Customer Reviews

Die Hard - The Ultimate Collection (Die Hard / Die Hard 2 / Die Hard with a Vengeance / Live Free or Die Hard Two-Disc Special Editions)

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First, let me start by saying I love the Die Hard movies. So when I saw this collection on BD, I just couldn't refuse!

You already know the movies, so let's get to the overall package.

Positives:
+ DTS MA on every movie that really reinvigorates the films
+ Good set of extras, not a single feature from the standard DVDs is left out, making you think these are the definitive versions to have
+ Special box saves you space on shelf and keeps discs safe. It's a little bigger than the Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray] boxset (without the slipcase).
+ Exactly the same discs as individual releases, so you're not getting gimped versions of the already released BD movies --they're the same.
+ Live Free or Die Hard is a total show-stopper, demo material, A+ reference disc. Both in terms of video and audio, this is one of the best movies to showcase what High Definition is all about (and the movie itself is a great ride, btw)

Negatives:
- In the first three movies, both subtitles and dubs in spanish are CASTILLIAN, not Latin American. Why on earth did FOX included castillian dubs/subs on an AMERICAN, region locked disc, goes beyond me. They should know by now that most latin people HATE the castillian dubbing, specially when these movies have such great voice acting. Granted, I always prefer to watch movies in their original languaje w/subs, but there's always the chance to borrow or watch the movie with people that prefer to hear it in their own language. Even the regionalized castilian subtitles are distracting. This is not a problem on the 4th movie. The voice acting and subs are the way they should be for an american release.
- The first 2 movies look downright awful, to the point it seems you put the SE DVD and upconverted it. Time is totally not an excuse: just look at the impressive video quality of Batman: The Movie [Blu-ray]: a 40 yo movie that looks absolutely fantastic (more than it deserves, if I may be so bold). And that flick is probably just being released to make a quick buck on the batman fever, so FOX, you're telling me you couldn't give a AAA movie such as Die Hard a proper transfer? Come on...
- The 3rd movie looks way better, but still does not compare to the visual blast that is Live Free or Die Hard.
- The 4th movie is the theatrical, PG-13 version, not the UNRATED one. Again, what's going on here! Simply put, FOX could have put both version on the same disc via seamless branching. This has been a reality since the days of DVD, and there are a couple BD that have this feature already, so NO excuse.
- The special features on every disc are Standard Def. only to the point most of them look like VHS (this is no exaggeration). Not a single drop of remastering love (let alone HD treatment) has been poured on even the alternate endings.

Bottom line? This is looking like a future double dip. If you don't care for extras or hearing the movies in a language other than English, this will probably suit you fine, even without the unrated cut of Live Free or Die Hard.

However, this is far from being the Definitive version of the movies to have, to the point of getting me wondering if FOX actually knows the fact that this edition of the movie should be the one for all the american continent. Moreso, I'm left guessing if they care about what their public wants: both their High Definition users and their non-north american audience.

When I think Blu-ray, I expect high quality video and sound, otherwise there is no point to buying a blu-ray version of an already existing dvd.
The first two movies, Die Hard 1 & 2 from the 80's, look terrible visually. FOX did a horrible job in re-mastering these for blu-ray, or they did not re-master them at all. It is possible they used the regular dvd's and just up-converted them without remastering/restoring them digitally. Sound is decent. The third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance is more recent from the 90's, but it doesn't look great. The fourth film does look good and sounds great, but it would be more convenient to just purchase the fourth film as a blu-ray version and get the first three on regular DVD if you don't own them already. You would save a lot more money and you would be getting the same thing as this box set here. FOX definitely messed up with this whole set.

UPDATE: If the price does drop under thirty and you don't own any of these movies, the set is worth purchasing. If you already own the movies on DVD, the upgrade isn't worth the price. Wait for a new remastered version to be released in the future. Many shots are soft in Die Hard 1 and Die Hard 2. It's hard to believe that the films were shot this way with the focus so soft.
Updated to three stars after rewatching the films multiple times again.

I grew up with the Die Hard movies. I really liked the 1st movie and am in the minority becuase I also enjoyed the second. The 3rd and 4th movie I liked, though not as much, because they didn't feel like Die Hard movies as much as the first two did. 1&2 consentrated mostly on John McClain. With the 3rd you had Samuel Jackson. He was a big focus during the movie, but was similar enough to Bruce Willis' character that it didn't distract too much from the movie.

