Extras: Director's commentary, alternate ending, 2 TV specials,
making-of-featurette, behind-the-scenes vignettes, storyboard sequence,
Bruce Willis interview, special effects breakdown, theatrical trailers,
and TV spots.
Director:
John McTiernan
Screenplay:
Jonathan Hensleigh
Cast:
John McClane: Bruce Willis
Zeus: Samuel L. Jackson
Simon Grueber: Jeremy Irons
Joe Lambert: Graham Greene
Connie Kowalsi: Colleen Camp
Arthur Cobb: Larry Bryggman
Katya: Sam Phillips
The Die Hard series
is a guaranteed kick in the teeth. Bone-jarring
action, gore, realistic dialogue, it's all here. The hero is someone we
can all love because he's flawed and he's thrown right in the middle of
these things. That's what makes this movie and the series so much fun.
When you watch one of the trilogy you're going to be in for an action
packed ride and the third is no exception.
Die Hard 3 reteams the director of the first Die Hard (John McTiernan)
and Bruce Willis (John McClane) for another outing. McTiernan had
nothing to do with the second one which showed but you can tell he had
fun with this movie. It's framed right in every scene and the action is
filmed in a gritty camera sense. Too bad they're not going to make a
fourth one.
Die Hard 3 tells the story of John McClane who is back in his hometown
of New York and suspended from the LAPD. Suddenly a department store is
rocked by an explosion literally in the first minute. The man
responsible calls himself Simon (Jeremy Irons) and demands that John
McClane be brought out of suspension for a little joke. The joke is he
has to stand in the middle of Harlem with a racist sign over him.
McClane agrees since Simon threatens another bomb. When doing so, a shopkeeper
named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) sees him and tries to bring him to his
senses. They are attacked by a gang who sees the sign and they retreat
to the police station. Zeus is demanded to go with McClane as Simon
tells the NYPD that there are numerous bombs planted around the city
area. What follows is awesome action as McClane and Zeus race to diffuse
them all.
I have to say I'm a little torn with my decision with the best Die
Hard movie. Vengence was the first one I saw, then I watched 2 and just
recently watched the first one. Die Hard 2 is out of the question so
it's between 3 and 1. I think I'm going to go with 3 because of the
smart writing, the chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis,
and numerous other reasons. But Vengence is just a notch above the first
one.
Into the disc. Fox released this movie as one of their first discs and
I am told that it was one of the worst ones on the market. So it was no
suprise when they released this one. The video is almost perfect. The
colors are well balanced and sharp and pixellization is nowhere to be
found. A very good transfer except for one thing - edge enhancement is
bad at times. Why this happened I'll never know but it's not too
distracting. Overall this is a very nice transfer.
The sound is, of couse, great. Multiple tracks are offered here. 5.1,
2.0, DTS tracks for English and 2.0 for French. One of the best tracks
I've heard, just wait until the subway scene - Demo disc material!
The extras are plentiful. The alternate opening is dug out and
I'm glad they didn't go wih it. Tons of TV spots and trailers are
offered along with storyboards and such. The only thing I wish would
have been included was for the commentary to feature Willis and Jackson
as well.
Overall, I reccomend Die Hard 3 if you're looking for a great action
flick. I would buy the first one and this one since 2 is the weakest of
the bunch.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
