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Dances With Wolves is directed by and stars Kevin Costner
(Open Range.) The film's musical score is composed by John
Barry (James Bond series, Zulu), and is based on Michael
Blake's novel. ***
After being declared a hero in battle, a Civil War-era
troop is granted his request of being allowed to head out
west and see the Frontier in its latter days. Once out west,
he meets a friendly group of Native Americans, and begins
to bond with them and embrace their way of life, becoming
one of the tribe, and falling in love with a woman who has
also been adopted by them. Unfortunately, this doesn't sit
well with the soldiers he once fought alongside, who are
looking to expand westward. ***
Prior to this film, Kevin Costner had several parts
in numerous films over the previous decade. Dances With
Wolves was his first film as not only a star but also director.
It is the movie that made Costner a household name. Revisiting
it 20 years after its theatrical release, it isn't all that
hard to see why. ***
Dances With Wolves succeeds because of strong character
development. In our 3-hour journey, we see the evolution
of Costner's character from a foolhardy, suicidal soldier
to someone who has embraced a way of life he was never meant
to be a part of. It is rare to find films set in the Western
era that don't depict Native Americans as one-dimensional
savages, which is another reason that Costner's film is
a breath of fresh air. The movie isn't afraid to depict
the White Man as the villain later on, making the message
of the film all the more dominant in its final act. ***
The musical score is provided by John Barry, perhaps
best known for his work on the James Bond series, having
composed the scores for roughly half of the films in that
series! Barry can score ANYTHING, and here he creates the
ideal score for a movie set on the Frontier, in its last
days. ***
This disc only includes the 3-hour theatrical cut of
the film. A German Blu-Ray exists featuring the 4-hour director's
cut of the movie, however it is region-locked. A French
Blu-Ray, which is region-free, features the 3-and-a-half
hour extended cut. ---
Image And Sound:
This movie was beautifully filmed in some gorgeous country.
And the Frontier comes to life like never before on this
Blu-Ray. The colors are more vibrant than SD versions, and
detail is amazingly good for a film 2 decades old. The image
tends to be a bit soft throughout, but this is most likely
just due to the way it was filmed. Print damage and dirt
are not even an issue. ***
On top of the nice visual upgrade, the movie gets much-needed
lossless audio. With this track, you'll hear all the sounds
of the Frontier like never before. This is one of those
tracks that needs to be heard in action to be appreciated.
No fan will be disappointed.
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