Product Description

"The best of the best is back and better than ever" (WNYW-TV) in the latest installment of the pulse-pounding, thrill-a-minute Die Hard action films. New York City detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) delivers old-school justice to a new breed of terrorists when a massive computer attack on the U.S. infrastructure threatens to shut down the entire country over Independence Day weekend.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12380 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 129 minutes

Amazon.com

Twelve years after Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third and previous film in the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard 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, a.k.a. the "Apple guy") 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.

Live Free or Die Hard 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 humor, and Willis's ability to toss off a quip while barely alive. There was some controversy over the film's PG-13 rating--there might be less blood than usual, and McClane's famous tag line is somewhat obscured--but there's still has plenty of action and a high body count. Yippee-ki-ay! --David Horiuchi

Beyond Live Free or Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard on Blu-Ray

Top U.S. Box Office of 2007

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Stills from Live Free or Die Hard (click for larger image)

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On the DVD
For most fans, the masterfully orchestrated action of Live Free or Die Hard is its own reward; dvd extras are mere icing on a very rich cake. Which is good, because the icing here is pretty thin! It's no surprise that the lengthy, multi-part making-of featurette is all marketing--no one says anything but how great the movie is, how great the actors are, and how great the director and crew are. The technical details are certainly wide-ranging (everything from casting to color correction) but pedestrian. What's more disappointing is that a one-on-one interview between Bruce Willis and co-star Kevin Smith (writer/director of Clerks), both of whom have reputations as loose cannons, stays just as on-message. If there's such a thing as modest puffery, this is it: Lots of head-nodding references to the "mythology" of the Die Hard series and supposedly offhand comments about how this movie, unlike the last two, really delivers the goods. Willis presents a self-effacing attitude, but his remarks feeled canned. The movie commentary, featuring Willis and director Len Wiseman, is in a similar vein of low-key self-congratulation. The only other extra--aside from trailers and a smug, studio-made overview of the whole series--is an atrocious music video homage from an atrocious novelty band called Guyz Nite...who, it must be said, provide the only breath of spontaneity on the entire disc of extras. It's too bad; this well-made action movie doesn't need to be coddled, and would have benefited from a rougher, looser, more John McClane attitude from its creators. --Bret Fetzer