The Last of the Mohicans

Brilliant lemonade with everything that it encompasses – phenomenal music by Trevor Jones (the title motif is heroically arched like the stairs to Valhalla), beautiful exteriors, excellent actors, simply written characters, a very simple construct and a beautiful romantic component. Given that I don't like romantic storylines, Mann has masterfully brought his to the screen thanks to the sparks between Stowe and Lewis. The Last of the Mohicans may be surprisingly abbreviated and not very flowing, yet it is able to slow down at the right moment and conjure a beautiful shot and impressive slow-motion. Hollywood may have committed a crime against the book, but that sweet-hearted romance is exactly what I felt when I was a teenager reading “The Deer Hunter". A wonderful reminder of years gone by and at the same time a film that always gets to me each and every time. And surprisingly, more and more. (30/01/2004)

Although they murder the original story, luckily The Last of the Mohicans works primarily as a romantic adventure movie in itself. And very well at that. Plus, all negative impressions are pushed out of the mind by the unforgettable final sequence. If the whole movie had been like that, I wouldn’t have lost for words. Just forget about seeing anything that resembles the book. ♫ OST score: 4/5 (07/08/2007)

Mann is a directorial intellectual with a unique gift for entertaining the masses. Reason and the senses can only wonder at the image and music composition, and the ingenious skill in building subtle relationships between the characters breathes life into the film. However, The Last of the Mohicans is, with all due respect, just a perfectly dressed Indian woman who, thanks to her simple shallowness, gave me the impression of perfect sterility the entire time. Any unwinding of the threads of the audience’s empathy for fated love crumbles from the warfare and vice versa. When it was over, I had a feeling of half-satisfied libido and longed for at least an extra half hour. PS: Having a familiar central theme doesn't automatically make the whole soundtrack brilliant. (05/10/2007)

The second strongest, most honest and soulful historical romance after Braveheart. The music is absolutely brilliant, with a central motif that is used in every other trailer. Madeleine Stowe is fantastic, not so much with her acting, but with her facial expressions. Daniel Day Lewis is a great actor and watching him in one of his best roles is an experience. Michael Mann brilliantly combines a strong romantic storyline with the bloody clash between two powers of the time, in a whole that is smooth, compact, and cohesive. Dante Spinotti's cinematography is superb and Mann's aggressive and mature direction was clearly the right choice for this story. (29/05/2004)

The Last of the Mohicans goes against established customs of adventure films, whether it concerns the development of the plot or its culmination. Of course, I won't reveal it, but when it comes to the character development and the story, it does not alternate, as is usually customary, between purely thrilling and action-packed sequences and the slow ones. Instead, it carefully adds depth to its characters for almost an hour and a half, subtly sowing the seeds of omnipresent tension, only to unleash all the fate, romance, and action in a straightforward and brilliantly executed final section. Cooper's adaptation is by no means perfect, but, in the end, Mann might deserve some award because it is mainly thanks to him that most viewers feel like they just watched a flawless film. If there is something perfect in this movie, it is definitely the soundtrack, one of the best music compositions in history. (01/08/2006)