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Die Hard 4.0 [Blu-ray] [2007]


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Editorial
Product Description

Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyhant, Cliff Curtis, Maggie Q

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
Editorial
Synopsis

After a twelve-year hiatus, Bruce Willis is back as New York City detective John McClane, who still plays by his own set of rules. Following DIE HARD (1988), DIE HARD 2 (1990), and DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE (1995), the fourth instalment in the popular action series stars DEADWOOD's Timothy Olyphant as Thomas Gabriel, an evil mastermind who is determined to bring down the entire infrastructure of the United States on Independence Day, sending the country into anarchy and chaos. Joining him on his mission of destruction is the elegant Mai, played by Maggie Q from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III. McClane becomes involved when he gets caught in the crossfire while transporting prisoner Matt Farrell (Justin Long, IDIOCRACY), a hacker extraordinaire who is the perfect complement to the old-school McClane, who eschews mobile phones, computers, and doing anything the easy way. But when Gabriel kidnaps McClane's daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, DEATH PROOF), it gets personal. Full of the sarcastic humour, exciting action sequences--including a car flying into a helicopter--and fun characters that have defined the series, DIE HARD 4.0 is an excellent addition, directed by Len Wiseman (UNDERWORLD). The movie also features Kevin Smith as a computer geek known as Warlock, who still lives in his mother's basement.

Gives you what you expect.... Action Action Action
Review date: 2008-07-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

John is back and doing what he does best saving the day! If your looking for a film with none stop action then this is the one for you, the film never gets boring there is a story to follow and its easy enough to get into its in a nutshell about a computer hacker thats trying to destroy the usa by taking all the countrys money. John is as always in the wrong place at the wrong time but hes the man to save the day and he does so.

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Reviews


Even Better in Blu Ray!!
Review date: 2008-07-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

Brilliant Film! any die hard fan will find this on par with the first die hard film and blueray just makes it 100x better!



Bruce Willis Looks as Fit as Ever in Top Die Hard Film
Review date: 2008-06-09 Rating: 10 out of 10

When I heard of Die Hard 4.0 my first thoughts were "they're are really milking this dry" not so....Bruce Willis returns as the infamous Detective John McClane in what is best described as one of the finest Die Hard Films of the Four....In a computer age the USA is under a threat of a total closedown of all transport,business and power through the proverbial genius who has just turned lunatic in tapping into every Government computer known to man the reason? to get the $$$millions of dollars payoff that he didn't get when working for the US Government in the past..... Queue the role for the thorn in the side cop to spoil it .....Bruce Willis plays his role to utmost perfection and even with the years going by from the last Die Hard he is still every bit as believeable as the cop who gets the bad guys playing his role with class to spare and incredible stunts...Die Hard 4.0 is a fast action special effects bonanza with a great storyline that fits into the modern day with ease.....from professional hitmen to computer whizz kids it becomes a battle of the minds as well as the braun....This Blu-ray is everything you would want it to be in terms of reference quality with picture pin sharp and the sound absolutely sublime especially with explosions making your living room shake..... A Blu-ray of reference quality status and a film to match....real class

Die Hard...if you do not watch this film
Review date: 2008-04-24 Rating: 10 out of 10

When I first found out that Die Hard 4.0 was being released I couldn't wait to watch it as the previous three films were all great by themselves. As the months drew closer to the fourth instalment's release date, I was becoming more and more anxious at the fact that it would not stand up to its predecessors and it would be another Hollywood franchise sold out of it's dignity. However, after seeing it I was blown away by just how good it actually was. It more than competes with any big budget action film of today's standards and maintains the integrity it built from the first film. Willis is superb, playing McClane just as we remember him, Long is a great sidekick and balances out the action well with comedy and Olyphant is great as the young villain. The story is also very good and although farfetched is still a clever adventure in modern society and shows the transition of Die Hard into the 21st century. The blu-ray edition of this film is as good as it gets. Excellent detail and presentation quality and really emphasises the phenomenal action scenes this movie boasts. Overall brilliant film, of course not as good at the original but still a keeper for the blu-ray collection.

