Last of the Mohicans, The (Ultimate Edition) (Blu-ray) (1992)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Director Michael Mann Featurette-Making of The Last of the Mohicans (42:41) Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	?
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Michael Mann
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Daniel Day Lewis Madeleine Stowe Jodhi May Eric Schweig Russell Means Steven Waddington Wes Studi Maurice Roeves
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Trevor Jones Randy Edelman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     1757: a war has been raging for three years between the French and the English around the St Lawrence River for possession of northern America, each side using regular troops, colonial militia, trappers and native Americans. Three men, Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), Chingachgook (Russell Means) and Uncas (Eric Schweig), are hunting in the wilderness when they come across signs of a Huron war party, natives allied with the French. Tracking the war party, they are nearby when the Hurons led by Magua (Wes Studi) ambush a party of English soldiers led by Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) who are escorting two English sisters, Cora (Madeleine Stowe) and Alice Munro (Jodhi May), to Fort William Henry. The sisters are the daughters of the commander at Fort William Henry, Colonel Munro (Maurice Roeves). Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas save Cora, Alice and Heyward and agree to guide them to the fort.

     As the group travel through the wilderness Hawkeye and Cora begin to be attracted to each other. They arrive at Fort William Henry to find that it is surrounded and being bombarded by French troops commanded by General Montcalm (Patrice Chereau) with their native allies, including Magua’s Hurons. The group avoid the French and manage to enter the fort. The situation is grim, with the French pushing their mortars closer each day. Hawkeye tells Munro about the war parties raiding the frontier but Munro refuses to release the colonial militia to defend their homes and families. Hawkeye advises the militia escape the fort but stays behind as he and Cora are now in love. For helping the militia leave Hawkeye is imprisoned and sentenced to hang despite Cora’s pleas to her father.

     With no English force coming to relieve the blockade, Munro surrenders the fort to Montcalm and is given an undertaking that all the garrison and remaining civilians are free to march out with their flags flying and their weapons loaded. The English evacuate the fort, with Hawkeye in chains, but in the wilderness Magua and his Hurons break the truce and launch an ambush. Cora and Alice are captured by Magua and taken into Huron territory; Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas barely escape and now must race against time to find the others before it is too late.

     This version of The Last of the Mohicans from writer / director Michael Mann is magnificent, epic filmmaking. Indeed, it is one of those films that are almost pure filmmaking, relying upon acting, lush visuals and a sweeping score to tell the story instead of dialogue. Headed by Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot (1989)), who as usual got very much into the role and looks strong and athletic, the cast are uniformly good with a special mention for Russell Means and Madeleine Stowe, whose scenes with Day-Lewis are excellent. The visuals, courtesy of cinematographer Dante Spinotti, are spectacular, such as sequence showing the night attack on Fort William Henry with the fort lit by explosions in the dark while white gun smoke billows from the French mortars, while the perfect widescreen framing of the red brick bridge (at 8:43) and its reflection in the water may have come straight from an 18th century watercolour. The score by Randy Edelman, Trevor Jones is sweeping, lush and memorable, right from the opening screens. At times, it is the score and the visuals which alone propel the film; for example, the sequence where Hawkeye and Cora come together in the fort is without dialogue and the film’s climax, a sequence that lasts over twelve minutes without dialogue, is magnificent, intense, sad, tragic and spectacular.

     It is surprising that The Last of the Mohicans received only one Oscar nomination, for best sound, while the cinematography of Dante Spinotti (who later received nominations for L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Insider (1999) but didn’t win) and the music are ignored. I think the BAFTAs got it closer, with wins for cinematography and make-up, and nominations for best actor (Day-Lewis, costume, score, production design and sound.

     The Last of the Mohicans is a beautiful film, romantic, epic and lush, filled with impressive action sequences and characters we care about. A film worth watching time and again.

     The Last of the Mohicans - Ultimate Edition contains both the Theatrical and Director’s Definitive cuts of the film on separate Blu-rays.

Video

     The Last of the Mohicans is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     There are a lot of night sequences in The Last of the Mohicans including an extended attack on Fort William Henry. Shot on film, diffused lighting was used in both interiors and night exteriors which results in many dark sequences with deliberately indistinct backgrounds. Light, often flickering, plays on faces resulting in highlights on faces or faces reflecting light, which feels natural. Blacks are rock solid. The night attack on Fort William Henry is stunning visually, with the fort lit by red flares and explosions while the canons and mortars produce billowing clouds of white smoke as they fire. Daylight scenes, even in the depths of the forest, are sharp and clear with excellent fine detail and natural, deep colours such as the red coats of the English uniforms. Mention again must be made of the beautiful widescreen framing of the red brick bridge and its reflection in the water. Skin tones are natural, marks and artefacts were absent except for some minor motion blur. Pleasing grain is present.

