Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5863 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Icelandic, Finnish, Czech
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 126 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This seminal 1988 thriller made Bruce Willis a star and established a new template for action stories: "Terrorists take over a (blank), and a lone hero, unknown to the villains, is trapped with them." In Die Hard, those bad guys, led by the velvet-voiced Alan Rickman, assume control of a Los Angeles high-rise with Willis's visiting New York cop inside. The attraction of the film has as much to do with the sight of a barefoot mortal running around the guts of a modern office tower as it has to do with the plentiful fight sequences and the bond the hero establishes with an LA beat cop. Bonnie Bedelia plays Willis's wife, Hart Bochner is good as a brash hostage who tries negotiating his way to freedom, Alexander Godunov makes for a believable killer with lethal feet, and William Atherton is slimy as a busybody reporter. This film is exceptionally well directed by John McTiernan. --Tom Keogh

Video Description
DVD Special Features

Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Muliple Language Subtitles
Original Theatrical Trailer
Filmography/Biography
Featurette
Language: English/Spanish
Subtitles:Swedish/Norweigan/Danish/Finnish/Poruguese/Spanish/Polish/Czech/Hungarian/Icelandic/English for the hearing impaired

Synopsis
On Christmas Eve, a New York cop comes to L.A. to see his estranged wife at her company's Christmas party, held on the top floor of a sparkling skyscraper. When terrorists capture the building, the incredulous cop is the hostages' only hope for survival.
One of the greatest action movies of the late 1980s, DIE HARD ushered in a new standard for the genre. With the dissolution of the Cold War, both the stereotypical Russian threat (represented in movies such as TOP GUN and RED DAWN) and the destructive egoist (as seen in OCTOPUSSY) became less fearful. With DIE HARD, director John McTiernan introduced Hollywood to a new type of villain: the terrorist entrepreneur. Alan Rickman stars as Hans Gruber, a relentless businessman whose lethal tactics achieve his goals. Unlike most '80s film villains who committed globally dangerous acts for liberty, genocide, or megalomania, DIE HARD's Gruber uses guns, explosives, and cunning to storm the Takagi Corporation's Christmas party and heist millions of dollars from the company. In addition, DIE HARD also saw the development of the clumsy or bad luck hero with John McClane (Bruce Willis), a man in the wrong place at the wrong time who chooses to intervene. Action fans would see this misfit hero archetype again in UNDER SIEGE (Steven Segal). Although DIE HARD contains many action movie cliches (one-liners, pyrotechnics), it also broke new ground in its genre.

Customer Reviews

"Yippee cay-yay!"
I don't like typical action movies, but I love Die Hard!

Off-duty cop (Bruce Willis) saves hostages and dispatches the sadistic bad guys against overwhelming odds - a simple plot, done many times since this 1988 thriller, but never done as effectively. The difference: This movie was well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. The script balances heart-pounding action with funny one-liners that always make me laugh out loud. Bruce Willis is wonderful as the Rambo-esque superguy who outwits, outplays, and outlasts the heavily-armed killers, and reveals just enough of his tender side to endear his character to the audience.

Willis is backed up by outstanding supporting players who add depth and surprises: Reginald Veljohnson is the sympathetic cop Willis talks to via radio during his ordeal. Veljohnson is superb as the buddy who grounds the movie. Paul Gleason, whose forte is playing self-important fools, injects much humor into his role as Deputy Police Chief. Alan Rickman plays the witty, urbane gang leader with devilish flair. He is assisted by the talented Alexander Godunov as a ruthless killer. De'voreaux White shines in a small but important role as a helpful limo driver.

The production values are top quality, the action never stops, and each stunt is unique and utterly stupendous. I heartily recommend Die Hard to those who love action films and those who just love excellence in film.

The original "Die Hard": often imitated, never surpassed
It seems clear now that the 1988 film "Die Hard" is one of the most important cinematic touchstones of our lifetime, simply because every action film since then can be reduced to being a variation on the theme (e.g., "Speed" is "Die Hard" on a bus). I am not going to claim that "Die Hard" is more than mindless entertainment, but rather that it is the standard by which all mindless entertainment is to be judged.

One Christmas New York City cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) flies out to Los Angeles to enjoy a nice, quiet Christmas with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who is climbing up the corporate ladder of the Nakatomi Corporation. However John arrives at the company office party a few minutes before a group of terrorists, led by the urbane Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), takes over and holds everybody hostage. While the bad guys begin the long process of breaking into the building' vault, McClane becomes the proverbial "fly in the ointment," on the loose in the building and causing problems. The only person on McClane's side is Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), a cop on the outside who learns about what is really happening inside Nakatomi tower when McClane drops a dead body on his squad car. Also working against McClane are top cop and complete idiot Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason) and sleazy reporter Thronburg (William Atherton).