Yipee Ki Yay
Review date: 2008-04-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

12 Years after Die Hard with a Vengeance McClane is back and he has a teenage daughter who calls him John and simply doesn't want to know. John hasn't seen any action since him and his old partner Zeus took down the New York bomber Simon Gruber. Now seems like the right time to get back in action and kick some major terrorist booty, only this time he needs the help of a computer geek. Ex-government official turned cyber terrorist aims to get revenge on the government that refused to listen to him and bring them to their knees. He employs a group of hackers to build a program for him which will help him take down the entire US networks, including Utilities, Traffic & defence. Once the program is built, the terrorist and his small team have no need for these small time hackers so by turning their hard drives into bombs he goes about executing every one of them. Unfortunately for him one of the hackers is being brought in by John McClane for suspicion of breaking into the FBI networks. The bomb goes off with McClane and the hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) inside, they don't die but now John is in the action and from that minute you know the big guy is back. He fires off a quick one liner after the explosion which makes you tingle with excitement as you remember the good old' days. "I hope that didn't wake the neighbours."
After the gun toting battle McClane and Farrell get out of the apartment building and proceed to go on the run, but although McClane has the intention of just dropping off Farrell at the station he is now pulled into this world of cyber terror.

Bruce Willis has always been perfect for this role, and although people had their doubts about whether he could pull off the McClane character 12 years after the last film, he surely put their doubts to rest.
When we first meet Justin Long as the Cyber Hacker (Matt Farrell) it seems from the very first scene that you know he's going to be perfect for the role. He gives off this aura that he's someone who's not familiar with the world outside of his apartment, and becomes completely on edge when he first meets McClane. The relationship between both McClane and Farrell starts off the way it was meant to be is that Farrell is the criminal being brought in by the cop. This relationship develops through each scene and you see quite a cliché image of the technically wise kid teaching the slow old man about computers. It's not a bad thing, as the chemistry between the two really works and develops into what can only be described as a father/son relationship. Between the two characters a subtle side plot begins to develop as it gives us a clash of cultures story. Farrell teaches McClane about the world of computers and how they play a major part in the lives of everyone, and McClane teaches Farrell of the importance of putting his life on the line for his country and his family.
Justin Long and Timothy Olyphant are two very small time actors but acting alongside Willis in this film series can really put their names up in lights and build their careers. The character of Thomas Gabriel is a man who loved his country and after 9/11 he tried to warn the government how vulnerable their defence networks were. The government dismissed the claims and this effectively destroyed his career. He became angry and vengeful and decided to instil upon the U.S. government what's known as a fire sail which is a 3 stage program that can destroy the United States networks.

The action is very much non-stop and quite reminiscent; more of the 3rd Die Hard movie rather than the first two. It's over the top and it's very much on a larger scale when compared to the other films in the series. An example of this is the scene in the tunnel when Gabriel directs all traffic towards McClane and Farrell under the tunnel. The number of cars that are smashed up and flung towards the two in an over the top fashion is insane. The CGI although used quite minimally is used in an intelligent manner and only used for when a live action sequence is simply impossible. Dare I say that this film brinks of the level of possibly being better than the first Die Hard film. The action is superb, the acting and chemistry amongst the actors is something special and something that a fan of cinema can truly appreciate.
Although this was a film based entirely on fiction, one has to wonder about the true possibilities of such events that took place in this film. Our governments will have us reassured that our networks are secure and impenetrable, yet time and time again we hear stories of how teenagers hack into what we're told as the most secure systems in the world. The possibility of a fire sail which is talked about in the movie is something which is possible in reality and that is something which I think gives the bigger impact in our minds and makes this all the more believable.

Willis brings us the nostalgia effect in this film as we remember the man who had what we could call at least a marginal head of hair and he brings back the enthusiasm that he has for his country no matter how bad the pay is.

Justin Long brings us the typical image of how we see today's young adult. He has this disrespectful immaturity, yet this childish vulnerability that we come to adore with this character as he demands the constant protection of McClane but builds his self confidence after he is faced with difficult situation after difficult situation.

Timothy Olyphant I feel is the star of this show as he creates a believable character who is as patriotic as McClane yet wants revenge against a government that betrayed him. He gives off this disgruntled insecure individual who started off simply wanting to prove a point but dug himself into a hole he can't get out of.

This is easily one of the best films I've seen in a long time and I'm glad it's a Die Hard sequel as I would hate to be giving it a 1 star and telling everyone how terrible I thought this film was. The action was full on and non-stop and this was mixed with believable characters and a storyline that matches with today's fears of terrorism.

I truly loved this film and have loved the past films in the series and this is the reason why this has been my longest review to date.

Product Details/Specifications


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

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

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036036283
Binding: Blu-ray
Number of items: 1
Format: DTS Surround Sound, PAL,
Release date: 2007-10-29
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 123 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: Spanish (Original Language)

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