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Die Hard 4.0 (2 Disc Special Edition) [2007]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Twelve years after Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third and previous film in the Die Hard franchise, Die Hard 4.0 finds John McClane (Bruce Willis) a few years older, not any happier, and just as kick-ass as ever. Right after he has a fight with his college-age daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a call comes in to pick up a hacker (Justin Long, Dodgeball) who might help the FBI learn something about a brief security blip in their systems. Now any Die Hard fan knows that this is when the assassins with foreign accents and high-powered weaponry show up, telling McClane that once again he's stumbled into an assignment that's anything but routine. Once that wreckage has cleared, it is revealed that the hacker is only one of many hackers who are being targeted for extermination after they helped set up a "fire sale," a three-pronged cyberattack designed to bring down the entire country by crippling its transportation, finances, and utilities. That plan is now being put into action by a mysterious team (Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood, and Maggie Q, Mission: Impossible 3) that seems to be operating under the government's noses. Die Hard 4.0 uses some of the cat-and-mouse elements of Die Hard with a Vengeance along with some of the pick-'em-off-one-by-one elements of the now-classic original movie. And it's the most consistently enjoyable installment of the franchise since the original, with eye-popping stunts (directed by Len Wiseman of the Underworld franchise), good humour, and Willis's ability to toss off a quip while barely alive. Yippee-ki-ay! --David Horiuchi


Great Film, but fault with DVD.
Review date: 2008-08-15 Rating: 6 out of 10

First of all, this is the Best Die Hard film since the first one. This has brought the franchise to the 21st century with a bang, literally, and has great performances.

However, when the bad guys are not speaking English, the DVD fails to show translation subtitles, which were present in the Cinema and on Sky TV, it gets annyoing that if you want a translation you have to constantly turn the DVD subtitles on then off again.

Other than that, good film.

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Reviews


Die Farce...
Review date: 2008-08-14 Rating: 8 out of 10

As a movie, Die Hard 4.0 is an average action thriller. Which is to say that it is like almost every other action movie ... except Bruce Willis plays a character called John McClane.

Imagine a feature length episode of The A-Team . Imagine YET ANOTHER razor-thin plot about an operative turned rogue (again? Sheesh, the FBI and CIA really must sort out their vetting procedures). Imagine a Die Hard Movie with no swearing. That's right. No "Yippie Ki-Ay!". An absolute dearth of blood and gore. Bad guys that are seemingly indestructible. Where everyone can jump from exploding helicopters and walk away. Where John McClane can jump onto a jet and punch a plane to death. Moments where logic and common sense are jettisoned in favour of yet another KER-POW explosion. Where bad guys aim is worse than stormtroopers. They couldn't hit a football pitch with a nuke even if they were standing on it.

This isn't to say that Die Hard 4.0 isn't enjoyable. It's a fun rollercoaster ride of good setpieces and has some good moments. But it isn't a Die Hard movie. The familiar, world weary air, the wisecracking, very human John McClane is replaced by a sanitized PG-13 Uberhuman Brucinator. Combine this with an infuriating personality void geek of a McGuffin, a set of impossible conincidences, and the standard end-of-civilisation plot, and it... doesn't make sense. It raises more questions than it answers.

Where do they go to get these henchmen? Bad Guys'R'Us? Why blow people up with a virus when they have crack squad teams of assasins on site? Whats the bad guys motive? To prove a point? At what point did he decide not to be a boring geek and become an evil greedomanic? When did Bruce become Homer Simpson? - There's a scene in a car where you almost expect his skin to turn yellow and ask "YOU DON'T LIKE GRAND FUNK?"

And if you are going to steal from other action films "Under Siege 2" and "True Lies" are not good reference points. And cutting the movie to shreds so it can get a "PG" in the States is simply an insult to the millions of people who paid money to see the other films. Thankfully this edition contains more adult material where the world is not wrapped in cotton wool, but it's like a kids version of a Die Hard movie.

"Die Hard 4.0" is... an average action movie trapped inside a bunch of sanitised video game type exploits. It also shows how far movies have fallen in the past decade. It's awash with typical tricks of modern film making : jump zooms, jump cuts, and is sometimes barely comprehensible superfast camera moves. The bad guys are charmless ciphers, Willis an indestructible cleanmouth, and overall it's a missed, open goal. All this film represents is a sizable opening weekend to the board at the Nakatomi Building of 20th Century Fox. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not very good either.

