Summaries

Synopsis

"Highlander III: The Sorcerer" otherwise known as "Highlander III," "Highlander III- The Final Conflict," "Highlander III: The Magician," "Highlander III: The Final Dimension," "Highlander 3: The Legend," "Highlander: The Final Dimension," or "Highlander: The Sorcerer," begins with Conner MacLeod narrating of the Immortals, and how he was one of them using mainly the same words Ramirez had during the prologue at the beginning of the first "Highlander" film. He explains that after his mentor Ramirez was killed by the Kurgan, and his wife died through old age, he searched the world, "looking for answers." His journeys brought him to Japan where he became tutored in his immortal powers in the cave of Nakano the sorcerer. It is there that he and Nakano forge a katana which Conner now uses. The two battle in a training montage, and Conner gains the upper hand despite Nakano's illusions. Nakano invites him to destroy him so that Conner may receive his power, but Conner refuses since his friendship with Nakano is too great. Nakano warns Conner of the evil immortal named Kane, who is on his way with his two lackeys to the mountain of Neri where Conner and Nakano currently reside. On his way to the mountain, he passes through a Japanese village and asks for directions, but upon receiving none, Kane and his men brutally massacre every man, woman, and child within the village before setting it ablaze and continuing their journey. Kane and his men arrive at Nakano's cave and attack him. Conner tries to intervene but is impaled by Kane and defeated. Nakano distracts Kane with his illusions while Conner escapes, but Kane quickly gains the upper hand and decapitates Nakano. Before dying, Nakano tells Kane that Conner will eventually destroy him. Nakano's quickening, while powering Kane, cause a great explosion within the cave that causes to to seal up when the boulders break loose and cover up the entrances while Conner barely escapes the ensuing avalanche.

In present day 1994, an excavation is taking place at Mount Neri. Beautiful blonde archaeologist, Dr. Alexandra Johnson, arrives and shows fascinations in the excavation knowing that they have discovered a cave that belonged to the ancient sorcerer Nakano. That night, a security guard investigates a noise coming from a tunnel and is killed by Kane who emerges with his lackeys. He sends the first lackey to find the Highlander Conner and kill him. As the first lackey leaves, Kane immediately decapitates the second lackey and receives his quickening. Meanwhile, Conner is enjoying a vacation in Marrakesh with his adopted plot device son, when he realizes a sensation of the quickening. Realizing that his son is in mortal danger (immortal danger I guess now), Conner leaves his son in the care of his friend before returning to his home in New York City. On his way to his home, he is attacked and shot by several muggers and left for dead in the snow. He is quickly brought to the hospital but comes alive and inadvertently attacks the paramedics, leading to him being brought to the mental institution.

Conner awakens tied to a bed alongside a crazy mental patient who believes that he is Napoleon Bonaparte and has a newspaper hat to go with him. Conner uses this patient's delusions to convince him to set him free and start a commotion which arrests the attention of the security guards. Conner then makes his way to the laundry room and is attacked by Kane's first lackey. In a swift but fierce battle, Conner decapitates the lackey with his own sword and receives his quickening. He escapes the mental institution and the lackey's body is discovered by the police as well as Detective John Stenn, who is obsessed with bringing down Conner who he believes is the perpetrator of the act.

At the dig site in Japan, Alex finds the dead body of Kane's first lackey in the tunnels and recognizes his armor as authentic 1500 Japanese armor, quickly taking a sample. She does further research and deduces that the sample is "definitely not a fake." Meanwhile, Kane arrives in New York, and begins catching up on lost time by stealing a person's sunglasses, visiting a grungy bar, and then a brothel where he has rough sex with a saucy prostitute until he inadvertently kills her. Upon returning home, Conner is held up by Stenn, who warns him that he will bring him down, calling him by his alias, Russel Nash. "I'll nail ya Nash!" he says, to which Conner is disgusted by.

Conner looks through his apartment where he turns on the news to a News interview of Alex, to which he realizes that she is bewitchingly similar in physical appearance to an old love he once had in the 1700's named Rebecca. In an admittedly clever scene, Stenn visits the autopsy room where the coroner is unable to determine the second lackey's identity due to him being previously immortal and having no life in the present day for centuries. Finding nothing against Conner, Stenn leaves in an angry huff. Meanwhile, Alex deduces that an iron she found in the excavation belongs to Conner MacLeod, and upon further research, finds out the "Russel Nash" is a possible "link to Nakano." Upon receiving his address, she decides to head to New York where he lives to ask him some questions. Unbeknownst to her, Kane has arrived and has overheard. He appears and playfully harasses her before transforming into a hawk and flying off to find Conner as well as soon as the faxed address to Conner's home is revealed.

