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Last Of the Mohicans Film Review
I challenge anyone to watch this movie and NOT be moved by the final 25 minutes!
Michael Mann's career-defining work, Last of the Mohicans, is my all-time favourite film. The film is perfect in every facet, and has unfortunately been cast aside as a mainstream film. Those who have watched it once, keep coming back.
Director Mann has been at the helm of many great films, including Heat and Ali, but this is his best work. The film is as perfect as is possible, mixing a great love story with some amazing action sequences thrown in. Unlike some other action films, there is a good plot running, and the film manages to switch between two lots of main characters, who all meet up at the end in one stunning conclusion which is one of the best on film. Period.
In the early 1700's, the British and the French are battling on American soil. This war has nothing to do with the Native Americans living there, except that their family and friends are continually being slaughtered in the ensuing battles. Needless to say, the Natives are none too happy with either side, yet wise enough to realize they can't win a war against these armies.
Hawkeye (Daniel Day Lewis) is a white man who was raised by Chingachook, the last true Mohican. He crosses paths with the beautiful Cora (Madeline Stowe), who is daughter of British Army Colonel Munro. As attacks from local natives escalate, and the ongoing war takes its toll, Hawkeye and Cora fall (yes, predictably) in love, only to be repeatedly separated by their enemies.
While on the surface, this is simply an adventure about the boy rescuing the girl, there's the obvious message about how the Native Americans were completely abused and murdered. As their homelands vanish and their families disappear, these men have to choose between fighting against the forces that have destroyed them, or serving for them. Of course, Hawkeye doesn't want either; he just wants to be left alone, until he (along with father and brother) must come to the aid of Cora and her suitor Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington).
Absurdly, Daniel Day Lewis was not Mann's first choice for the role of Hawkeye. Stuart Townsend was first cast in the lead role, but passed up the role in favour of other projects. I cant possibly imagine anyone else apart from Day-Lewis in the role of Hawkeye.
Daniel Day Lewis provides his usually strong performance. It helped that Mann and the writers gave him some wonderful lines. Madeline Stowe proves quite capable in an underwritten role, but she's very pretty and that helps a whole lot. Especially good was Stephen Waddington, as Cora's protector and jilted suitor. He's obviously meant to be a slimebag here, but the actor brings some realistic touches of duality, making it not so easy to call him the villain. Wes Studi, as the truly evil Magua, nearly steals the whole movie. He's a warrior sworn to spill the blood of the white man, and the actor conveys pure anger with his eyes alone.
We can't go any further without mentioning Randy Edelman - the man who composed the amazingly haunting score for this perfect movie. The music is a major part of any movie, and it is fantastic in this one.
Overall, this is a movie not to be missed. If you haven't already, go and rent this movie. You wont be disappointed.
Last of the Mohicans Trivia
- Composer Trevor Jones, originally hired as the sole musical talent, wrote most of the music for the finished film but left the project before it was recorded due to creative differences with director Michael Mann . Mann then called in Randy Edelman to finish the scoring and to edit and record Jones' portion. Edelman, in charge of the soundtrack production, made sure his half and Jones' half were indeed separate and easy to tell who wrote which.
- Jodhi May's mother was on set and wouldn't let there be a real "love scene" between Jodhi and Eric Schweig.
- While filming the canoe scenes, the canoe always tipped. Curtis Gaston, Soldier Number One, recalls having to save the upset Jodhi May from the cold waters.
- Daniel Day-Lewis is well known for going to extremes in preparation for his roles. For this film he lived in the wilderness where his character might have lived, hunting and fishing and living off the land for several months prior to shooting.
- Michael Mann had never read the original book "Last of the Mohicans" before or during filming.
Last Of the Mohicans - Film Goofs
Errors in geography: Rhododendrons are common in the Carolinas, where the movie was filmed, but relatively rare in the Adirondacks around Lake George where the story is set.
Anachronisms: Telephone pole visible on the left side of the screen when the argument over the burial takes place.
Crew or equipment visible: Diver visible at the bottom of the waterfall.
Crew or equipment visible: After Fort William Henry has surrendered, the assistant director is visible at the bottom of the screen, wearing a blue baseball cap and waving a megaphone.
Crew or equipment visible: Helicopter visible hovering over the action in the first canoe escape waterfall scene before they plunge over the edge.
Revealing mistakes: Gray rock-textured canvas, presumably covering modern trail signs or graffiti, is clearly visible in final scenes. Hawkeye bumps a canvas while running through underpass, and a larger portion is visible as he returns to embrace Cora after Magua's death.
Continuity: Hawkeye shoots a Huron who drops his gun. The gun falls off of a rock and then in the next shot reappears on the rock for Hawkeye to grab as he runs by.
Crew or equipment visible: If you look very carefully during the opening, just as the elk emerges from the trees, you can see a man wearing a red hat, moving right next to the elk.
Audio/visual unsynchronised: When Major Heyward's company enters the forest for the first time, the drum tempo does not match the marching of the soldiers.
Revealing mistakes: When Chingachgook hits Magua's arm with the war club, the club bends, showing that it was actually rubber.
Audio/visual unsynchronised: Duncan can be heard translating one of the lines from French before it is spoken.
Anachronisms: As the British are leaving Fort William Henry, two buses are visible in the background as the British General rides by.
Anachronisms: When the British leave the Fort, a propane gas bottle, a plastic box and bucket made of stainless steel can be seen as the soldiers go down the ramp.
Factual Errors: Hawkeye loads his rifle in preparation for the message runner scene, but does so in the wrong order. The correct order should be: powder, cut patch, start patch and ball, ram, prime.
Colonel Munro: Death and honor are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not.
British Officer: You call yourself a patriot, and loyal subject to the Crown?
Hawkeye: I do not call myself subject to much at all.
Duncan: There is a war on. How is it you are heading west?
Hawkeye: Well, we kinda face to the north and, real subtle-like, turn left.
Hawkeye: Someday you and I are going to have a serious disagreement.
Duncan: You are defending him because you've become infatuated with him!
Cora Munro: Duncan, you are a man with a few admirable qualities, but taken as a whole, I was wrong to have thought so highly of you.
Cora Munro: What are you looking at, sir?
Hawkeye: I'm looking at you, miss.
Cora Munro: They're going to hang you. Why didn't you leave when you had the chance?
Hawkeye: Because what I'm interested in is right here.
Magua: When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart. Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife, so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever.
Cora Munro: Justice? If that's justice than the sooner French guns blow the English out of America the better it will be for the people here!
Colonel Munro: You do not know what you're saying, girl!
Cora Munro: Yes I do, I know exactly what what I'm saying, and if it is sedition, than I am guilty of sedition too!
Hawkeye: In case your aim is better than your judgment.
Hawkeye: No, you submit, do you hear? You be strong, you survive... You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.
Jack Winthrop: You're not coming with us?
Hawkeye: I've got a reason to stay.
Jack Winthrop: Does that reason wear a striped skirt and work in the surgery?
Hawkeye: It does. No offense, but it's a better-looking reason than you, Jack Winthrop.
Maj. Duncan Heyward: I thought all our colonial scouts were in the militia. The militia is fighting the French in the north.
Hawkeye: I ain't your scout. And we sure ain't no damn militia.
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