The Last of the Mohicans (THX Widescreen Edition)

I have seen the original release only, so I won't comment on the director's cut dvd. What troubles me is this - the dvd release (1:2.35 non-anamorphic, letter-box matted director's cut), having read just about all the web reviews, sucks, and now that there is to be another release (Jan. 23), it's to be matted in 1:1.85 anamorphic? Hello, ever heard of the original, theatrical release version into dvd in 1:2.35 anamorphic matting? It's either do something right, but the rest wrong; then, do the rest right, but do one thing wrong... Duh.

This is a great movie, but until the people in Hollywood get it right (quality digital transfer, maintaining proper theatrically released matting, anamorphically enhanced, and digitally mastered), I'm not purchasing it. The same goes for movies like Die Hard, The Rock, and Armageddon (all great movies but matted in non-anamorphic letter box format).

Examples of great dvds: The Matrix, Braveheart, and Gladiator (all matted in anamorphically enhanced, 1:2.35 theatrical release version, keeping in faith to the original film, plus lots of extras).

I'm sure I'm not alone in demanding only the best dvd transfer. Bottom line: Great movie, lousy dvd, and awaiting the correct dvd release version of this movie, that is if it ever gets released.


Big Lie for the day -- this DVD is an "Expanded Edition"   November 6, 2002
Siberians Rule (Valrico, Florida, United States)
28 out of 29 found this review helpful

This DVD is a huge disappointment. With every other movie I have ever bought that was labeled a "Director's Cut" or an "Expanded Edition", the movie had things added to it and not taken out. This version of the movie cuts out much of the familiar and favorite dialogue from the movie released in the theater. Did you like the part where, hiding in the forest, Hawkeye & Cora have their conversation about her people being a breed apart and not making any sense? When Cora gets offended by this, Hawkeye gives her such a look and says "I would make an exception in your case, Miss" and she sarcastically says "Thank you so much!" All this is ripped out of this version. When Major Hayward and Hawkeye have their confrontation in Col. Munro's office about whether the Colonial militia should be released from service to defend their families, gone is the part where Hawkeye looks at the Major and says "I think one day you and I are going to have a serious disagreement". When the party is escaping from the massacre and are in the canoes on the lake, gone is the part where Hawkeye sees Major Hayward pointing a gun at him and says "Got nothing better to do on the lake today, Major?" When the party is hiding from the Hurons in the cave behind the waterfall there are some scenes and dialogue missing. Most notably when Hawkeye and Uncas and Chingachgook decide they have to flee and Cora says "I want you to go, that way if the worst happens and only one of us survives, then something of the other does too."
This DVD can be credited with adding a few tiny bits of dialogue here and there but very little of it adds anthing to the story and does not make up for the lines that were cut. There are also some added shots of the backside of horses as they pull a coach, a few extra shots of the crowd leaving Ft. William Henry and a few extra shots of the French soldiers digging the trenches. They are not worth shelling out money for a DVD if you already have the VHS version. The only thing of real merit added in this version are shots of Major Hayward's diversion outside Ft. William Henry while Hawkeye and Uncas are covering the escape of the courier that is being sent to get reinforcements from General Webb at Ft. Edward. If they had just added that and left the rest alone, it would have been a tiny improvement.
If you look at the original VHS tape of the theatrical release you will find the length recorded as 114 minutes. The length of this newly released, expanded edition is -- now get ready to be overwhelmed -- 117 minutes. This DVD is simply a major rip-off by a film company trying to get some money from extra movie sales. Unfortunately, they do not have the material to make it worth your while. Take my advice, Save Your Money!!


A beautiful, grand scale epic   May 2, 2001
27 out of 30 found this review helpful

This is a magnificent action drama that is crowned by a superb soundtrack, a beautiful setting and excellent photography. The casting is outstanding and the acting is consistently top notch as well.

The reviewer from Knoxville nicely summarized the plot and I will not repeat it except to provide a bit more background. The central theme in this movie is the classic struggle between the courage and honor of the protagonist Hawkeye, played by Lewis, and the evil vengeance-seeking antagonist Magua, played by Wes Studi. The motivation behind Magua's obsession with revenge against the two Munro girls and their father may not be clear on the first viewing, but it stems from a previous military campaign in the French and Indian War in which British Colonel Munro attacked a Huron village, killing Magua's wife and children in the process. Magua then swears revenge on "Gray Hair" Munro and "his seed." Magua joins the British army as a native scout, disguising his identity as a Huron war leader, as part of a plan to murder Munro's two daughters.

The various subplots of this movie are excellently developed. The main subplot, involving Major Duncan (played by Steven Waddington) shows the remarkable growth of a cowardly, dishonest English aristocrat/officer seeking the hand of Cora Munro (played by Madeline Stowe) into a man who discovers honor by sacrificing himself to the Hurons in order to set free the woman he loves into the arms of another man. The romances between the two Munro sisters and Hawkeye and his adopted brother Uncas (played by Eric Schweig) are sparsely portrayed, as others have suggested, but I think this treatment of romance in the midst of a brutal war and personal tragedy is far more realistic than if these relationships were fully expanded. These actors convey far more emotion and tension in their exchange of questioning, smouldering glances than by swapping unnecessary dialogue.

There is a deep emotional impact in virtually all parts of this movie. The background is primarily dark and dreary until the closing scenes involving the chase of Magua's band through the beautiful mountainous cliffs. The director, Michael Mann, distinctly portrays the dirt and squalor of war in the scenes at the fort, as well as the horrors of combat in the Huron ambush of the British Army after their release by the chivalrous French commander. Similarly, the earlier scene on the way to the fort, passing the burned out cabin and mutilated bodies of settlers, is quite poignant. Cora Munroe demands that they provide a Christian burial for the settlers, but Hawkeye forbids this action, snapping tersely, "These were not strangers. They were friends. And we leave them as they lie." It is at this point that Cora truly begins to understand the harsh practicalities of frontier life.

