---
title: "Highlander III: The Sorcerer"
year: 1994
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer"
fi1m_id: "highlander-iii-the-sorcerer"
imdb_id: "tt0110027"
tmdb_id: 8011
wikidata_id: "Q994209"
fi1m_score: 45
critics_score: 44
critics_reviews: 5
published: "2026-10-04T23:58:22.852943+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-04T23:58:28.307235+00:00"
region: "ES"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994)

Directed by Andy Morahan · 1h 39m · Fantasy, Action, Adventure

## Identity

Highlander III: The Sorcerer

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** highlander-iii-the-sorcerer
- **IMDb ID:** tt0110027
- **TMDB ID:** 8011
- **Wikidata ID:** Q994209
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110027/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8011, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q994209

**Fi1m score: 45** · Critics 44 (early) from 5 reviews

*In a sentence:* Mario Van Peebles has the time of his life; nobody else on screen was invited

> The third Highlander film wipes the second from the record and starts again, and Mario Van Peebles’s cackling sorcerer is the only part that justifies the effort. The rest is a shorter, duller copy of the first film with better light and worse ideas.

## Synopsis

Centuries ago, one man was chosen to protect all that is good. He is Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), the Highlander, and the film opens in his past, in the company of Nakano (Mako), before an enemy from those years, Kane (Mario Van Peebles), comes through time to challenge him in the present day. Kane’s return is the engine of everything that follows: he wants the Highlander, and the Highlander has to be found. Deborah Kara Unger plays two women, Alex Johnson and Sarah, and Martin Neufeld is Lt. John Stenn, the police officer on the modern side of the story. The film moves between Scotland and Morocco and the centuries in between, on its way to one last sword fight.

## Review

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* does something sequels rarely admit to: it pretends the last one never happened. Nothing here refers to the second film, and Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is once more the last of his kind, grieving and waiting. The screenplay, by René Manzor, Brad Mirman and Paul Ohl from a story by William N. Panzer and Mirman, goes back to the shape of the first picture almost beat for beat: a wise teacher in the past, a monster who wants Connor’s head, a woman in the present who asks the questions, a big city for the finale. Andy Morahan directs, and at 99 minutes it is at least brisk.

The opening stretch with Nakano (Mako) is the best-looking in the film. Ben Morahan and Gilles Aird fill his quarters with smoke, firelight and hanging iron, and François Aubry and Steven Chivers light Mako from below until he looks carved out of rock. Then Kane (Mario Van Peebles) arrives, and the film finds the one thing the first Highlander did not have.

Van Peebles is having a wonderful time. He laughs at his own lines, leers at everything with a pulse, and plays Kane as a man who finds immortality hilarious and everybody else slow. Kane also has the sorcery of the title, which is the brief for the effects team: he turns into something else and back, and the transformations are smooth for 1994. The first time it happened we sat up. By the third it is the same shot with a different background, and Kane has stopped being frightening and become a man doing a trick.

Lambert plays Connor as he always has, hoarse and faintly amused, and he is at his best when the film leaves him alone. In the Moroccan scenes, Aubry and Chivers shoot the rooftops in warm late light and he looks for once like a man who has had centuries to learn to sit still. Deborah Kara Unger has two parts, Alex Johnson and Sarah. She is good in both and given almost nothing in either. Alex asks the questions; Sarah gets the wigs and the candlelight.

The trouble is the middle hour. Yves Langlois cuts between centuries and countries as if turning pages, and the film is never anywhere long enough to build a scene. Martin Neufeld’s Lt. John Stenn heads a police strand the film keeps forgetting about. We were bored, and then slightly embarrassed about it, because we had come wanting to like a film with a sorcerer in the title and it kept handing us the same scene: Kane appears, Kane laughs, Kane vanishes, Connor stares out of a window. J. Peter Robinson’s score swells under each of these as if something has happened.

The closing duel earns some of it back. Morahan shoots most of the film like a pop promo, all slow motion and backlit smoke, but here he lets the two men hit each other and Langlois cuts on the blades rather than around them. It is clumsy and it has snap, which is more than the first hour managed.

The first film, from 1986, told this story once and told it with more nerve. This one has handsomer locations, and Mario Davignon and Jackie Budin’s costumes are a pleasure, the furs and leather on Kane and his men especially, but it has no idea of its own beyond the sorcerer, and the sorcerer turns out to be a villain with a party trick. Most critics have landed about where we have, split between big dumb fun and dreary, and we found it both at different points in the same evening.

Admirers of Connor MacLeod will want to see him swing the sword again, and 99 minutes is a kindness. Everyone else can treat the first picture as the only one, which is what this film has done with the second.