With the 4th movie, it didn't feel like Die Hard so much. At times, it almost felt like a sequel to 16 blocks, that had been watered down to a PG13. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy the movie, but it definitely isn't the Die Hard I grew up with.

The audio was very good on all films, but I was disappointed by the earlier films video quality. After recently seeing what Warner Bros. were able to do for Blade Runner, the first two movies are pretty disappointing. BR is 25 years old and they were able to make it look like it was made almost yesterday (except for obviously dated tech). I wish they would have taken a little more time and cleaned up the films better.

While this is a good deal for all 4 movies, you might want to wait for an unrated version before purchasing these. I'm hoping the reason there wasn't an unrated blu-ray version is that they're going back to do some re-edits to make it better than the unrated version released on DVD.

Having viewed both this set and the blu-ray collection, I can honestly say this is the set to buy. The blu-ray collection is very nice and looks good but the older films (especially the first) just dont look any better in blu-ray. It actually looks more grainy on the blu-ray than the traditional dvd. However, the 4th film looks spectacular in blu-ray but that is the only one I would say is worth the extra cash. This set costs about half of the blu-ray edition and includes more extra features than any Die Hard fan could want. Each movie comes with a bonus disc chalk full of commentaries, documentaries, and behind the scenes footage. I found the audio and video of these dvds to be mastered very well considering the 1st film is 20 years old. The only issue i noticed was slight edge enhancement on certain scenes in the first 3 movies, but hardly distracting. So do yourself a favor, save the cash and buy a set that is just about as good. You wont be disappointed.

This is by far one of the best series of action movies you will ever see. Bruce Willis and the rest the casts of each movie made them believeable and the writing, directing, camera work, sound, and music were great. It is not surprising everyone knows at least one movie in this set and there is hardly a person on the planet not familiar with the name of a fictional cop John McClane and his famous quotes while being in the right place at the wrong time.

Synopsis:
In the first movie McClane, a New York City cop, goes to LA to visit his wife that has moved there with their kids because she was offered an exceptional position. While flying out another passenger tells John that the best way to relax after a long flight is to take off shoes and socks and curl your toes in the carpet. Unfortunately John must try to rescue everyone at the building when terrorist take over to steal bonds and he runs around barefoot the whole movie through broken glass.

During the second film McClane encounters terrorists at Dulles Airport in Washington DC trying to rescue a military prisoner by taking over the tower controls to the planes. This time he must fight them while barely clothed in frigid weather.

In the third movie McClane has drawn the attention of the brother of the head terrorist in the first movie that is also intent on bombing people as a cover up to a gold heist. He demands McClane do some Simple Simon tricks. McClane is brought in from his suspension with a bad hangover and headache and has to stand in Harlem in his underwear with a deragatory sign to blacks when he gets the assistance of a racist shop owner played by Samuel Jackson. Jackson helps him track down the terrorists and the two make a great comical pair.

In the fourth movie McClane finds out the terrorist control several government agencies and the utilities through the internet so they can rob them. While picking up a hacker, played by Justin Long, for the FBI they are both nearly killed and he enlists the aid of Long to track down the terrorists.

Although I had the individual movies I couldn't pass on this set after reading the review by "The Game". I wanted a set anyway and it looks like this is a great one for a super price. One other thing. I couldn't tell from the ad, but this is four thin DVD cases in a cardboard box so it takes less than half the shelf space of the four full size cases. This set includes an extra disc for each movie dedicated to extras. One of the best when it comes to all the background on the movies and then an exceptional price for all this material. The quality was just as indicated, very sharp and clear. I am very happy with this set. Excellent replayability. If you enjoyed this catch "Lethal Weapon" and "Unbreakable".

CA Luster

I thought only Live free or Die Hard was a 2 disc special edition...
They all are: total of 8 dvds! Excellent Collection!

