If you've seen Highlander II: The Quickening, you'd know it makes little to no sense. The reason for this is that when making the film, they went so far over budget that the insurance company took over creative control and made a movie for the sole purpose of making money. We all know that that's a bad idea. Anyway, the producers and director decided to re-edit it into what they had originally planned, and they called it the Renegade Version. That being said, here we go:
The year is 2024. The ozone layer is gone, and there's an ugly red electromagnetic shield around the earth to prevent the ultraviolet rays from reaching the surface. The shield was designed by Conner McLoed to honor the dying wish of his wife. For those of you unfamiliar with the whole Highlander story, Conner McLoed is an immortal, only, he's not really immortal. He's just almost immortal. The only way he can die is to have his head cut off. In the first Highlander movie, he has to defeat all the other immortals. After he does that, he is able to grow old and die. At least, that's what I got out of it. So, now McLoed's all old, and there's a group of people who think the ozone has restored itself. Meanwhile, Katana, the bad guy from Watchers is also an immortal. He's afraid that McLoed will travel back to the past (which he can do now after defeating all the immortals in the first movie), so he sends his minions to kill McLoed. Also, since McLoed designed the shield, the leader of the shield-resistance movement, whose name is Virginia (ok, that's the actress's name) needs McLoed to help get the shield down. Are you following me?
So, Virginia finds McLoed shortly before Katana's minions do, and she hides in a dumpster while McLoed does away with them. They were terribly annoying and acted like flies. Well, after they die, he goes through a quickening, which I guess gives him their powers. Then his youth is restored and, within 15 minutes of meeting her, he screws Virginia against a wall.
So, Katana shows up and teams up with Bob Slydel to run the shield corporation. Also, Sean Connery comes back from the dead and calls everyone a shithead. Now, explain this to me. I must not be getting it. Why hasn't an atmosphere formed underneath the shield? And why is it that the sky is blue when seen through windows, but red when it isn't? Furthermore, why is the sky red in the first place? I can understand and appreciate that that's the color of the shield, but... Oh, never mind.
Anyway, Katana kills Bob Slydel, and Sean Connery sacrifices himself. McLoed and Virginia find out that the atmosphere is still there, and McLoed kills Katana. Then they destroy the shield. Predictable? Hell, yeah.
The dialogue was bad. With the exception of Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert, the acting was awful. The FX guys just scouldn't seem to get enough explosions. As a whole, it was cinematic masturbation. On the other hand, the imagery was impressive.