The Last of the Mohicans

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Cast & Crew

Daniel Day-Lewis

Hawkeye, Nathaniel Poe

Madeleine Stowe

Cora Munro

Russell Means

Chingachgook

Eric Schweig

Uncas

Jodhi May

Alice Munro

Steven Waddington

Maj. Duncan Heyward

Wes Studi

Magua

Maurice Roëves

Monro

Patrice Chéreau

Gen Montcalm

Michael Mann

Director

James Fenimore Cooper

Writer

John L. Balderston

Writer

Paul Perez

Writer

Philip Dunne

Writer

Michael Gutmann

Writer

Michael Mann

Writer

Christopher Crowe

Writer

James G. Robinson

Executive Producer

Michael Mann

Producer

Hunt Lowry

Producer

Ciaran Brennan

Original Music

Randy Edelman

Original Music

Trevor Jones

Original Music

Daniel Lanois

Original Music

Dougie Maclean

Original Music

Dante Spinotti

Cinematographer

Dov Hoenig

Film Editing

Arthur Schmidt

Film Editing

Bonnie Timmermann

Casting

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Critic Reviews for The Last of the Mohicans

Audience Reviews for The Last of the Mohicans

• Dec 21, 2020

  I think Mann strikes a good balance of arthouse style and mainstream Action/Romance plot even if the characters lack solid development.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Sep 15, 2013

  The story is pretty generic, and it drags in the first two acts but the final act picks up in terms of emotion and set pieces. Definitely one of Michael Mann's weaker films.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Apr 22, 2012

  It's under two hours; yeah, some epic. Michael Mann couldn't make a movie about a guy uncovering the secrets of a cigarette company on "60 Minutes" without it coming three minutes shy of tacking on a 1 in front of that 60 in the 60 minutes, but hey, this film still stands as pretty enjoyable. Well, to be fair, for me to be satisfied, this film would only have to tell me just what in the world a Mohican is, because I was thinking that it was some kind of Native American, until they dropped the name Daniel Day-Lewis, who is about as white as it gets. I just figured that he heard that Michael Mann was doing a film about Indians and, thinking that it had something to do with "Ghandi", went down to audition for an expansion on that random Colin kid that he showed up somewhere as, and yet they took him anyways, even if was too white to be a Mohican, because, come on, like any self-respecting filmmaker is going to turn down the chance to work with Daniel Day-Lewis. Of course, then I watched the trailer and saw him talking about, "ain't" and whatnot, and pretty much knew that there was absolutely no way he wasn't adopted. Oh no, I don't just mean that it's obvious that the Hawkeye character in this film is an adoptee; I mean that it's obvious that Day-Lewis, in real life, has to be some kind of an adoptee, because he plays an old-school American too well to be born English. Well, to be fair, he can play anything well, including a Native American, as we see here, and yet, he's not enough to drown up this film's many, many flaws. First off, allow me to emphasize that I said that this film "stands as pretty enjoyable", even with its being too brief to be an epic, not "works", for although the film does, more often not, comfortably fill out the clock, there are plenty of points that feel rushed. Some moments of exposition fall limp in the heat of the rushing, creating some gaps in the resonance of the film and leaving it to somewhat go a touch convoluted, as the intrigue is all over the place and the story feels glossed over, making it difficult to exactly discern just what in the world is to be felt or mainly focused upon. Still, even more bothersome than the rushing is, well, the slowing down, because when the film does find time to take a break, things get too quiet and too dry for their own good, leaving the film to, at points, fall limp as, not simply underwhelming, but just plain boring. The film is so very slow, when not rather thrown-together, resulting in an epic that lacks in the way of punch, and it doesn't help that the film is also so very conventional. The film feels too similar to other films of its type, both in storytelling and tone, as it adopts too many familiar tropes that can be foun in similar films; and yes, among those themes adopted is, unfortunately, sentimentality. A lot of these films felt rather sappy and over-spirited, and this film is far from an exception, not being unrelentingly overbearing in its sentimentality, but still delivering just enough of the sap to throw your blood sugar level pretty high up on the charts, delivering yet another good, clean lick to this film and leaving it to fall limp and, yes, even, in some regards, borderline amateur. However, the film manages to hobble its way back up above mediocrity, because although it doesn't at all satisfy as thoroughly as it should, you still walk away having some degree of respect for this film, or, at the very least, its production. The recreation of the French and Indian War-era around the 1750s is slick, elaborate, sweeping and believable, really setting the time without bearing down on you, and it all goes captured by some decent and, at times, also sweeping cinematography. That certainly comes into play quite fabulously during the action sequences, which are far and few between, but always dazzling and grand during the large-scale battles, as well as thrilling during the small-scale duels. Still, during the many points in which there are no cannon's firing or general duke up-puttery, the film slows down, though you can always rely on Randy Edelman's, Trevor Jones', Daniel Lanois' and Howard Shore's fine, big-ensemble-collaborative effort score to hold your attention, even if it is often used as one of the most major devices for beating you over the head with the dramatic aspects. Still, even the dramatic aspects, while often overbearing, are still generally effective, for although this is far from Michael Mann at his best, in terms of storytelling, he still does a workmanlike job of establishing compellingness, while the performers especially draw in the investment. Sure, material is rarely bestowed upon our performers, and a few of our less prominent cast members are rather weak, but as far as the leads go, they are pretty amazing...ly workmanlike. Again, there's very little for our performers to do, so there are no slam-bang performances in here, but most every major performers plays his or her part well enough to earn your attention and investment, particularly the charismatic Daniel Day-Lewis. Really, there's very little to this perhaps, if not decidedly overrated film, though it remains a generally enjoyable film, at the end of the day, and for every major misstep the film makes, it does just good of a job at something else to keep you going and enjoy yourself, more often than not. In closing, the film rather amateurly falls into the story and tonal tropes of many a film of its type, as well as much slowness and sentimentality, and does it all with a lack of epic oomph, made all the worse by some rushing in the storytelling, yet what powers this film on, nevertheless, is, if nothing esle, dazzling production, as well as charismatic enough direction and performances to give Michael Mann's take on "The Last of the Mohicans" just enough juice to stay alive as a generally enjoyable mini-epic. 2.5/5 - Fair
  

  Super Reviewer
• Oct 13, 2011

  The Last of the Mohicans is an adventurous and incredible action/drama that was worth seeing. The story taught me a lot about the French and Indian war and made me feel like I was there and that is the best kind of historical film. The cast is great, Daniel Day Lewis never fails and I just found them all to be incredible. The action scenes were also very fun to watch, and one of the highlights of the film. This movie was definently worth the watch, and had very few flaws with it.
  

  Super Reviewer