April 16, 2003
Die Hard
Die Hard is a movie I'm sure you all know about -
down on his luck cop gets involved with a high tech group of thieves -
and it is given a grand DVD treatment with this 5 Star
Collection DVD that I have. Give your home theater setup a real
workout with one of the best the action genre has to offer.
John McClane (Bruce Willis in the preformance that made him a star) is a downtrodden New York City cop, visiting LaLa land to see his estranged wife and children for the Christmas holiday. He couldn't deal with her getting a grand opportunity to move up the Nakatomi corporate ladder, so she split with the kids. This is one last chance at getting back together. The reunion doesn't come off too well, as the first thing he noticed is that his wife (played with real spunk by Bonnie Bedelia) has reverted back to her maiden name, and then they get into the same tired argument about chauvinism vs. freedom and growth.
While sulking in the executive bathroom, McClane hears gunshots and sees a group of terrorists rounding up hostages in the main office. He slips away before being noticed himself, unfortunately without his shoes. He then manages to be a royal pain to the group, who turn out to be thieves trying to crack the vault for US$600 million in bonds, using the terrorist angle as a cover. He is befriended by a Sgt. Al Powers, a cop on the street (Reginald VelJohns, later of Family Matters fame). As McClain battles the thieves, Powers battles the bozos running the show on the outside, including macho Lt. Dwayne T. Robinson and two FBI agents, Johnson and Johnson, who think they understand what is going on.
Much pyrotechnics and one-liners follow, as McClain becomes a real thorn in the side of the thieve's leader, Hans Gruber, play with real panache by Alan Rickman, as well as his main muscle guy, blond hair flowing Alexander Godunov. Many quotable lines flow, as can be seen on the Memorable Quotes from Die Hard page on IMDB. Of course, in the end, McLain gets the bad guys, wins the respect of the authorities and walks out with the girl.
Simply my favorite no-brainer action flick, bar none. A great movie to watch with lots of people, which should include plenty of yelling at the screen. Sure, it isn't deep, and it isn't the first of the pyrotechnic-laden filmes of the 80s, but it knows what it is and it does it with style and even some intelligence. There are very few moments where you go "Now why would he do that?", which is my biggest gripe with most other action flicks. And those few are over with so fast, and you're swept along to the next scene, you don't even care.
The DVD is magnificent, and I haven't even done any of the extras yet. The picture is clean and crisp, the sound explosive (pun intended!) and the dialog sharp. Crank the sound and feel it happen! Extras are overflowing in this two DVD package, including 3 different kinds of commentary, branches to extended scenes, remixes, etc. I'm looking forward to checking some of them out and I highly recommend this DVD.
Buy Die Hard (2-Disc/Special Edition) from DVDPlanet
Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Willis, Hart Bochner, William Atherton
A lone New York cop finds himself trapped inside an L.A. office highrise when international terrorists take it by force on Christmas Eve. Posted by jdarnold at April 16, 2003 10:02 PM
