Fox Home Entertainment / 2007 / 495 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 20, 2007
List Price: $129.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon or DVD Empire ]
Overall Grade

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Bottom Line Worth a Look
Reviewed by Peter M. Bracke
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Movie Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

Over the last twenty years, John McClane has become such an iconic part of the action-film landscape that it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't etched in our pop culture consciousness. Starting with 'Die Hard' and continuing through three sequels, the character has proven to be one of the most durable in a very fickle genre. Aside from James Bond and Indiana Jones, there may be no other action movie hero who has lasted as long or remained as beloved by audiences. McClane redefined the boundaries of the action archetype, bringing a warmth, humor, unpredictability and an almost fanciful sense of masculine derring do to the genre.

'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' hit screens only two years later in 1990 and was essentially a remake of the first film, only this time set at an airport with a whole group of psycho terrorist baddies who like to crash planes for fun and profit. After they take control of the airport and demand millions, McClane must outwit their superior technology while again dealing with a bumbling police bureaucracy. Meanwhile, McClane's wife (a returning Bedelia), is stuck high above in one of the circling planes.

Aided by a bigger budget and the energetic direction of Renny Harlin ('Cliffhanger,' 'The Covenant'), 'Die Hard 2' pumps up the formula that worked so well in the first film, and it's almost as much fun, although the seams of the formula show through at times. There's an element of freshness missing (Willis' wink-wink quips have already grown stale), and the villains are nowhere near as memorable as the scenery-chewing Rickman. And why has the spunky Bedelia been banished to a cheap seat in coach for the entire flick? Still, there's enough of the old McClane magic left in 'Die Hard 2' to make it worth a return visit.


Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Coming only two years later but with a much bigger budget, 'Die Hard 2' doesn't deliver much of a jump in picture quality over 'Die Hard.' The picture still looks flat, soft and lacking in definition. Blacks and contrast are about on par with the original as well, and again there's no "pop." Likewise, shadow delineation remains only fair, with fine textures pretty much lost in the darkest areas of the picture.

On the bright side, colors are a bit better saturated than 'Die Hard,' particularly reds and blues, which look more vivid and clean. Fleshtones still skew a bit too much toward the reds too much for me, with poor Bonnie Bedelia looking much like Miss Piggy's long-lost sister. At least there are no major compression artifacts to speak of, so that's a plus.

An overall wash with its predecessor, 'Die Hard 2' earns a video score of 3.

The Audio: Rating the Sound


Fox offers up matching DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround tracks for all four flicks in 'The Die Hard Collection' (all encoded at 48kHz/24-bit), but not unlike the video transfers, this one's another mixed bag. (Again I will offer up an individual Audio rating for each flick below, with this review's overall Audio score an average of all four.)

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Much to my disappointment, 'Die Hard 2' actually sounds weaker than 'Die Hard,' at least in terms of envelopment. Surrounds are almost completely inactive except during the bursts of action. Discrete effects feel just as processed as on the first film, although when the more aggressive moments kick in, the heft and clarity of the rear soundstage is improved. Realism and depth to the dynamic range is also superior, though it still sounds its age. And again, dialogue left me straining to hear lower tones, with anyone with a deeper voice tending to get lost in the mix.

My score: another 3.

The Supplements: Digging Into the Good Stuff

'The Die Hard Collection' has to be among Fox's most highly-requested catalog titles on Blu-ray, making it somewhat disappointing that the studio hasn't produced any new supplements for this box set. To be fair, the studio did re-issue each of the earlier films back in 2001 on DVD (each as a two-disc special edition) and they've ported over most of those extras here, Unfortunately, I found those sets rather lackluster even at the time (none included any new documentary material), and my feelings haven't changed watching all this stuff once again on Blu-ray. It's wafer-thin, and almost entirely comprised of EPK material. (Fox hasn't even upgraded the vast majority of this material for high-def, with most of the video-based extras receiving 480p/i/MPEG-2 encodes only.)