*Fi1m score 45, published 4 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Highlander III: The Sorcerer worth watching?**

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* is worth watching only for admirers of Connor MacLeod who want to see him swing the sword once more, and we scored it 45. Mario Van Peebles's cackling sorcerer and a closing duel with some snap are the pleasures; the middle hour repeats the same scene until we were bored and slightly embarrassed about it.

**How long is Highlander III: The Sorcerer, and what is it rated?**

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* runs 1h 39m. It is a fantasy and action film.

**Where can I watch Highlander III: The Sorcerer in Spain?**

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* is not on any streaming or rental service in Spain at the moment. It is available in 7 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Highlander III: The Sorcerer, and is it suitable for children?**

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* is a 15 in the UK and R in the US, which puts it out of reach of children and younger teenagers. The sword fights are the main business, with beheadings implied by the premise, and Kane's transformations are more a party trick than a nightmare. Nothing here is frightening in any sustained way; it is too busy for that.

**How does Highlander III: The Sorcerer compare to Highlander?**

*Highlander III: The Sorcerer* copies the shape of [*Highlander*](https://film.one/film/highlander) almost beat for beat, and the earlier film is the better of the two, telling the same story with more nerve. The sequel has handsomer locations, warmer light and a livelier villain in Mario Van Peebles, but no idea of its own. Anyone new to the series should start with the first film and treat it as the only one.

**What should I watch after Highlander III: The Sorcerer?**

After *Highlander III: The Sorcerer*, try [*Highlander*](https://film.one/film/highlander) (1986, Fi1m 75): The one this film copies; sillier than you remember and better than its sequels. Then [*Blade*](https://film.one/film/blade) (1998, Fi1m 76): Wesley Snipes doing the immortal-with-a-sword routine with proper swagger and a villain who enjoys himself.

### Reviews we read (5)

- **Empire**, Clark Collis (68/100, inferred): The critic finds the third instalment a welcome, if silly, improvement and calls it big dumb fun. He singles out Mario Van Peebles’s entertaining villain performance and praises the special effects. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/highlander-iii-sorcerer-review/)
- **Time Out**, NF (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a film review, but the supplied text does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its metadata describes Kane’s return to confront the Highlander, without identifying anything the critic praises or criticizes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer)
- **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (1/5): Jones gives the sequel a strongly negative verdict, calling it dreary and empty. He particularly criticizes its sluggish movement between centuries, locations and plot points. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-7w90im/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer/)
- **Variety**, Derek Elley (15/100, inferred): The critic finds the film trashy, brainless fodder, with a plot that races ahead incoherently. He faults the wooden performances and repetitive effects, while noting the Scottish and Moroccan scenes look attractive. [Read](https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer-2-1200439604/)
- **Den of Geek**, Alex Carter (60/100, inferred): The critic finds the film respectable and entertaining in a cheesy B-movie way, though it is not particularly good. They single out the final sword fight as a standout, praising its unusual energy despite its lack of style. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-highlander-iii-the-sorcerer/)

## Details

- **Director:** Andy Morahan
- **Director:** Andy Morahan
- **Screenplay:** Paul Ohl, René Manzor, Brad Mirman
- **Story:** William N. Panzer, Brad Mirman
- **Cinematography:** François Aubry, Steven Chivers
- **Editor:** Yves Langlois
- **Music:** J. Peter Robinson
- **Production design:** Gilles Aird, Ben Morahan
- **Costume design:** Mario Davignon, Jackie Budin
- **Producer:** Claude Léger
- **Cast:** Christopher Lambert as Connor 'The Highlander' MacLeod; Mario Van Peebles as Kane; Deborah Kara Unger as Alex Johnson / Sarah; Mako as Nakano; Martin Neufeld as Lt. John Stenn; Daniel Dõ as Takamura; Michael Jayston as Jack Donovan; Louis Bertignac as Pierre Bouchet
- **Runtime:** 1h 39m
- **First release (the Netherlands):** 29 November 1994
- **Genres:** Fantasy, Action, Adventure
- **Budget:** $30 million
- **Box office:** $37 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-nCNKutCno

## Where to watch in Spain

Not streaming, renting or buying in Spain at the last check.

Also available in: AT, CH, DE, FR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Highlander* (1986), Fi1m 75: The one this film copies; sillier than you remember and better than its sequels — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/highlander.md)
- *Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain* (1983): Hong Kong sorcery and swordplay with more invention per minute than Kane manages in ninety
- *The Crow* (1994): Same year, same rain and backlit smoke, but with a grief that actually hurts
- *Ladyhawke* (1985): A curse, a sword and a love across time, played straight and the better for it
- *Blade* (1998), Fi1m 76: Wesley Snipes doing the immortal-with-a-sword routine with proper swagger and a villain who enjoys himself — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/blade.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/highlander-iii-the-sorcerer