It seems that every time a Highlander movie comes out, we get a brand new story-arc. The first movie was a complete story arc in and of itsewlf, but that didn't stop the second one from being a sequel that pulled it in an entirely different direction, even with the Director's Cut proving a better stab at it. Then the Third movie is an alternate sequel to the First that ignores the Second movie, and itself gives an end to the series like the second one did as well. Then we have the series which is another universe altogether, one that pretends the Gathering never happened so we have a world with Immortals at every street-corner. This movie then takes place after roughly 15 minutes into the First movie, ignoring everything after that; in other words, it picks up where the Series left off, leaving nothing connecting it to any of the other films.

Confused? Then just watch the film and pretend none of the others existed; that's what the writers did.

With that in mind, this movie isn't all that bad. First off, ignore what a couple of web sites have said about the bad guy being able to split himself into two people; that's just an act of creative editing for the Trailer, which was obviously the only thing they'd based their Coming Attractions on, and as more out of context then the promos which claim this film has brother fighting brother (hey, we know the two Macleods aren't real brothers). What there is is a bad guy that's been building up power lo these many centuries, and is now more powerful then the two MacLeod's combined; that, and he has a blood vendetta for an imagined wrong committed by Conner and is bloody well inssane. The setting is that of the series, as are a couple of the secondary characters. The two clansmen must decide how to defeat this insane, but rather lackluster, villian.

End Game reads like a very good episode from the Series, but as a feature movie it lacks that extra pizazz that even the poorer Highlander films tried for. Watch it at matine' if you're a Highlander fan, just don't expect any big-budget extravaganza with flamboyant or unforgettable characters. It's a drama with Lambert giving a swan-ssong performance in the one character that has, and still does, stand out in even the worst of past Highlander movies. The villian didnt come off as threatening and vile as he was meant to be, and the plot wasn't quite given the true drama that it deserved. Still, it's a good matine' flick for a movie that looks like the missing episode from the series.

LATE ADDENDUM: I've carefully watched the commercials for this movie again, paying careful attention to the scenes they showed, and well it wasn't just my immagination. They are still showing one guy duplicating himself, both Highlanders fighting the bad guy at the same time, and a few other interesting scenes. None of which are in the movie. The movie you see advertized is not the one on the screen, which could be why MANN theaters pulled it from their screens the day before opening. They promised one- far more fun- film and gave us another with some last-minute cutting of an estimated 15 minutes. Do NOT see this movie, do NOT buy the director's cut; if they don't want to show you the movie they promised in the first place, why should you pay extra money for a director's cut when it inevitably comes out on video!