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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard) (2007)

Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard) (2007)

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Released 12-Dec-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Deleted Scenes
Featurette-Gag Reel
Music Video-"Die Hard" by Guyz Nite
Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind the Scenes with Guyz Nite
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2007
Running Time 123:20
RSDL / Flipper RSDL Cast & Crew
Start Up ?
Region Coding 4 Directed By Len Wiseman
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Bruce Willis
Timothy Olyphant
Justin Long
Maggie Q
Cliff Curtis
Jonathan Sadowski
Andrew Friedman
Kevin Smith
Yorgo Constantine
Cyril Raffaelli
Chris Palermo
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Sung Kang
Case Amaray Variant
RPI ? Music Marco Beltrami


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Unknown English Dolby Digital 5.1
English dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
English for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Diehard 4.0 (or Live Free or Die Hard as it was known in the USA, a much cooler title) is the fourth movie in the successful Bruce Willis franchise. There had been a thirteen year break between the third instalment, Diehard with a Vengeance and 4.0 so there was some debate as to whether John McClane was relevant in the 21st century & whether Willis was too old to pull it off..

What type of threat would be big enough to warrant a fourth movie? The one man army of McClane had already saved members of a Christmas party at Nakatomi Tower, passengers at Dulles Airport (check?) and New York City from various terrorist and rogue military antagonists. Surprisingly enough, the inspiration for the plot came from a magazine article called A Farewell to Arms. The article was about cyber terrorism and what could potentially happen to vital infrastructure like roads, power, banking and government were someone to strike. Initially a standalone film around such a plot, someone thought that it’d make a great threat for a fourth Diehard outing.

Bruce Willis reprises what is arguably his best known role as John McClane, a policeman who has the knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Considerably older than in the previous instalments, McClane is a weathered cop carrying a lot of baggage, he’s divorced and has little to no contact with his children. Asked to pick up a computer hacker Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) for questioning, McClane soon finds himself in the wrong place again as cyber terrorists are looking to kill Farrell who has been an unknowing pawn in their plan. The architect behind it is Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) and his right hand henchwoman Maggie Q.

McClane’s day continues to get worse as Gabriel’s plan rolls out and vital government and public infrastructures are systematically attacked and shut down. Somehow the entire US government’s agents and military are impotent, but McClane and his hacker sidekick can fight their own fight in the name of truth, justice and the American way.

With Willis’ box office clout waning and such a long gap since the previous movie, there was a significant risk that the film could fall flat, audiences too young to know Diehard would stay away and older viewers would have lost interest. Thankfully, that was not the case. The film was a box office success ($400 million global gross) and surprisingly the movie was an extremely fun and worthy addition to the franchise. With the movie and script never taking itself too seriously, Willis’ charm and sense of humour makes the audience feel immediately comfortable with a character who taken at face value would naturally be quite easy to dislike.

It’s worth noting that the version on this DVD is an unrated edition that drops the F bomb considerably more than the theatrical cut did.

Diehard 4.0 is a great addition to the franchise and a good example of what Hollywood can do best: an enjoyable rollercoaster ride that you can enjoy without taking it too seriously. If you missed Diehard 4.0’s theatrical run, it is definitely worth picking up on DVD.

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Transfer Quality

Video

This PAL disc is presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The transfer is pretty good.

For the most part, the picture is sharp and reasonably clear with no sign of edge enhancement..

Colours are a little washed out, but that's the way it was shot not a fault of the DVD. Skin tones looked good too. Black levels are great as are shadow details. There are a few key sequences that are set at night, and although it can be a little grainy it looks good. There is no colour bleeding.

There are no MPEG or film to video artefacts to speak of.

English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are available.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio is fantastic.

There are two tracks available, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kb/s) and an English DTS 5.1 track.

The DTS track is better. It has significantly more dynamic range and the sub woofer shook my house in the helicopter chase scene.

The dialogue comes through clearly and is never drowned out.

Surround usage is constant throughout the movie and really makes the most of all directional noise.

The sub-woofer gets a good workout with all the explosions, the semi trailer and other key action scenes.

The score for the film sounded great. The music is well balanced and certainly adds to the atmosphere of the film.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Deleted & Extended Scenes

Four scenes, nothing too interesting and were left out of good reason.

Gag Reel (7:48)

Longer than most releases will give you, it's actually pretty funny.

Music Video: Die Hard by Guy Nite (4:29)

Didn't like the song much but their was footage from other movies so it was cool to watch.

Behind the Scenes with Guy Nite (5:46)

Nothing exciting.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The US unrated edition is a 2 disc version with the following;

Commentary with Director Len Wiseman and Bruce Willis
Analog Hero in a Digital World: The Making of Live Free or Die Hard
Yippie Ki Yay Motherf*@ker!

That would definitely be the one I'd recommend. So R4 loses again.

Summary

A great popcorn flick and arguably the best Die Hard since the original.

The video is pretty good.

The audio is fantastic.

The special features are pretty weak compared with the US version.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ben Smith (boku no bio)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Review Equipment
DVDMarantz DV4300, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL HS10 projector on 100 inch 16x9 screen + Palsonic 76WSHD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderSony STR-DE685. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationPioneer
SpeakersDB Dynamics VEGA series floor standers + centre, DB bipole rears, 10" 100W DB Dynamics sub

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