Die Hard - The Ultimate Collection
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DVD details
DVD: Region Code 1Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
DVD Reviews of Die Hard - The Ultimate Collection
DVD Review: GET READY FOR THE ACTION MOVIE THAT STARTED IT ALL
Summary: 4 Stars
The early 1980s were a hotbed of activity in the action/adventure genre. Mel Gibson did "Lethal Weapon", Arnold, "The Terminator" and "Conan" and Eddie Murphy indulged us with "Beverly Hills Cop". At about the same time relative unknown, Bruce Willis had made a considerable splash on the small screen, opposite Cybil Shepard in television's "Moonlighting". The show, successful and sophisticated, brought Willis to the attention of director, John McTiernan, enough to convince 20th Century Fox to take a chance on them both for a new kind of vigilante thriller - "Die Hard".
Willis is John McClane, a New York cop who keeps running up against terrorists - in a high rise (part one), at the airport (part two) and in New York City (part three) - the latter having an ominous ring of déjà vu since 9-11. McClane is a bitterly esoteric man on the verge of divorcing his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). It seems that Holly's career meant more to her than her marriage. Moving to LA she's become quite successful working for a multi-billion dollar corporation that, unfortunately, becomes the target of a group of terrorists on Christmas Eve. These men are fronted by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman).
The original "Die Hard" was shot on location at Fox's new Century City corporate offices, a venue that provided the film with its iconic poster art of a high rise in peril. The phenomenal box office receipts generated guaranteed a sequel. Unfortunately, for all concerned, McTiernan was unable to commit to a second outing, leaving Renny Harlin in the driver's seat.
Harlin's heavy handed direction and an almost carbon copy plot - except that terrorists have now taken an airport instead of a high rise hostage - make "Die Hard 2" a rather passé film experience. Thankfully, McTiernan returned for Part III, an ominously true-to-life scenario in which terrorists fronted by the diabolical brother of Hans, Simon (Jeremy Irons) hold the city of New York hostage with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Early on, Part III cleverly chose to infuse comic relief in the embodiment of Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), an unwilling participant in McClane's rescue efforts, whose racial bias toward whites is actually rather endearing in an odd sort of way.
Viewing these films in retrospect "Die Hard 3" is also more of an ensemble acting piece than the first two films. Willis' character - once the corner stone of the series, is merely the pretext, rather than the catalyst that propels the film's familiar storyline to its predictable conclusion.
After the really shaky initial release of these movies on DVD, which were among the worst transfers ever conceived for the digital market, Fox went back to the drawing board to completely remaster theses films for deluxe special editions. The results are nothing short of miraculous.
In the case of all three movies: color separation is superb. Contrast, shadow delineation, fine detail and black levels are solid and deep. Aliasing, shimmering and edge enhancement still exist but are at a bare minimum and do not distract from your viewing experience. All three movies have had their soundtracks cleaned up. The results are explosive. You may need seatbelts on your couch before suiting up for part III.
Individually, Part One continues to have its opening fifteen minutes suffer from an orangy haze that tends to render the entire image soft. Although scenes taking place in the limo are quite accurately rendered, those in which McClane first encounters the terrorists in Nakatomi Plaza are out of focus with a color scheme that is muddy at best. The good news is that after those initial fifteen minutes you will be treated to one of the best DVD transfers of a vintage 80s film. Part Two is the most accurately and consistently rendered DVD in the three pack. There's really nothing to complain about here except a hint of edge enhancement and some minor color bleeding (red) in the scenes that take place inside the control tower. Part Three: The youngest of these movies is also the one most inconsistently rendered on DVD. The initial release of Part III on DVD was an embarrassment, so excessively marred by edge enhancement, aliasing and shimmering of fine details and digital grain that one wondered just how blind the person behind the remastering console was. Though this subsequent remastering improves on all of the above mentioned problems, there is still a considerable amount of film grain present. The picture, while not a strain on the eyes, is nevertheless a very intense visual experience. The harsh characteristic is unflattering, though again, not to the extreme levels as before.
Extras include several documentaries, audio commentaries, deleted scenes, stills and theatrical trailers for each movie. Fox calls the first movie a 2-disc "Five Star" edition but when compared to parts two and three, labeled as mere "Special Editions" (also 2-disc) there is very little to differentiate the discs by way of their extra features.
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