The Last Of The Mohicans [VHS] [1992]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
IThe Last of the Mohicans/I is a large-scale adventure set during the colonial conflicts between Britain and France 20 years before the American War of Independence. Based loosely on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper, but actually inspired by director Michael (IManhunter/I, IHeat/I) Mann's boyhood love of the 1936 film of the same name, this is rousing, romantic stuff. As "Hawkeye", a white raised by the last of the Mohican tribe, Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a performance which, had he followed it up, could have established him as an action hero for the 1990s and beyond. Despite an under-written role Madeline Stowe convinces as the heroine. The remaining cast are uniformly excellent. Filmed amid the spectacular mountains, rivers and forests of North Carolina by Mann's regular cinematographer, Dante Spinotti, the film is a visual joy, while Trevor Jones' majestic, spine-tingling score (with additional music by Randy Edleman) is one of the finest of the decade. Taking time to establish the motives of British and French colonists and the various native tribes, as well as the varying opinions and characters within these groupings, Mann offers much greater balance and complexity than IThe Patriot/I (2000), yet never looses sight of the object here: telling a stirring yarn laced with bold action set pieces and passionate romance.p BOn the DVD:/B The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 image is a massive improvement over VHS, but still shows considerable grain in many scenes, possibly a result of the film being shot in low, natural light and containing many very dark sequences. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very powerful, though little use is made of the rear channels, and in some scenes the sound effects all but drown out the dialogue. Isolated scores are usually only found on feature-packed special editions, so the inclusion here is a welcome surprise--and a testament to its popularity. The only other extra is an anamorphic 2.35:1 presentation of the immensely stirring theatrical trailer. --IGary S Dalkin/I

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-07-02 rating:
last of the mohicans dvd
looked every where for this DVD in shops with no joy found first time in searching .Husbands favourite movie so likes to watch over and over. So perfect. excellent delivery timing and info re about delivery . Thank you

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review by: RR date: 2009-06-13 rating:
Daniel Day Lewis at his best
This is a good movie based in the 1700s when the British are fighting against the French and the Mohicans. The only bad thing with this film was, I thought it was going to have lots of action, but sadly it had quite a lot of talking and romance. The good thing was that it had a lot of variety of different armies. My favourite were the Mohicans, because it was interesting how they would fight people without guns. Daniel Day Lewis is on fine performance and his performance is just as good as "There will be blood". No one else could of done better than Daniel Day Lewis, even Russell Crowe or Mel Gibson. Although I could imagine Mel Gibson doing the part. I wouldn't call this film better than "The patriot" because "Last of the Mohicans" dosn't have as much action. I would give this film 7 out of 10 and its worth watching.The Last Of The Mohicans [1992] [DVD]The Last Of The Mohicans [1992] [DVD]

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review by: poetoftheocean date: 2009-05-11 rating:
Love it! simple as that!
I love this film. Firstly, the acting. Daniel-Day Lewis is brilliant as Nathaniel (or Hawkeye)and, as ever in any film he does, gives a committed performance and somehow manages to make what,in the hands of a lesser actor, could be seen as 'hammy' lines seem....well..not laughable at all. Madeleine Stowe carries off Cora Munro well, and Jodhi May is suitably demure and fragile as Alice. Wes Studi is incredible as Magua, the Huron indian out to kill colonel Munro and his daughters, and is suitably evil in the role. Russell Means is AWESOME as Chingachgook!, which is high praise indeed given that the man (in my view criminally) has virtually no lines in the entire film apart from the beginning when he prays for the Elk that Nathaniel and Uncas kill at the start, and at the end in his beautifully sweet scene when they send uncas' soul up to the 'great spirit' and declares himself as last of the mohicans - a truly aweinspiring scene. Last, but certainly not least(as hes my favourite)is Eric Schweig as Uncas; God how i want to marry that man :P!!! Again, with very few lines, this man makes quite an impact in this film, and i defy anyone not to cry a little in his doomed fight with Magua in an attempt to save Alice. There are many other notable performances in this film to name them all would take faaaaaaaar too long lol! br / Next is the music. The score in this film is excellent, and it is put to very effective use - Promentory being a great example, and Clannads 'I will find you' being another. br /The scenery is amazing and this film really does justice to the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains in all their glory :) br / All in all, an exceptional film that never gets dull the more you watch it, the acting is brilliant, the dialogue is used sparingly but to good effect since Michael Mann is perfectly happy to let actions and facial expressions do the talking instead of words, and the scenery is awesome! Itll make you smile, itll make you cry, and it has some of the great moments in cinema history. If you havent seen it, then it is a must see! xxxxxxxxxxxx

