GREAT movies, but FOX dropped the ball hard
First, let me start by saying I love the Die Hard movies. So when I saw this collection on BD, I just couldn't refuse!
You already know the movies, so let's get to the overall package.
Positives:
+ DTS MA on every movie that really reinvigorates the films
+ Good set of extras, not a single feature from the standard DVDs is left out, making you think these are the definitive versions to have
+ Special box saves you space on shelf and keeps discs safe. It's a little bigger than the Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray] boxset (without the slipcase).
+ Exactly the same discs as individual releases, so you're not getting gimped versions of the already released BD movies --they're the same.
+ Live Free or Die Hard is a total show-stopper, demo material, A+ reference disc. Both in terms of video and audio, this is one of the best movies to showcase what High...
2009 version replaced with this 2013 version
This review was for the original Die Hard Collection released in 2009, not the recent 25th Anniversary Collection released in 2013. So this review below is for the 2009 set, not the 2013 set. I do not own the 2013 set (25th Anniversary Collection). Check when other reviews were written by other members to see if they posted recent reviews for the 2013 edition.
When I think Blu-ray, I expect high quality video and sound, otherwise there is no point to buying a blu-ray version of an already existing dvd.
The first two movies, Die Hard 1 & 2 from the 80's, look terrible visually. FOX did a horrible job in re-mastering these for blu-ray, or they did not re-master them at all. It is possible they used the regular dvd's and just up-converted them without remastering/restoring them digitally. Sound is decent. The third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance is more recent from the 90's, but it doesn't look great. The fourth film does look good and sounds great, but it would be...
Good, but could have been better.
I grew up with the Die Hard movies. I really liked the 1st movie and am in the minority becuase I also enjoyed the second. The 3rd and 4th movie I liked, though not as much, because they didn't feel like Die Hard movies as much as the first two did. 1&2 consentrated mostly on John McClain. With the 3rd you had Samuel Jackson. He was a big focus during the movie, but was similar enough to Bruce Willis' character that it didn't distract too much from the movie.
With the 4th movie, it didn't feel like Die Hard so much. At times, it almost felt like a sequel to 16 blocks, that had been watered down to a PG13. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy the movie, but it definitely isn't the Die Hard I grew up with.
The audio was very good on all films, but I was disappointed by the earlier films video quality. After recently seeing what Warner Bros. were able to do for Blade Runner, the first two movies are pretty disappointing. BR is 25 years old and they were able to...
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