The hand-to-hand combat scenes in this movie are exceptionally well-choreographed and appear as realistic as any such scenes from any movie. At first the idea of Hawkeye, accompanied solely by his father Chingachgook (Russell Means) and Uncas, attacking Huron war bands at least four or five times their size seems a bit far- fetched, but the hard, stoic and courageous expressions on the faces of Lewis, Means and Scheig leave little doubt but that they will overcome their adversaries.

Wes Studi does a simply outstanding job playing the evil Magua, seething with anger and venom as few movie antagonists have ever done before. On a superficial level, Magua seems purely one dimensional, existing only for revenge. However, he is actually subtly multi-dimensional; are not his motivations to seek revenge against Munro for the deaths of his family quite similar to Chingachgook's motivations in the final scene as he avenges the death of his son Uncas by killing Magua?

The final scene of this film is hauntingly beautiful, as Chingachgook and Hawkeye perform a Mohican eulogy for the departed Uncas. I can count on one hand the number of films that brought tears to my eyes, and this was one of them.

This film has been compared to other, more recent large scale epics, such as Braveheart and Gladiator, but the comparison is not entirely apt. The former two films are indeed very good, but are merely pieces of entertainment. In contrast, Last of the Mohicans is a stunningly entertaining work of art.


Heavy cutting guts the drama and love story of the original.   March 24, 2000
26 out of 27 found this review helpful

I'm a fan of this movie, and my low rating has to do with displeasure at the director's cut version. The original version had its problems, but Mann went overboard in trying to correct those problems and messed up the movie.

I've read all of the other reviews here, and people have already touched on many of the major changes in the DVD version. I won't rehash the previous comments. I wrote this review because I don't think anybody yet has mentioned some very important changes made to the director's cut. Taken as a whole, this director's cut is a significantly different movie from the original, much like how Blade Runner got changed completely. Since I don't have a copy of the original version, I can only make comparisons from memory, so bear with me if I make some mistakes.

As a previous review noted, the intent of the director's cut seems to have been to add more historical background and authenticity to the movie. This does give a greater richness to the movie, but at the expense of slowing the pace down noticeably. Certain scenes have lost a good deal of their original dramatic effect. I'm thinking especially of Hawkeye's run through the meadow during the big massacre outside of the fort. In the original version, as I recall, there is a continuous camera shot of Hawkeye, running at warp speed, looking for Cora, calling out her name, and whacking Hurons left and right. Melodramatic, over-choreographed, and faintly reminiscent of a Kung Fu fight scene for sure, but that brief shot had a real kinetic energy which got you charged up and let you know in no uncertain terms how important Cora was to Hawkeye. In the new version, we see Hawkeye moving at a more realistic pace, working with Uncas and Chingachgook, and eventually finding Cora. More realistic, but also slower, choppier, and lacking the drama of the original scene.

The biggest complaint that I wanted to post here was that the love story of Uncas and Alice had its heart ripped out in this director's cut. In the original version, the build up of their love story was very subtle, and consisted only of a few brief shots of them together. Through their body language, we can see that there is a mutual attraction, and that Uncas feels increasingly protective of Alice. These shots appear to have all been cut out. In the new version, by the time they are in the cave under the waterfall, you have no clue that Uncas and Alice have developed any sort of fondness for each other. In fact, when Uncas grabs Alice to pull her back from the entrance of the cave, and then hugs her tight, my immediate reaction was to think, hey, guy, you shouldn't do that, how do you know that she likes you, she should haul off and sock you for making a pass at her.

This lack of development of their love story continues to trouble the director's cut into the final fight scene. Uncas races ahead of his companions to take on Magua's war party single handedly in a fight to the death. Why? In the original version, it was immediately obvious that he was driven by his heroic love for Alice and this love overcame his good judgement. In this director's cut, Uncas just looks like an inexplicable idiot. Later in the final fight scene, when Alice looks down the cliff before jumping off the cliff, the original version makes it apparent that she was looking at Uncas' lifeless body and that she jumped to join Uncas in death because she loved him. With the director's cut, the lack of development of their love story changes the explanation for Alice's suicide - it looks more like she is just so frightened by Magua standing in front of her with a bloody knife that she kills herself two minutes before the rescuers arrive. And so, instead of a tragic lover's death, the director's cut makes Alice look like an idiot also. (I think, in the original version, there was a brief shot of the two bodies side by side at the bottom of the cliff - to emphasize the original reason for Alice's jumping off the cliff - this shot also seems to be missing from the director's cut).

The love story of Hawkeye and Cora also suffers. In the original version, they had a lot more scenes together at the fort. Many of those as I recall were somewhat anachronistic verbal battles - very 1990's sexual tension sort of stuff. There was also a scene of a shirtless and very buff looking Hawkeye (not the bedroom arrest scene) where it becomes instantly obvious to Cora and everyone watching the movie why this scruffy mountaineer might make for an attractive mate. Mann seems to have cut out all these scenes in the name of authenticity. But, he didn't have any other scenes available of Hawkeye and Cora together to take their place. So, the sum total of these cuts makes Hawkeye and Cora's feelings for each other a big mystery until all of a sudden they go off to a corner of the fort to hug and kiss. The way the kissing scene is presented is very abrupt in the new version. As I recall, in the original version, there was this long and very beautiful buildup where the two of them first size each other up while the fiddle is playing in the background.

Anyway, if you have a copy of the original version as well as the director's cut, I'm sure that you could do a more accurate scene by scene comparison. People should know that the director's cut takes out a lot more scenes than it adds in, making for a very different and inferior movie.