Awesome Music: While not on the same levels as Queen's "Princes of the Universe", Lou Gramm's "One Dream" is still a pretty good song for the end credits. Some even consider it to be one of the better things to come out of this movie.
Better on DVD: The Renegade Cut and later Special Edition, which re-edited the film to be closer to how the director wanted it before Executive Meddling kicked in. They completely undo the "aliens from Zeist" backstory, split the final duel with Katana into two parts, and include various other changes. While it still isn't very good, it's universally agreed that it's far superior to the original cut.
Complete Monster: On an Earth gone to seed, these miscreants who eventually ally are two of the worst villains in this branch of the canon:
General Katana is a ruthless tyrant who ordered the banishing of those who rebelled against him to become Immortals destined to fight each other to the last. Enraged by Connor MacLeod winning the Prize and a life of peace, Katana hunts Connor down, pausing to destroy a crowded subway train and brutally kill the countless aboard for amusement. Allying with David Blake, CEO of the Earth-controlling Shield Corporation, Katana uses his cohort to try to stop Connor from releasing Blake's dangerous Shield, all to spite his enemy from centuries past.
David Blake is the wheedling, corrupt head of the Shield Corporation who cares only for the profit he may make. Despite knowing of the Shield's danger and the safety of switching it off, Blake keeps it up, knowing countless people will sicken and die as a result so he can continue to enrich himself through his monopoly and price fixing on the one Shield in existence that only he controls. For those who defy his rule, Blake is eager to send them to a horrific prison where they face mistreatment, torture, and painful death, later allying with General Katana before trying to kill the heroes by crushing them with a giant fan.
Sean Connery realized how much the film was sinking into Sequelitis, and made his performance one big raised middle finger to the producers who brought his character Back from the Dead so he could appear in the sequel.
Michael Ironside's portrayal of Big Bad General Katana. Say what you will about the film, but goddamn, Michael Ironside was just so awesome as the over the top evil Katana, you can tell that even with what he had to work with, he was having a ball. This statement from him is also quite possibly the most explicit admission of engaging in this trope in cinema history:
Michael Ironside: Yeah, listen, I hated that script. We all did. Me, Sean, Chris... we all were in it for the money on this one. I mean, it (the script) read as if it had been written by a thirteen-year-old boy. But I'd never played a barbarian swordsman before, and this was my first big evil mastermind type. I figured if I was going to do this stupid movie, I might as well have fun and go as far over the top as I possibly could. All that eye-rolling and foaming at the mouth was me deciding that if I was going to be in a piece of shit like that movie, I was going to be the most memorable fucking thing in it. And I think I succeeded.
The John C. McGinley character gets his testicles crushed by Michael Ironside near the climax. Cue the Dr. Cox jokes!
In Ramirez's final scene, Connor asks if they'll ever meet again, to which Ramirez winks and says "Who knows, Highlander?" — while Ramirez (and by extension, Sean Connery) would never appear in another live-action Highlander movie, the character did pop up again on Highlander: The Animated Series.
Improved by the Re-Cut: Every single release of the film past the first-run VHS cuts out all references to the immortals being aliens from the planet Zeist. None of them are considered good, but this is still generally a massive improvement.
Memetic Mutation: Appending "The Quickening" or some variant of it onto parody sequel titles, typically in the format X 2: The X-ening.
In a 2004 DVD documentary, producers Peter Davis and William Panzer took some credit for the retcon that the Immortals were aliens that came from another planet (it was in fact in the very first draft of the script), contrary to allegations that this element was forced upon the creators by the completion bond company when they took over production.
The idea of Ramirez (who died in the first film) being inexplicably resurrected is usually lumped alongside ideas like the alien retcon as things that were the filmmakers' fault, in the case of Ramirez's resurrection it being due to his actor Sean Connery being a bankable star. In reality, this one can be chalked up to Christopher Lambert refusing to participate in the film unless Ramirez was resurrected, as he and Connery had become very good friends whilst making the original. Of course, Ramirez is frankly considered to be one of the best things in this film, it's really only a bad thing because the way they did it was... odd.
Katana's two cackling mooks are dispatched in the goofiest ways possible: the first is accidentally decapitated by a rolling trolley wheel, while the second is beheaded by Connor using a makeshift Razor Floss (actually a somewhat thick conduit wire) and then flies straight into an electrical panel, like a moth going into a bug zapper.
Katana himself getting run over by Connor's transport. He shakes it off quickly enough, but the seeming anti-climax of it is bound to inspire a laugh or two.
Never Live It Down: The one thing everyone knows and remembers this movie for is the retcon that the immortals are actually aliens from the planet Zeist.
Nightmare Fuel: Brenda's death from the increase in solar radiation is pretty horrific, then the camera pulls back to reveal she's just one of thousands.
Virginia Madsen (Louise Marcus) had appeared in quite a few films before this, but she she's more well-known for films she did post-Highlander II like Candyman and Sideways.
Sequelitis: Held as one of the worst sequels of all time.
So Bad, It's Good: The film is just mind-numbingly awful, and really must be seen to be appreciated for exactly how horrible it is. And there are still some gems to be found, mostly Michael Ironside's incredibly hammy General Katana and Connor and Ramirez bickering about how many bullets they both took.
So Bad, It Was Better: The filmmakers had many attempts at a Re-Cut removing the most contentious parts, including the Immortals being aliens. Fans agree the changes don't make it a good movie, as it's still a hot mess, only with less things to get good and angry about (as the above entry shows, most of the entertainment hails from laughing at how bad it is).