Alex arrives in New York and tails Conner to a Buddhist shrine where he has been practicing Martial Arts. Stenn follows close behind. While there, Conner has a flashback of his love with Rebecca in France, and how they made passionate love in the barn before the French Revolution broke out. Conner was rounded up during the madness and was sent to prison to be executed by the guillotine, but in "A Tale of Two Cities" fashion, another immortal swaps places with him. Later, Conner returns to Rebecca's home only to discover that she had married another man upon belief that Conner had been killed. With his heart broken, Conner left. After the flashback has subsided, Conner then runs into Alex and discovers that she has been following him, immediately suspecting that she is trying to discover his link to MacLeod. Just then they are attacked by Kane. Conner and Kane begin a sword duel to which Conner is defeated and his swords is cleaved in half by Kane. However, before Kane can go in for the kill, he realizes that they have been fighting on holy ground. Kane transforms into a hawk and flies off.

Conner, gathering himself up and finding that his sword is broken, orders Alex to leave him alone and leaves in a huff. Stenn runs into Alex, hoping to arrest Conner. He then brings her to a bar and tells her of Conner's last wife Brenda who was killed in a car crash which Conner survived. (Which makes little to no sense considering that Conner was made mortal after defeating the Kurgan, but, oh well) Conner journeys back to Scotland in hopes of reforging his sword. To his delight, he finds his ancient tools and anvil, and tries futilely to fix his weapon. Finally lost hope, he ponders his life while Alex researches and finds that Nakano's magic metal bar of refined steel. She journeys to Scotland and gives him the medal which he graciously accepts and through a training montage set to Lorene McKennit's "Bonny Portmore." Having reforged his sword, Conner and Alex celebrate by going back to his apartment where he gets naked and takes off Alex's lingerie, sucking her nipple, fingering her, thrusting into her and having sex with her until she mounts him and climaxes vigorously.

The next day while at a pub, Conner receives a call from his friend telling him that he sent MacLeod's now-forgotten by both Conner and every viewer of the film to the airport. Conner races to the airport and tries to reclaim his son, but Kane beats him there, and making himself look like Conner, takes Conner's son and kidnaps him. Stenn arrives at the airport and arrests Conner but cannot get any evidence against him, and with Conner being unresponsive, has to let him go. "I'll nail ya Nash!" he reminds Conner, to which Conner laughs and says, "I've heard that before."

Conner, knowing he may die in the ensuing battle, gives Alex the ring he gave to Rebecca centuries ago, to which she emotionally accepts. Conner tracks down Kane at an abandoned cathedral where Kane reveals that Conner will only receive his characterless son after Conner has defeated him. He then tries to break down Conner via a speech of how the prize was never Conner's to begin with. But Conner is unswayed. Kane then flees to an abandoned nuclear power plant where Kane tries to distract Conner by posing as a terribly dubbed Alex. However, Conner is not fooled and stabs Kane to which Kane just uses the word and attacks Conner. In a badly edited battle with Motley Crew's instrumental cover of "Dr. Feelgood" blaring in the background, Conner reclaims his sword and cuts Kane in halves, only for Kane to put himself back together and keep fighting. Conner manages to cuts Kane's back legs, distracting Kane into regenerating himself. Kane turns and tells Conner, "I'll see you in hell!" To which the Highlander smiles and says curtly, "I'll be the judge of that." Kane attacks him once more but Conner decapitates Kane three times so that Kane cannot regenerate himself. As Kane's head rolls across the ground, Conner states defiantly, "There can be only one!"

Then, Kane's quickening floods the factory and imbues its flaming power into Conner MacLeod, who is swept into the air and filled with the definite final quickening. He collapses to the ground and is greeted by his now restored son. Conner returns to the grave of his first wife, Heather, and leaves a candle there by his planted sword in remembrance. Conner then happily states that all immortals are definitely done in for, and that his conflict is "finally over." As he drives off into the peaceful countryside with his son and Alex, the screen focuses upon his planted sword. Ambiguously, lightning strikes his sword in a reference of the quickening, implying that his conflict is NOT over and that there are indeed more immortals to be reckoned with.