THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1993 Ken Johnson
140 min., R, Drama, 1992 Director: Michael Mann Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeline Stowe, Wes Studi, Steven Waddington, Jodhi May, Eric Schweig, Colm Meany
Daniel Day-Lewis plays Hawkeye, a colonist who lives with two Indians. He runs across a party that is being attacked by Indians. Day-Lewis rescues Madeline Stowe from the attack. The rest of the film shows Day-Lewis escorting Stowe to her destination.
The advertisements for this film said that "the Oscar race begins here." I don't agree with that at all. I wasn't impressed with this film at all. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS is based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The movie has the basic idea of the book, but does not follow the book very closely. If you must see this film, I suggest that you wait for the videocassette. On a scale of zero to five, I give LAST OF THE MOHICANS a two. LAST OF THE MOHICANS is rated R for adult situations and violence.
The reason that I didn't like this film very much is the same reason that I didn't like the book. All the characters in the film are flat. I couldn't get myself to like, or dislike, anyone in the film. To me, Hawkeye seemed to be just as bad as the evil Indian. If the characters had been rounded out, then maybe I would have liked this film more.
The scenery in this film is beautiful, especially on the ledges at the end of the film. The photography is excellent and enhances the landscape. The only reason to see this film in the theater is to see the photography. Other than that, I found this film to be rather poor in quality. The actors and actresses in the film all try hard but can't do much with the script or horrible characterizations.
-------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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