Customer Reviews

Live Free Or Die Hard

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed this score by Marco Beltrami. The cues have a lot of power and the orchestra sounds very pure and live. I only wish there was more of a reference to the Kamen Die Hard scores. But kudos to Mr. Beltrami on a really good score.

The composer, who never scored any prior Die Hard movies, has done a terrific job of capturing the sound of the earlier film soundtracks while adding his own new material to it. This album is a fine addition to the Die Hard albums the preceded it and if you liked the music of Die Hard, Die Harder and Die Hard with a Vengence, this new album will not only satisfy you, in many ways it has more of the exciting parts that score the action and does well in the sneaking around music that also typifies these films. In a year when other films that were series from the past such as Harry Potter V and Superman Returns were disappointing, this album really delivers for the listener.

I like most of this score because I like action pieces, but I also prefer a score with more of a melodic sound rather than just abstract passages that compliment the scene.

That doesn't mean that this isn't a good score, because for me, a good score is one that does not distract from the movie experience, but rather enhances it. And while I like this score, I liked it better with the movie than as a listening piece.

"Live Free or Die Hard" is a real treat for anybody that misses the days of Kamen and Goldsmith. This music is wholly organic, complex and orchestral. You will find no trendy techno interludes or thrashing guitar here... just over an hour of sheer orchestral beauty, all organized by one of the prominent voices in action music today: Marco Beltrami. If you enjoy this style of music, I also highly reccomend "Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem" by Brian Tyler and "Rambo" by Brian Tyler.

I felt the music was very disappointing in this one. It was dry and boring. The composer utterly failed to capture the pace and excitement that has become a trademark of the Die Hard series soundtrack. His music is atmospheric to the point where you can hear crickets chirping practically. A Die Hard film's score has to be fast and loud. The only times anything resembling quality music occurs is when the composer reuses themes from the previous films, but even then he fails to capture their original intensity.

After making a mockery of the score to Terminator 3 and acknowledging Brad Fiedel's great theme only once in a Casio Midi-file quality track over the closing credits, you really have to wonder why Fox would give the scoring duties of LFODH to Marco Beltrami. With Michael Kamen no longer with us there are a number of better composers who could have made this score something special. As it is, it's just competent.

Beltrami only uses Kamen's fourth most reoccurring motif from the original film and uses a tiny bit of score from Die Hard 2...and that's it. The rest is all his work and it's just the usual action bombastics without a hint of class or anything memorable. What about all those cool signature cues from the previous films, such as McClane making the bomb to throw down the elevator shaft, McClane spying on Hans and Takagi, the rooftop fight, the computers room shootout, the runway hatch, the ejector seat, the wing fight and that brilliant cue where Hans falls to his death? Where are all these? All Beltrami offers us is generic action stuff which works fine but is nothing memorable.

If Chris Young, Alan Silvestri, Debbie Wiseman, Bruce Broughton or Craig Armstrong were given this movie to score then you can better your bottom dollar it would have been brilliant. As it is, it's is merely a workable score that will be forgotten very quickly.

this composer did a lot considering the fact that bruce willis wouldn't let him make the movie. . . . this is an amazing soundtrack. there are plenty of better thing you could be doing with your time. it's good, but it lets you down. i'm hopeful that maybe they'll be a sequel and that this composer can do the best he can.

I know this is for the audio cd, but I couldn't find a space to say something about the movie. Just got back from a midnight showing and it was the best expierience. This movie has it all and the action is just great. Its really worth the ten bucks. This isn't no costume or pirate crap. This is the real deal. Can't wait till the dvd comes out and we can see the unrated version!!!!