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"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."

 Last of the Mohicans, directed by Michael Mann (HEAT) ,starring Daniel Day Lewis (In the Name of the Father) and Madeleine Stowe (Twelve Monkeys) is a fabulous film set in the early 1700's, the British and the French are battling on American soil.

Hawkeye then escorts her safely to the fort whereby they quickly fall for each other. However the fort finally surrenders to the French a few days later after prolonged heavy cannon fire. The French decide to spare the lives of the British soldiers as long as they return to their country and do not take part in any further fighting. Reluctantly agreeing to the French demands, Major Munro leads his two daughters and his battle weary troops away from the fort but they are soon attacked once more in a massive ambush by the Indians who were none too pleased with the decision by the French to spare their lives. Led again by Magua the British are massacred, with Magua in no uncertain terms stating what he wishes to do to Munro and his daughters.

"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."

Hawkeye again manages to save Cora and her sister and they escape on foot into the wilderness whilst being pursued by Magua. Munro falls to a violent death at the hands of Magua. The final sequence - a running battle along a mountain cliff set off by a pulse-pounding Irish reel set - is some of the finest film-making I've seen in terms of action and intensity, there is little dialogue in these final minutes but it's hard to watch without a quickening heartbeat and a stirring of the soul as Magua closes in on them.

With fabulous cinematography, an excellent cast, script and story Last of the Mohicans is a powerful film that must be seen.

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VIDEO
The DVD contains the video transfer anamorphically framed in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Whilst the transfer doesn’t have the clarity of newer DVD transfers it is by and large very good. There are a lot of extended nightime sequences throughout the film so black level and shadow detail are very important. Both are very good, with deep blacks and quite good shadow detail. Daytime scenes are obviously much better and really show off the beautiful frontier wilderness with a well saturated colour palette. Flesh tones are also accurate. Considering the film was made in 1992 the transfer is more than acceptable, there is a touch of film grain here and there which I think would be attributed to the film master, film to video nasties are virtually non-existent with again only a touch of shimmering occasionally. Overall it’s a very good transfer, it’s clean, in it’s original aspect ratio and anamorphically enhanced, what more does one wish for ?

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AUDIO
It is also pleasing to see the DVD has been released with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, there is no DTS track unlike the newly released Region 1 version. However I found the Dolby track to be very good particularly in the use of the subwoofer, unfortunately a fair few of the earlier type films in the late 80’s and early 90’s the bass tends to be overcooked and boomy, I am glad to report that this is not the case here, the bass particularly when the French are firing heavy cannons at the British fort is loud, deep and tight. The surrounds have been used well with both ambience and action, good directional effects can be heard from them particularly during the battles scenes. Dialogue is also clean and easy to understand.

The score which was composed beautifully by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman is presented well throughout the front sound stage with again great accompaniment by the subwoofer. Interestingly, Composer Trevor Jones, originally hired as the sole musicical 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.

Also included is an Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I don’t speak Italian so did not really see the need to watch the film in it.

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EXTRAS
Included is the theatrical trailer which is anamorphic (16x9) framed at 2.35:1. It is presented in two channel Dolby. I don’t really count theatrical trailers as extras as pretty much 99% of all DVD’s have them included.

Overall a fantastic, powerful film on a good DVD. The most important things are look for on a DVD to me anyway are a good video transfer and good audio. This film has both. Recommended.