     Small orange subtitles translate sections of non-English dialogue. English subtitles for the hearing impaired are only available with the Director’s Definitive cut.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio on the Theatrical cut is English DTS-HD MA 5.1 or English LPCM 2.0 stereo. The Director’s Definitive cut comes with English DTS-HD MA 5.1 or English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.

     The sound design of The Last of the Mohicans is impressive and enveloping. In the quieter moments there is always wind in the trees, rustling bushes, birds and insects, horses’ hooves, voices, marching feet, running water and the music. Also impressive in the sound design is the faint boom of cannons in the distance or the war cries in the forest before the ambush. In the action sequences, such as the attack on the fort or the forest ambush, long rifles and muskets crack, cannons and mortars boom, edged weapons clash or thud into bodies, yells, English orders and war cries reverberate around the sound stage, masonry and parapets crash and disintegrate. Through it all dialogue is clear and the subwoofer added depth and boom to the cannons, impacts and explosions plus the deep throated roar of the waterfall.

     The memorable, haunting original score by Randy Edelman, Trevor Jones is beautifully rendered in the mix and is supported by a Clannad song and use of Dougie MacLean’s The Gael.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The Last of the Mohicans - Ultimate Edition is a two disc set. The first disc contains the Theatrical cut of the film (111:57) plus extras. The second disc contains the Director’s Definitive Cut of the film (114:33) plus director’s audio commentary.

     You can check out the differences between the cuts here or here.

Disc 1

     Theatrical cut (111:57) plus:

Making of The Last of the Mohicans (42:41)

     Made in 2010 in three parts (Acts) with a “Play All” option. Act I looks into the conflict in North America, the inaccurate presentation of Native Americans in the source novel, casting Daniel Day-Lewis, the physical and weapons training he undertook to become Hawkeye. Act II covers casting Madeleine Stowe, the character of Cora, the relationship between Hawkeye and Cora, casting the Native Indians including Wes Studi and the character of Magua. Act III is wide-ranging. It discusses training the extras to look and move like soldiers of that period, the look of the film, building the cannons and mortars, constructing Fort Willian Henry, the settlers’ cabin and Indian village, the costumes, the music, the forest ambush, the film’s themes and the conclusion.

     The extra utilises period prints, pre-production weapons and physical training footage, film clips and behind the scenes footage plus comments from writer / director Michael Mann, cast Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Wes Studi and Maurice Roeves, historian and Onandaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons, trainer and technical advisor David Webster, military advisor Dale Dye, casting director Bonnie Timmermann, SPFX coordinator Tommy Fisher, DP Dante Spinotti, composer Trevor Jones and production designer Wolf Kroeger.

Theatrical Trailer (1:57)

Disc 2

     Director’s Definitive cut (114:33) plus:

Audio Commentary

     This is not a technical commentary by writer / director Michael Mann and there are silences. He is strong, however, on the history of the period talking about British and French colonial policy, the lives of the isolated settlers, the history and culture of the Native American tribes involved in the conflict, the clash of cultures, the impact of the invasion of the Europeans. He also talks about what inspired him to make the film, locations, the sets made practically, scene specific plot points, working with Day-Lewis, costumes, the music, oversimplification in James Fenimore Cooper’s novel.

     This release of The Last of the Mohicans - Ultimate Edition is not currently available elsewhere.

     The Last of the Mohicans is a beautiful film, an epic, tragic story of conflict, death, and love on the North American frontier. It is an epic film, yet still runs less than two hours; no scene is wasted with stunning visuals, the swelling score and impressive acting. It is a magnificent film, well worth revisiting.

     The Last of the Mohicans - Ultimate Edition is a two disc set. All the extras in the set have been available before. The Director’s Definitive cut of the film is also readily available on sales sites but I don’t remember the Theatrical cut of the film being available on Blu-ray, but I may be wrong. In any case it is a plus having both versions of the film together in one package.

     The Last of the Mohicans - Ultimate Edition was supplied for review by Via Vision Entertainment. Visit their Facebook page for the latest releases, giveaways, deals and more.

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