Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: John McTiernan, Renny Harlin, Len Wiseman, John Moore, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
Ranked as one of the best examples of its genre, Die Hard set an innovative standard in cinema action in 1988. Thirty years on, it remains just as exhilarating and captivating, with the added assets of glorious, refined visual and sound effects in Blu-ray.
This action film series originated with Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever. All five films revolve around the character of John McClane (portrayed brilliantly by Bruce Willis), a New York City and Los Angeles police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of violent crises and intrigues where he is the only hope against disaster.
Willis has come a long way from the Broadway stage, to David Addison in the television series Moonlighting and as a film star. He has appeared in more than 60 films including The Sixth Sense, Pulp Fiction and Death Wish. He is known for his portrayal of John McClane in the Die Hard film series (1988–2013).
Willis showed the world he’s a bankable box-office star, Rickman gave us one of the most dashing villains ever to grace the screen and John McTiernan showed he was more than just a one-hit wonder after the success of Predator.
It’s the film that launched the billion-dollar action franchise. The Die Hard five-film box set includes:
- Die Hard (1988)
- Die Hard 2 (1890)
- Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
- Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
- A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
The first in the series set a high benchmark with Willis regarded as being “perfect as the wisecracking John McClane”. He was regarded as being an exceptional casting choice as a “sardonic action hero”. Even Rickman’s portrayal of villain Gruber was described as a “marvelous” performance.
Here’s a summary of the films:
Die Hard: John McClane (Willis) is a New York cop who flies to L.A. on Christmas Eve to visit his wife at a party in her company’s lavish high-rise. Plans change once a group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Rickman), seize the building and take everyone hostage. McClane slips away and becomes the only chance anyone has in this edge-of-the-seat blockbuster action thriller.
Die Hard 2: On a snowy Christmas Eve in the nation’s capital, off-duty cop John McClane battles a team of terrorists who have taken over a major international airport, while he copes with an inept airport police chief, the stubborn head of the army’s anti-terrorist squad, and the knowledge that his wife is trapped in a plane circling overhead!
Die Hard With a Vengeance: Detective John McClane, is, as always, in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this adrenalin-charged, action-packed thriller, things are not going well for McClane: his marriage is breaking up, he has been suspended from the force and now the brother of Hans Gruber, the German terrorist he threw off a building a few years back, is threatening to blow up a school if McClane does not run around the city solving his demeaning and dangerous puzzles. With the help of Zeus, a Harlem electrician, McClane discovers Gruber’s plot to distract the NYPD while he clears the federal bank of billions of dollars of gold.
Live Free or Die Hard 4.0: When a criminal plot is in place to take down the entire computer and technological structure that supports the economy of the United States (and the world), it’s up to a decidedly “old school” hero, police detective John McClane to take down the conspiracy, aided by a young hacker.
A Good Day to Die Hard: John McClane, is the heroic New York cop with a knack for being in the wrong place at the right time. John’s latest predicament takes him all the way to Russia to track down his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), who has been imprisoned in Moscow. The mission takes a deadly turn as father and son must join forces to thwart a nuclear weapons heist that could trigger World War III!
Some of the bonus anniversary segments in the collection including commentary and features are outstanding.
Five boxed Blu-ray movie sets of the Die Hard collection have been given to PS News by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment to give away to some lucky readers. To win, just tell us the names of the five movies in the Die Hard box set. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by next Monday, 16 July 2018. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column next week.
