Posted by MMMMarcia on November 29, 1999 at 08:29:01:
Well, I am glad to hear that some of you are liking your dvd. I wouldn't want anyone else to be as disappointed in it as *I* am. But I still think Michael Mann has a lot of nerve calling any dvd with THREE extra minutes added an "expanded" director's version, especially when they cut out so much to achieve those few minutes. And I think it is appalling that they cut out Clannad, some of DDL's lines, and some scenes here and there to make room for the few things they added. There was no reason I can think of to delete ANYTHING from the original release to accommodate Duncan's Diversion (which I DO like) and the extra camera shots here and there. Why didn't they just ADD those things in, without lopping out anything else? It wouldn't have made the film more than 5 minutes longer.
I, personally, feel the ending has been weakened by the extra dialog, which sounds trite to me, but that's just a matter of personal taste. I could live with it, if the rest of the film hadn't been chopped up so badly, and if a more professional job on the editing had been done. The jerky starts & stops where things have been spliced in are annoying & sloppy looking.
As for the sound, I will have to take the word of others that it is improved. I played the movie again set at 5.1, and there was no difference in the terrible quality. My THX version blows it away, so I have to conclude that the rental player I was using is a low end machine without 5.1 capability. Mark was horrified to find out that the sound of all the shrapnel flying back and forth across the living room was completely gone in this version. May I assume that is NOT the case when one has a decent player? The siege in all its room-shaking glory is his favorite part of the film, and to lose that sound really bothered him. Me, I miss the roar of the waterfall, thundering loud enough to vibrate the floors. Now, it's a mere trickle. I can't wait to get my own player & know that it's set properly, so I can judge the sound quality better.
As I said before, I like the visual clarity in many of the scenes, though I think in a few areas, the additional sharpness detracts a bit from the mood. I could probably adjust to that, but overall, I'm in agreement with the person who has already written Fox saying they felt "rooked." (Pardon the expression, GnomeMan!) It's going to take some whomping good sound when next I have the opportunity to play this dvd again to make me choose it over my THX video.
Oh, well...I have enough versions of the movie to give me just about any look I want, I reckon. So what if Mann didn't flesh out the Uncas/Alice relationship one bit. So he didn't show us how Uncas gets wounded. So all the bloopers are still in place. So it just isn't all that I had hoped it would be...nothing can take the Mohican Madness outta ME! I'll just watch all my versions, and add in my own side stories (largely featuring Cora & Hawkeye having further adventures in the wildnerness) and I'll still be happy.
Mohican Mania Rules!
MMMM