{2jtab: Movie Review}

Yippee ki yay, double-dipper!

It’s Die Hard’s 25^th anniversary celebration but you won’t find much of a party going on here.  The disappointing collection from 20^th Century Fox is essentially the same transfers we’ve seen before, making this only a stop-gap release until A Good Day to Die Hard finds its way onto Blu-Ray.  That’s right, while HD encoding has come a long way in a short amount of time, 20^th Century Fox is more concerned with snapping up your money.  These transfers from 2007 will soon be outdated by the end of the year so it’s my opinion that this release ought to come with a DO NOT BUY sticker as you’ll only be wasting your money.

Director John McTiernan’s Die Hard is a masterpiece of the action genre. There’s no arguing that.  While each subsequent release has been a bit inferior when compared to the original (with the neutered Live Free or Die Hard being the worse), John McClane (Bruce Willis) always manages to find a way to stop the evildoers and save the day whether he be in a Los Angeles skyscraper, a Washington DC airport, or the streets of New York.  Unfortunately, his baddies – with the Gruber brothers (Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons) being the best – have a knack for underestimating what a pissed-off cop with nothing to lose will risk when cornered.

The series has moved away from its Christmas-themed tinges and become something of a buddy picture due to Die Hard with a Vengeance’s success with Samuel Jackson as the racially-aware Zeus.  Justin Long is his partner (for lack of a better word) in Live Free or Die Hard and it appears McClane will be teaming up with his son in A Good Day to Die Hard.  I prefer McClane solo – you know for those famous mano-a-mano showdowns - but, apparently, I am in the minority or at least I don’t produce the pictures and am not on staff to make those calls.  To me, there’s just something more intense about the first two Die Hard pictures; something that resonates a bit more than the partnered up procedurals of the third and fourth releases.

The set comes housed in a sturdy cardboard digibook-type case, tucked inside a slipcover of the same material. The discs slide out easily but do not slip in and out of waxed sleeves, so there aren’t any issues with scratches.  The best part of the new packaging is the artwork on each page of the book.  Seeing Willis' progressively diminishing amount of hair is a nice sort of time lapse treat.  But, its true colors are easily seen.  With no extra slot to fit the upcoming A Good Day to Die Hard disc and no R-rated Live Free or Die Hard, this is an easy money grab from the studio.  This is a sturdy set, and visually, at least, it's an upgrade over the boring plastic multi-disc case from the previous collection but it’s – in my honest opinion – not worth the money.  You’ll only be double dipping.

Here, for those interested, is my rating of the movies contained in the collection:

Die Hard :  

Die Harder :

Die Hard with a Vengeance :

Live Free or Die Hard :

As a bonus – and for die hard Die Hard’s only – is a collection of all new interviews on the extra disc.  Containing one hour and forty-seven minutes of recently commissioned bonus material, with new cast and crew interviews, archival behind-the-scenes footage, and lots of general discussion about the history of the franchise, its hero and villains, its action sequences, fights, sidekicks, and more, the bonus disc is the only new part of the 25^th anniversary celebration.  And, no, Willis does not sit down for a brand new interview to chat about the character’s legacy.  Disappointing, I know but he is a busy man these days.

If I surfed on top of truck and got shot out of the sewers and this was my anniversary celebration, I’d be pissed.  Die Hard fans deserve more from the studio.  While it’s nice to have the films in a new collection (for once), this release is not the one to purchase.  Wait a while – maybe a few months – and pick up the one Fox has to release – with all new transfers, new dynamic sound, the R-rated Live Free or Die Hard, and A Good Day to Die Hard.  This one, dear readers, is the one to put back on the shelf.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Component Grades Movie Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - January 29, 2013
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Five-disc set (5 BDs)
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

The 1080p transfers – especially the first three films – seriously need an overhaul.  There’s more than an extra level of murkiness to the pictures and they aren’t nearly as sharp as they could or should be.  Colors are well saturated, grain is natural, and the picture is free of noise and artifacts but, with little detail in the picture, it's all for nothing.  Black levels are weak and some effects are noticeable due to the poor definition in the transfers.  Much of the colors in Die Hard and Die Harder veer towards an overly tanned orange, and other hues seem flat and lifeless. Die Harder suffers the most with a pinkish white wash throughout most of the picture.  Live Free or Die Hard is the only one that has that HD depth and fine detail we've come to expect from the Blu-ray format and that’s due to Wiseman shooting it on Super35.   The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks are a bit dated as well.  Die Hard, Die Harder, and Die Hard with a Vengeance all sound average.  The effects are kind of clunky, stocky, and artificial, directionality lacks subtlety, and the individual mid-range sounds hollow.  Only Live Free or Die Hard sounds as super punctuated as one expects Blus to sound.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• As these are the same releases from 2007 the same commentaries are contained.  Die Hard features commentaries from Director John McTiernan and Jackson De Govia and one from Richard Edlund (visual effects supervisor).  Die Harder features an enthusiastic commentary from Renny Harlin.  Die Hard with a Vengeance features commentary from John McTiernan, Writer Jonathan Hensleigh, and Film Executive Tom Sherak.  Live Free or Die Hard features a commentary by Bruce Willis, Director Len Wiseman, and Editor Nicholas De Toth.

Special Features:

And, finally, it comes down to the fifth disc.  This, the lone reason to pick up this release, is what you’ve been waiting for.  Or have you?  Entitled Decoding Die Hard, the disc contains one hour and forty-seven minutes of recently commissioned bonus material, with new cast and crew interviews, archival behind-the-scenes footage, and lots of general discussion about the history of the franchise, its hero and villains, its action sequences, fights, sidekicks, and more. Familiar faces - including John McTiernan, Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza, Joel Silver, Jan De Bont, Alan Rickman, Reginald VelJohnson, De'voreaux White, William Atherton, Hart Bochner, Renny Harlin, William Sadler, Jonathan Hensleigh, Jeremy Irons, Len Wiseman, Justin Long, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Kevin Smith all participate, in addition to many other key cast and crew members – show up but there is no Bruce Willis.  He’s a busy man, what can I say?  The best featurettes are the first two.  They devote about two-thirds of their time discussing the creation of the original film, before devoting the final third to all three sequels. On the other hand, many of the more focused segments that follow feel a little more generic, although the participation of Rickman and Irons really improves the "Villains" piece.   From the menu of the disc you can chose to "play all" or choose each segment individually. There's also a separate section with trailers for each film in the series, including the upcoming A Good Day to Die Hard.

This, with Bruce Willis promising a 6^th Die Hard film, won’t be the definitive Die Hard Blu-Ray box set.  Buyer be warned!

• Origins - Reinventing the Action Genre (20 min)
• John McClane - Modern Day Hero (16 min)
• Villains - Bad to the Bone (21 min)
• Sidekicks - Along for the Ride (19 min)
• Fight Sequences - Punishing Blows (8 min)
• Action - Explosive Effects (15 min)
• The Legacy - The Right Hero for the Time (9 min)
• Die Hard Trailers (9 min)

{2jtab: Trailer}

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