Summaries

Synopsis

The film begins with subtext explaining that the year is 2024. Industrial pollution has destroyed the Earth's ozone layer, thus leaving the Earth at the mercy of the sun's rays. An electromagnetic shield has thus been set up since 1999 to protect the world from the Sun.However, a small group has believed that the ozone layer has repaired itself and that the shield is now moot. However, there assumptions are not proven.

An aged and retired former immortal, Conner MacLeod sits in an opera theatre watching a performance of Wagner's Gotterdamerung. While he is watching this, he dozes off to sleep only to be awoken by another music cue. He recognizes a friend of his within the theater, Dr. Alan Neyman. While watching the opera once more, he sees a shrouded singer who reminds him of his time on the planet Zeist. On this planet Zeist millions of years ago, a rebellion was set up by Ramirez and Conner against the cruel slavers led by the psychotic and irrational General Katana. However, their revolt was laid to waste and Ramirez and Conner, despite Katana's desire for them to be killed, were instead exiled to the planet Earth where they would remain immortal until their heads were cleaved off.

Having awoken from that bizarre memory which sets the entire continuity of the first film off balance, Conner finds himself as a tired, weak old man who is dying, having killed the final immortal, the Kurgan and gained the prize- mortality. He drives through the decadent streets to see two junkies rob and rape a dead female, but feels he cannot stop them having lost his youth and strength. He hears on the radio of the SHIELD corporation's greedy acts of "price-fixing" and journeys there to discuss such matters with the corrupt new CEO, David Blake. However, seeing that he cannot meet in person, he rethinks his initial idea, thinking he cannot do much anyways. He is then confronted by some street punks but they recognize him as MacLeod and back off.

At the SHIELD corp. a masked group of people break into the system and the leader, Louise Marcus is the only one who escapes as soon as the building security mow down the rest of the intruders with gunfire. At a bar, Conner notices a cut on his hand heal itself for a completely unknown and unexplained reason. Meanwhile, on the planet Zeist, Katana grows impatient of Conner living on Earth, knowing he may yet return to Zeist now that all other immortals are dead. (Despite the fact that Conner is dying already of illness and will be dead anyways in a few weeks) Katana sends two winged psychos to Earth to destroy him. Though Conner is respected by some people for creating the shield to protect the earth, he is hated by others, such as a woman in the bar who complains that she cannot see the stars. Conner leaves the bar and comes face-to-face with Louise who has sought him out.

She tries to convince him to help her in her quest to shut down SHIELD and tells him that the world is dying. He replies by saying, "Unfortunately not me." She explains that she admired him as a younger person but is now angry to see that he is a tired old man. They drive off in his car but are then set upon by the two winged psychos that Katana sent to kill Conner.

"MACLEOD!" one of them chortles loudly and the two fight over who gets to kill him. While this is happening, Conner tells Louise to hide in a dumpster in plain sight of both psychos. While battling them, Conner calls out for Ramirez but nothing happens. After a wild battle, one of the psychos is decapitated by a street train. Conner undergoes a fantastic quickening, despite being railed by a truck with a pair of kissing lips on the front of it. the quickening causes a fantastic explosion causing the loss of thousands of dollars in damages and makes several people homeless. He then reclaims a swords and battles the second psycho who only hesitates to kill a random drunk on the street who exists just to be killed. Conner finally manages to decapitate the psycho using a cord of steel and undergoes another quickening. He calls out Ramirez's name and Ramirez appears in a stage production of Hamlet, teasing the main player for his perceived homosexuality. He leaves the play, very pleased to find that his head is now intact.

Louise then meets with the now young and restored Conner, and despite knowing each other for less then a minute, they begin kissing passionately. Then he pushes her against a wall and pulls up her skirt banging her right then and there. (Gross.) Later at his apartment, Louise and Conner discuss the current events. But despite having regained his strength, and having banged Louise out in the open, he still does not give a rip about her plans to dismantle the shield. Meanwhile, Ramirez acquire trues Scottish attire to the montage of the "William Tell overture." He then travels to the city via an airplane, still amazed at how time has changed since he's been dead.

Katana finally decides to get things done himself and travels to the city, landing in a subway where he takes control and makes it run so fast that it kills everyone in it except for him. Conner then visits Dr. Neyman and remembers the time in which he helped to erect the shield covering the earth to protect the sun while the ozone level was destroyed. They are then met by Blake who tells them how little their efforts are to stop the SHIELD now. Katana then makes a hideout in an abandoned building and confronts Conner who has been visiting his wife's grave. Katana and Conner then battle in Katana's hideout but Katana defeats him before cackling and vanishing.

Conner reunites with Ramirez and Katana goes to the SHIELD corp where he strong-arms Blake into helping him find and "kill the Highlander." Ramirez convinces Conner to care about the world again and the two break into SHIELD corp., getting peppered with heavy gunfire by the security. However, after being brought to the autopsy room, they awaken and make their way through the factory. They find Neyman who has been imprisoned and tortured by Blake. Neyman dies peacefully after seeing Conner and hearing that their plan to dismantle the SHIELD corp. will be successful. However, Conner, Ramirez, and Louise fall into a trap involving a powerful ceiling turbine.

Ramirez holds back the turbine using up the last of his strength and is crushed and exploded in the ensuing struggle as Conner and Louise escape. Katana tries to stop them but they throw him off the trail and then journey to the main power source of the shield. When Blake tells Katana that he failed, Katana does not take this comment too well and crushes Blake's genitals before throwing him to his death out of his office window. Katana then tracks down Conner at the power source and almost wins, being hindered when he burns his hand in the power beam. Conner then defeats Katana. Katana falls to his knees and Conner swings his sword, decapitating Katana stating defiantly, "There can be only one." He then receives Katana's quickening and enters the beam, ultimately destroying it,destroying the satellite, destroying the shield, and freeing the world once more. Louses watches this in amazement as he emerges victorious and the two leave the Shield corporation's premises.