Die Hard Trilogy (6 Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD]

I had been waiting for all three of these films to be brought out in a box set for quite some time. To see them at this great price meant I bought the box set instantly, without really thinking too much about the extras that would be included.

All three films are excellent and follow the unfortunate happenings to cop John McClane (Bruce Willis), who is at home in the role and plays his part excellently. The plotlines are fairly straightforward but effective, which lets face it is exactly what you want when watching action films. The action is gripping and you get the requisite explosions, gunfights and crazed terrorists that you would expect. Perhaps the strange thing is that all three of the films are of a good standard and perhaps the third is the best just for the games that are set. These movies are, in my eyes, much better than the usual action movies that get churned out time and again and definitely worth buying as they all stand up to further viewings.

To be honest I do not really watch the extras with any films I have, although the ones included with this trilogy do seem to include a decent amount and are more than the audio commentaries that are often just thrown in.

In giving 5 stars I have judged these films on value for money entertainment and within the action genre, not within the whole movie field, as there are definitely better films out there. If there was a down side it could only really be that maybe just maybe the films are starting to look a little dated but the quality of the action is still there. If you are after an action movie to sit down and relax with you really cannot go far wrong with this set and at this price it is surely a bargin.

Avoid this boxset. Die Hard 3's very fun gory scenes are cut away, like the blood splattering in Bruce's face in the elevator (in fact, almost the entire elevator shooting is cut) and much more. Except the scene where the guy on the ship gets split in two by the tow cable, guess that's not horrible enough for whoever decided to do this cutting. The other two films are not cut.

One could claim that 1988's "Die Hard" is one of the most influential action movies ever made because it basically revolutionized one of the most copied (but never matched, at least in terms of quality) formulas: a loner, by some unique twist of fate, battles it out with an "x" number of terrorists in an enclosed environment.

By the time that "Die Hard" was released, the action movies were most often dominated by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Chuck Norris. Star Bruce Willis, whose only notable credits at the time were television's "Moonlighting" and 1987's "Blind Date," which was released the year before, was the unlikeliest of them all.

Willis was a wild card - an unlikely choice for the role of our hero "John McClane" - since he didn't have any action credits on his resume' and let's face it: Bruce Willis just didn't have the bulging biceps required for a role like this. But that's the beauty of his performance in this movie: he's an everyday guy, caught in a not-so-everyday situation.

On Christmas, McClane's estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) invites him from New York all the way out to Los Angeles to spend the holidays with the family. But it requires him to make a stop at the Nakatomi offices, which is having an after-hours Christmas party. Riding for the first time in a limo, he's introduced to the suave driver, Argyle (De'voreaux White), who gives him some pretty useful advice on trying to win over the wife.

At Nakatomi, things of course get off to a rough start for McClane, as he gets into an argument with the wife and is left to wallow in his misery. However, those problems are about to take a backseat to the real "party" - twelve terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (all-purpose bad guy Alan Rickman, perfectly cast) - seize control of the building and proceed to rob the Nakatomi building of its assets, most of which include negotiable bonds and other valuables. But they didn't count on the "fly in the ointment" (pain in the a**) to make things hell for these so-called party crashers.

Certainly one of the best known action movies ever, "Die Hard" did receive the scorn of critics upon its 1988 summer release, but the audiences sung a completely different tune.

The film was most often praised for the production, with the brand-new Fox Plaza office tower serving as the fictional Nakatomi building. It was also praised for the energetic and skillful direction of John McTiernan, whose most notable credit was the action-sci-fi thriller "Predator," which was released the year before and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bruce Willis was the perfect actor for this performance, since he brings the wit and vulnerability to a role like this one. If Stallone or Schwarzenegger were in this movie, I'm sure the effect would have been a lot different.

Personally, I think "Die Hard" is one of the greatest action movies ever, up there close to my favorite action movie of all time, "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Like Indiana Jones in that film, "Die Hard" had an Everyman cast in the role; McClane, like Indiana Jones, wasn't a larger-than-life musclebound grotesque: he was a real guy that you cared about, who got hurt, and had real feelings.

That's why I think both of these movies have sort of stood the test of time as becoming what they are best known for today: action classics, and they're here to stay, ladies and gentlemen.

10/10