Die Hard 2

As we move on to the second film in the franchise, the depth of content improves somewhat, as get some actual making-of material here (even if it is all in the form of outdated promotional featurettes):

Audio Commentary - Director Renny Harlin flies solo on this one. Though I've made fun of Harlin's movies in the past, I have to admit that even on his worst efforts he's always delivered great commentary. 'Die Hard 2' is probably his best movie, and he's nothing if not enthusiastic. He talks almost non-stop (at sometimes incomprehensibly, given his accent), touching on plenty of interesting tidbits, from working with Willis to shooting in harsh winter locations at a real airport. Harlin never resorts to simply narrating on-screen, making this almost an overload of information -- after 131 minutes, I was pretty worn out.

TV Special: "The Making of Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (SD, 23 minutes) - This is a dated special originally produced for the Fox network, but it's substantial enough to be worth a watch. We get a good deal of plot recap and the actors talking about how great the flick is gonna be, but also a fair amount of on-set footage and other behind-the-scenes tidbits.

Featurette: "Chaos on a Conveyor Belt" SD, 8 minutes) - A breakdown of one of the film's major setpieces, the ultra-violent conveyor belt gun fight that features lots of crushed limbs and gratuitous gore.

Featurette: "Breaking the Ice" (SD, 4 minutes) - Another quick look at a key effect sequence, this one involving lots of... ice.

Promotional Interviews (SD, 12 minutes) - There are two segments here (each 6 minutes), one with Harlin, and the other with the film's oily villain, William Sadler. The best part is Sadler doing a dead-on impression of Harlin's thick Finnish accent.

Deleted Scenes (SD, 6 minutes) - There are four excised scenes total, but they're mostly alternate or extended versions of what's in the film. Only a short bit with Marvin the Janitor is at all amusing, but like all of these scenes, it would only have padded out a movie that's arguably already too long.

Theatrical Trailers (HD) - Trailers are included for 'Die Hard,' 'Die Hard with a Vengeance,' 'Live Free or Die Hard' and 'Alien vs. Predator.' There are also four dedicated trailers just for 'Die Hard 2,' and a lone TV spot (which is presented in SD only).

Supplement rating for 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder': 2.5.

HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?

Fox hasn't provided much in the way of exclusive features for 'The Die Hard Collection' on Blu-ray. The only genuine new extra can be found on 'Live Free or Die Hard,' and it's only a marginal interactive game. The rest of the exclusives are all interactive functions rather than true bonus content:

Personal Scene Selections - The first three flicks all feature the ability to bookmark your favorite scenes for easy access even after you eject the disc from the player. Oddly, I couldn't find the same function on 'Live Free or Die Hard.'

D-Box Enhancement - If you're one of the half-dozen people out there who actually owns one of those D-Box home theater rump-shakers, just pop in any of the four 'Die Hard' discs and get ready for some serious, earth-shattering vibrations.

Interactive Game: "Black Hat Intercept!" - Exclusive to the 'Live Free or Die Hard' disc, this BD-Java enhanced multi-level strategy game was co-created by Kevin Smith. Basically, you step into the shoes of Smith's character in the movie, and must deduce your way through various brain teasers and obstacles before the ticking clock expires. Although I found this one more challenging than other BD-J games of its type, it should go without saying that it pales in comparison to anything you're going to find on the PS3 or Xbox.

Easter Eggs

No easter eggs reported for 'The Die Hard Collection' yet. Found an egg? Please use our tips form to let us know, and we'll credit you with the find.

Final Thoughts

John McClane has been in the pop culture consciousness for twenty years now, and it's great to finally have all of his adventures contained in one high-def box set. As is to be expected wih a series that spans two decades, the quality of this Blu-ray collection varies from film to film. The video and audio improve as the sequel number increases, and ditto the supplements. All things considered, this is fairly good set, especially given the fact you get four films for about $90. It's just a shame the first two flicks don't look better, and that Fox didn't produce much in the way of new extras for this first-ever Blu-ray release.