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review by: stipesdoppleganger date: 2009-04-25 rating:
A rollicking tale told by a director who really understands cinema.
Daniel Day Lewis garnered much effusive praise , not to mention an Oscar( which i just did) for his role in There Will Be Blood (Single Disc Edition) [DVD] [2007] and quite rightly so, Yet my favourite DDL film is Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation of James Fenimore Coopers novel The Last of the Mohicans (Classics). Mann used George B Seitz's 1936 The Last Of The Mohicans [1936] film as an inspiration though more than the original source novel- which is generally considered over written and a bit dull br /And what a handsome ,exciting and vivid adaptation this is, melding blood and thunder history with sweeping romance and handling both adeptly. Daniel Day Lewis plays Nathaniel the adopted "white son " of Chingachgook( Russell Means) and the brother of the natural son Unca ( Eric Schweig) It is 1757 and the French and British are battling for control of North America with the native Indians fighting for the French. Settlers are bound by law to join the militia and fight for the British but are understandably reluctant to leave their homes defenceless against Huron Indians . br /One of the Huron is Magua( Wes Studi) who is acting as a guide for the British but is secretly working for the French and harbours a long held hatred for Col Monroe( Maurice Roeves) because "The English " took away everything he held dear. He wants to see "The grey hairs seed" wiped off the face of the earth. The chance for revenge comes when he is charged with helping escort the Col,s daughters Cora( Madeline Stowe) and Alice( Jodhi May) but they come under the protection of Nathaniel who sets out to escort them to Fort William Henry .At first Hawkeye and Cora clash -she thinks he is an unfeeling savage, he thinks her an ignorant stuck up whelp. But through the travails of their time together and by actually talking and more importantly listening to each other ...well you can guess what happens. Their romance is wonderfully written and adeptly acted with Madeline Stowe switching expertly from flinty eyed defiance to google eyed adoration. br /It's important of course that the lead characters look like they could cut in the harsh physical world they inhabit but DDL , usually associated with more cerebral roles certainly proved he could cut it as an action hero. He rarely stops moving and even in the more sedate moments seems like an Olympic sprinter poised on the blocks. A man who always prepares diligently for any role DDL clearly got himself in top physical shape for this film. br /Last Of The Mohicans is a film i never tire of watching . Even the scenery ( it was mostly shot in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina by Mann's regular cinematographer, Dante Spinotti) is magnificent but Mann , as he has showed throughout his career with films like Manhunter [DVD] [1986], Heat (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1995] , and Collateral - 2 Disc Collectors Edition [DVD] [2004] , really understands cinema. .The stupendous score ( by Randy Edelman , Trevor Jones, Daniel Lanois) is interspersed with the drama to quite mesmerising effect. This is of course a speciality of Mann's( think of the scene in Manhunter with Iron Butterfly ) and it works most stirringly for the climatic chase scene up the side of a mountain which is both hypnotic and exciting and wonderfully edited. The acting is universally tremendous .....and well it's just a great film. br /Even the fact that the film has scant extras( I buy DVD's for the film and not the extra's anyway ) and that the DVD picture quality isn't as crisp as I would really like doesn't detract from an awesome cinematic experience. Up there with Once Upon a Time in the West -- Special Collector's Edition (2 discs) [DVD] [1969] and Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2-Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1982]...yeah it really is that good. br / br / br /


review by: date: 2009-04-07 rating:
They could still makes them like they used to
The Last of the Mohicans is a grand, sweeping epic romantic adventure that - in the original theatrical version at least - deserves its reputation as a modern classic. br / br /Openly based as much on the now rarely seen Randolph Scott version from 1936 as on James Fenimore Cooper's novel, the scale is genuinely spectacular and the pacing spot-on, making for one of the most exciting and well-crafted pictures of the 90s. Despite the surface absurdity of casting and English actor and an American actress as respectively American and English characters (though in the novel Cora was actually Scottish, Madeline Stowe thankfully doesn't try the accent), the performances are well drawn. Daniel Day Lewis makes a classical hero in every sense of the word, but the supporting cast also manage to bring surprising depth to their roles. Steve Waddington, as the fiancé uneasily caught between loyalty to his country and to his own code of honour and Maurice Roeves' Colonel Munro are never duplicitous stereotypes, and, like Wes Studi's vengeful Magua and French director Patrice Chereau's outwardly humane yet slightly ambiguous French General Montcalm, never feel like mere ciphers there only to advance the story. Even Jodhi May, most of whose part got lost during the famously unpleasant shoot, manages to convey more with a single look than many actors can with a monologue. Everyone has their own valid reasons for their actions. br / br /There is for once a real sense of time and place around the characters. The historical subtext of a nation moving towards revolution through the callous indifference of its distant government is woven into the narrative without overpowering it. The seeds of the American War of Independence and the end of Empire are hinted at and the complexity of the Colonial wars is used to add to the central drama rather than detract from it. br / br /Unlike the empty stylistics of Miami Vice or the spectacularly self-conscious botched job of The Keep, here Michael Mann adopts a classical style that serves the story well. His use of long shots and long takes rather than close-ups and rapid-fire cutting combines with excellent production and costume design to not only create a convincing world but give you the time to get drawn into it. br / br /The Scope composition is outstanding, using every inch and aspect of the frame to stunning effect. This is a film you really do need to see in widescreen, true CINEMA-Scope with no compensations made to the small screen. Scenes like the parlay between the English and French armies are not only robbed of their epic scale in fullframe but also of their sense of pace - with the peripheral action lost, the huge crowd scene is reduced to four men talking in a field. Dane Spinotti and Doug Milsome's photography is so sumptuous it makes the cold, flat, grainy look of Mann's recent digitally shot features look all the more disappointing, its use of reds and earth tones creating a vivid frontier world that is both visually and dramatically satisfying. br / br /The only caveat is that some of the scoring (by no fewer than four composers) seems badly spotted and in the wrong place: despite strong work from Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman's underappreciated contribution, it is tempting to imagine cues being switched to different scenes to greater effect. Certainly the inclusion of a Clannad song actively works against the scene it accompanies and feels like a half-hearted commercial move. br / br /A work of intelligence and emotion, if you love adventure movies this definitely deserves a place in your collection. However, be warned that while the UK PAL edition is the original and superior theatrical version of the film (with isolated score and theatrical trailer the only extras), the NTSC version is Michael Mann's director's cut - and quite a mess he's made of it, hacking away at sections that worked beautifully to make room for scenes that add little and losing much of the flavour and character of the original. Although the cut has a bit more action, it has a lot less heart and becomes rather a chore to sit through, so stick to the UK release.

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