Could Have Been Better...Could Have Been Worse!!!
Review date: 2008-05-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

Better than I expected, certainly as good as Die Hard 3 (of which I found the action setpieces a slight dissapointment) but not as good as Die Hard or Die Hard 2.
The film is very well made and the Special FX & stunts are excellent.
However it's just a bit too over the top in places & too reliant on CGI - specifically the scene with Bruce Willis hanging off the jet fighter (very like True Lies). Hmmm, a 52 year old should know his limitations!
When it comes to action I prefer the gunplay (as in Die Hard 2's shootout with the terrorists & SWAT)& the hand to hand combat (McClane v Karl from Die Hard). I think a more realistic approach would work better especially as John McClane is now a middle-aged man - instead of crossing into James Bond territory. The action is spectacular; car chases, shootouts, lots of BIG explosions but, although hard edged, it isn't quite as violent as the previous installments. I've only seen this 2 Disc cut which does contain slightly more violence/swearing than the single disc (theatrical) edition.
I'm not overly keen on the villains here, Tim Olyphant is fairly good as the main protagonist but the whole concept of bringing down the Internet feels a little sterile & lacks any real sense of threat. Its hardly the same as deliberateley crashing 747's or exploding the roof of a skyscraper!
There's little in the way of impending loss of life - after all America once functioned perfectly well without being Online!
Not very keen on the computer nerds either! The only sidekick I've ever liked in this series was Zeus (Samuel L Jackson in DH3). McClane works better when being up against it by himself.
Fairplay to Willis, he's in pretty good shape & his acting is good, if anything there's less of the smugness that was present early in his career. An Ex of mine couldn't even look at him on screen, she hated him that much! The one liners are still here but a bit more self deprecating now.
Absoluteley loved the stunt where he used the police car to take down a
pursuing chopper. REALLY spectacular & any CG used was done so sparingly.
Direction is good, in fact everything is good really. It's just difficult for the film to measure up to its predecessors!
(The latest Indiana Jones is good BUT faces a similiar dilemma).
If you don't expect the intensity of parts 1 and 2, then I think you might enjoy it. I'd like to see another one but perhaps with an edgier plot/director.
Not as good a sequel as say, Rocky Balboa is, but easily as good as something like Terminator 3. Somewhere between 3 & 4 stars, I'll go to 4 as it was never boring and 3 stars would be too harsh!



Stupidest among all Die Hard movies...
Review date: 2008-01-24 Rating: 4 out of 10

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the Die Hard movies. But this one...?

A Die Hard movie for the 21st century
Review date: 2007-12-17 Rating: 2 out of 10

The John McClane of Die Hard liked to compare himself to Roy Rogers. A modern day cowboy who, despite his flaws, would push for the side of "good" regardless of the cost. And boy, did McClane have his flaws: a broken family, chain-smoking, flirting with alcoholism, a blue-collar guy trying to make it in a white-collar world. McClane managed to make profanity almost poetic, and he was a man who bled for his cause.

Fast-forward 20 years, to a new century and a new millennium. McClane is McClane in name only. Still has family problems with a daughter who hates him (though it's never expressly explained why). No sign of drink, cigarettes, swearing. If anything he looks fitter and more enabled than ever before. He truly is a hero for our new, sanitised age.

This might please a lot of people. It didn't please me. To be quite honest, I was eagerly anticipating seeing John McClane -- dinosaur -- getting to grips with the 21st century. Unfortunately we were delivered a cardboard hero in much the same vein as Harry Stamper from Armageddon, or any of Bruce's other "world-savers for hire".

And that's just our hero...

We had a screenplay that was severely hamstrung by the limitations of censorship and the demands of stuns. So don't expect any graphic violence, swearing, characterisation or adult themes (which may be no bad thing for a family, but isn't Die Hard an adult franchise?). Instead of the beautifully intimate action of Die Hard (fighting in stairwells, predator and prey stalking on rooftops), we are treated to fighter jet vs. truck battles, huge car pile-ups and big, big explosions.

The stuntwork IS impressive, and the film does move along at a zippy pace. But tragically for me, the film has disassociated itself with everything that made the original such a classic. Unfortunately none of the characters are memorable (I challenge you to recall any of their names after a week or two), we have an unconvincing villain, ridiculously soft violence, a complete shift from reality (a villain gets rammed into a wall by a car, immediately gets up and starts fighting unscathed) and a lack of anything remotely engaging.

I am sure this movie will please a lot of people (I have little doubt my review will be "unhelpful" to a good majority) who are willing to settle for a two hour distraction. And that you will get. Not-stop stunts, and your ear drums will never get a rest. My main gripe is that this movie is Die Hard "in name only", and by endorsing this movie we are effectively giving the green light to Hollywood to keep churning out these lazy, unstimulating, sanitised, PC movies. We should be demanding so much more from our treasured franchises. You know you're in trouble when Bruce can't even finish his famous "Yippee ki yay" line.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Maggie Q
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Timothy Olyphant
Justin Long
Bruce Willis

Creators:
Bruce Willis (Primary Contributor)
Justin Long (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036036146
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2007-10-29
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 123 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007
Language: Greek (Original Language)
Language: English (Original Language)

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