What makes "Die Hard" work? First, the film had the virtue of making Bruce Willis a movie star. Prior to this point he had failed to make his success with television's "Moonlighting" translate to movies. Leading roles in "Blind Date" and "Sunset" were disappointing enough that the best part of Willis's cinematic resume was being a courtroom spectator in "The Verdict." But in John McClane he had a character that allowed him to get off his one-liners but was also involved in some big action sequences and still found time to use his brains on several occasions. I also like the adding insult to injury twist of fate that finds McClane barefoot when things start happening. The result was that suddenly Willis was promoted to the A list, which almost always makes a bigger splash than when the star is there to begin with.

Second, there were the action sequences, the best of which remains McClane's jump off the exploding top of the building with a fire hose wrapped around his waist. Everything else pales next to that one, but the common theme you have with all of the key sequences is that McClane is an ordinary guy facing long odds in a series of extraordinary circumstances. Another common denominator is that for what McClane comes up with usually involves some thinking as well, such as using an office chair and a computer to create a detonator for plastique explosives. McClane might be unlucky, but he is not stupid. Add to this the fact that the action is pretty much non-stop once it gets started, and this is by no means a boring film.

Third, there are actually some emotional elements to the story, with McClane obviously worried about his wife being held by terrorists being at the top of the list. But there is also the relationship between McClane and Sgt. Powell, even though it exists almost entirely over the radio (but has a nice double payoff in the film's denouement). The scene where McClane asks Powell to pass along a message to Holly provides a sense of despair that usually does not enter into one of these films.

Ultimately, John McTiernan's film achieves a solid balance between characters and actions. If an action film succeeds on the basis of the villain, then Rickman certainly provides that (I like the way his character is introduced), and I have always thought that VelJohnson's show "Family Matters" was an obvious and intelligent effort to capitalize on how great of a character he created in this movie. Then there is Bedelia's Holly Gennaro McClane, who has it all, including a good right hook. You might not understand how those two ended up together in the first place, but can sure appreciate why he wants to stay married to her.

Even the fact that "Die Hard 4: Die Hardest" is currently in pre-production can distract from the reputation of the original. Actually the two sequels are better than most of the imitators that have come down the road ("Speed" is definitely the best of that bunch). Besides making Willis a big time movie star it certainly set the bar higher for all the action films that have been made since 1988 and showed that you needed to have some heart and a sense of style to go with all the witty one-liners and explosive pyrotechnics. "Die Hard" is still a lot of fun to watch.

The Definative Action Movie
Die Hard remains undisputed champ of the action movie genre. For Christ's sake, it's just so perfect, how can it still wupp all newcomers after 15 years? Because it works so well, it makes so much sense, it is so logical. Think about it; does McClane go in all guns blazing? No. Does McClane hide, use sneak tactics and slag off the terrorists? Yep. This is the way it should be - no false heroics (remember Ellis on the radio?) This film feels like (well, it is) one big, calculated action sequence that builds and builds towards a sweaty-palmed, sweaty-foreheaded climax. Rarely do we have an action film where every bad guy has their own name. Rarely does an action movie even show the terrorists communicating with each other. This film has every base covered, action or otherwise. The acting is spot-on for every character, whether it's McClane's laid-back good guy or Deputy Dwayne T Robinson's plain stupidity. But most of all, above all of this, I love the editing. "The Editing?!" Yep, the editing. Director John McTiernan directs the action with top presicion and, in some cases, plain old brutality. However, the editing completes the picture; the switch between McClane and Karl's ferocious punch up and the ensuing chopper raid is cleverly combined with every character desparately pegging it to one place or another. It's actually quite brave to leave such a great action scene halfway through to cut to a policeman buying some twinkies! The DVD edition presents the complete widescreen version - which is good because the TV/VHS pan and scan ruins every shot. In addition, of course, it's a God-send not to have those awful TV dubbings and cuts which make me either laugh or cringe. Finally, the extras are terrific in quality but somehow there doesn't seem to be enough. Nevertheless, this is the all-time greatest action spectacular. Never mind Face Off, The Matrix or The Rock. Buy Die Hard for its sheer logic... and bloody violence of course.