they buried Joe's body in the monastery's parking lot!!!1ONE!! Well, they did. Waaaah-ha!

P.P.S.: If you want to weep in helpless frustration, please read this review of an earlier script penned by Peter Briggs. That's the movie I would have loved to have watched instead.