Let me get some technical things I would want to know out of the way. This set includes Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengence, and Live Free or Die Hard, the Unrated version. There was some question in the reviews as to whether it was the unrated version, which makes me question why they would review a product that they don't own. Now the really big question for me at least is what medium to buy this movie on. I got a blu ray player last year, and rented the original die hard on blu ray, and have to say that i was disappointed. When I first got the blu ray player i was originally going ro just rebuy most of the movies in my collection, but I was starting to see that movies made before 2000, or some made just after, just don't look very good in high def. Some studios really put the time and money into making their classics really look amazing, but Fox just really hasn't done that for its old movies yet, and though Die Hard is by far one of if not the greatest action movie of all time, I would reccoment getting the set on DVD. The only movie in the set that is going to look better (if not worse) on Blu Ray is Live Free or Die Hard, which is by far the worst movie in the set, so I would reccomend getting it on DVD, or find the Die Hard Trilogy on DVD and getting Live Free or Die Hard on Blu Ray if you are a completionist, or just really like that movie for some reason, but for most fans, this will do nicely. As far as the movies go, as previously stated Die Hard, the original, is a classic, and easily the best action movie ever made. Up until Die Hard, action movies were either the tense cat and mouse movies, or over the top (Looke at the director's own Predator, especially the fight in the compound) and when Die Hard came along, it was the idea that the person at the center of an over the top situation could still be human and vulnerable, but it was his will (and wit) that would keep him going when average people would just give up. It was his love of his family, but that also is a convaluted mess. Life isn't easy, and there are a lot of pieces that fail within the society, and a lot of people that don't want to get their hands dirty, and the hard works get passed down to John, not because he is the best, but because he won't let it go. I can tell you having worked in the government that so many things get through the cracks, and the people that get things done because of a sense of duty that they won't give up is at the heart of this movie. This movie is about not giving up, even though it seems like life is against you because there are too many people in suits that are only interested about what they can acquire, and the world changes more and more to where the buck keeps getting passed. The whole movie keeps movie on with a dying cowboy breed motif and killer dialogue, and complete control from the director, not to mention great director of photography in jan debont, who went on to direct speed, and also dp for robocop as well as a lot of verhoven's other work, so just a great film all around. The second tried to be too similar to the first. It was actually the first Die Hard movie I saw, and though at the time I was in love with the movie, it really doesn't compare to the original in terms of pacing and action, so i have to say it seems a little too much, as in one man couldn't do all that, and becomes a little too cartoony, such as the airplane explosion where he survives via the ejection seat, even though there is no way he would have escaped without internal injuries. It tries too hard to improve upon a perfect film. The third film spends a majority of the movie with a buddy team between McClain and Samual L. Jackson, whose racial tensions seem too much of a rip off between what Bruce already did better in the Last Boy Scout, however the twists and turns, not to mention that it doesn't seem as unrealistic in its action sequences. If you take the best moments from the first two sequals and leave the bad parts you get the first films equal, however the fourth film is just complete garbage. I remember seeing it in theaters dispite it having a pg 13 rating which should have been my first clue, but I remember the studio talking about it being a hard pg 13 and that there would be a unrated, or really an r rated cut on dvd, however it doesn't help a really tired and unbelevable set of action sequences that do not remind me of the first at all. its one man takes on a jet plane, and lives. its like bad video game cgi with McClain insight and one liners interjected. Over all a really great set of movies, and worth watching all the way through, because you know part five will come out eventually. I hope they kill off our protaganist so they will stop doing stupid sequels.

Having just purchased a Blue-Ray player, I decided to get some of my favorite movies on BD-ROM.

In every case except this one, the watching the BD-ROM version was an entirely new experience. The quality of this one was like watching up-converted DVDs.

Chances are you've seen at least one of the first three Die Hard films, and you're familiar with the vocabulary, one liners, and over the top action that gives the series the brilliant style it has. In theaters, Die Hard 4 had the displeasure of a PG-13 rating, and really gutted most of what made Die Hard what it is.

Now, I understand that most of you think swears or not the movie was fine, but I truly disagree. Iconic moments from all three films (including the incredibly famous Yippie Kai Yay, *@#$%@) had swears in them. From all the films. To not include the unrated edition in this collectors edition set was a slap to my face. Especially because I didn't realize it till I put the Bluray in!

Now, that being said, this "unrated version" is still completely unavailable on bluray! You won't find it yet! So if you are looking for the gritty laughter and iconic style of the other films, and you want a high definition experience, you'll have to wait.

If you don't give a damn then get this set because other than that its completely amazing.

Die Hard 5 has just been announced for theatrical release in 2013. And rumor is that this will be the last one Bruce Willis will do. If this is the case then wait for the inevitable 5 movie box set. I agree if this existing set goes under $30, and you cant wait for the 5th film,* then it would be a good purchase, even if it doesnt have the unrated Live Free or Die Hard cut. I hope that the box set will have all the bells and whistles and I will wait until then.