Review of Die Hard With a Vengeance

Introduction

Well, here`s a movie the likes of which won`t be made again for a while. Die Hard With A Vengeance is a fun filled two hours of terrorism in New York. It is of course a sequel to Die Hard 2: Die Harder about terrorists crashing airliners, which itself is a sequel to the original Die Hard, terrorists in skyscrapers. Unlike the Alanis Morrisette song, this actually is pretty ironic. A year or so ago, I would have been a little uncomfortable watching a film like this, but now I quite miss the wholesale mayhem that Hollywood event movies were renowned for. Alas the western world is still squeamish when it comes to this sort of thing, and indeed one of the disappointments of the year so far has been a rather tame Hulk movie, where the big green brute is free to exercise his talent for bedlam in the barren deserts, but arriving in San Francisco, all he does is cause some minor road-works. In 1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood`s anthem Relax was banned from Radio 1, and the video was shocking to say the least, but their second hit, Two Tribes was a mainstream smash, with a memorable video pitting Reagan against Chernenko in a pit fight. This year, Electric 6 have a hit with Gay Bar, complete with suggestive video, but have to edit any reference to war from the lyrics. It`s one topsy-turvy world, and I`ve lost the thread…

That`s it, Die Hard With A Vengeance; this particular bare bones Buena Vista release is particularly controversial, once again due to censorship, both on the part of the BBFC and the studios. I decided to satisfy my curiosity and spent a little time surfing, to narrow down just what is missing and where from the third Die Hard film.

You know that John McClane is going to have a bad day, especially when that day starts with a bomb going off in a New York department store followed by a telephone call from a bomber who has a personal grudge against him. What follows is a rather macabre game of Simon Says, and pretty soon McClane is walking into Harlem, half naked and wearing a placard boasting racist sentiments in order to avoid another target being attacked. A Good Samaritan spoils Simon`s fun though as shopkeeper Zeus Carver prevents McClane being attacked by some irate residents. It`s no matter, as Simon decides to have his fun with both of them, sending McClane and Carver, as well as the rest of the authorities on a wild goose chase around New York looking for more bombs. This of course leaves the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York completely vulnerable. But John isn`t going to be duped for long, especially when he realises that Simon has a more personal connection to him.

Video

This disc comes with a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The picture is fair to middling, with the image sharp and the colours vibrant. However the problem is with the artefacts. There is a bit of macro blocking and minor problems with flesh tones, but the bigger problem is with dirt on the print and some instances of grain. It`s not something that I would normally mark down for, but with a high profile title like this, I expect better. The first two movies were Christmas movies but this is set in the height of summer and that comes across in the cinematography, with glorious cityscapes and a glowing red dawn starting off the movie. John McTiernan directs with panache, and the action sequences are to the most part stunning. That of course is with the exception of a couple of clumsy edits made to obtain the 15 rating, and a ridiculous truck surfing moment that looks out of place in the Die Hard canon. The layer change is quite ugly, stuck right in the middle of some orchestration leaving me wondering if my player had broken.

Audio

The sound for Die Hard With A Vengeance is DD 5.1 English. It is a nice vibrant soundtrack that conveys the action very well. The effects are well placed and the dialogue is clear throughout.

Features

Nothing, and be grateful for that much.

Conclusion

I`m in two minds about Die Hard With A Vengeance, as it doesn`t sit too well with the first two movies. The first film was a fly in the ointment scenario, with John McClane in the wrong place at the wrong time causing havoc to unsuspecting bad guys. Die Hard was very tense and claustrophobic and McClane was very much the reluctant hero. The second film was pretty much a remake of the first, moving the action and the characters to an airport. Both were set at Christmas giving them a seasonal feel and it`s almost traditional to watch Die Hard with the turkey dinner. Still, the mid nineties had played out the Die Hard Scenario with movies set on planes, trains, boats, buses, and even an Ice Hockey stadium. So for Die Hard With A Vengeance the story was changed, the characters dropped, leaving only McClane to face a nightmare day in midsummer New York. Of all the elements changed I guess I miss the Christmassy feel the most. Still it was a wise change that resulted in a film that was substantially better than the first sequel. This time McClane is the unsuspecting dupe being terrorised by a mysterious voice on the other end of the phone. Gone is the claustrophobic feel of conduits and ducts as McClane is given the run-around in New York, and it is the relentless pace that provides for the suspense. However the biggest change of all is the addition of a sidekick. Zeus Carver is a welcome change to provide added banter during the proceedings. In that the third film is more akin to a Lethal Weapon flick, with the buddy movie clichés being wheeled out for the unlikely pairing of McClane and Carver.

The cast is excellent, with Bruce Willis reprising his most well known character. The addition of Samuel L. Jackson works in the films favour and the two of them have some choice moments. Another Brit makes it to the bad guy gallery of Hollywood, as Jeremy Irons plays Simon and he is certainly more flamboyant than the bad guy of the previous film, but his henchmen are uniformly bland.

The disc though is what is the most contentious thing, especially when you look at the visitor reviews on this site. Universally scathing, they have consistently marked this disc down as a travesty, shredded beyond all recognition. Curiously I found that while the film was cut, it wasn`t as bad as people had said. Either that or I`m far more forgiving. Anyway with the help of IMDB, BBFC, Melonfarmers and DVDCompare, I`ve managed to establish a tale of two DVDs.

First, from what I can gather, every version is cut by at least 12 seconds compared to the US theatrical release including the R1 two disc edition. To obtain a 15 rating for the UK theatrical release, Buena Vista allowed 12 seconds of cuts and the change of several lines of dialogue for profanity by the BBFC. This includes the knife attack by Katya on the security guard and the lift shoot out. For the video and DVD release, they were obliged to make a further 16 seconds of cuts, most notably to the truck shootout and the chain fight.

However the first release of Die Hard With A Vengeance on DVD in the UK was mastered from a completely different source, losing several key scenes in their entirety as well as subtitles for some German dialogue, prompting the consumer outcry. This was the DVD that I thought I had purchased, but to my surprise, it wasn`t. Rather, it has the 28 seconds of cuts that the BBFC had required removed and that is all. It transpires that when the BBFC learnt of the butchered version, it said that as it wasn`t the version that was passed, it would have to be withdrawn. In mid 2000, this bare bones Buena Vista single disc was re-released with the correct 15 rated version, and that is the version that I own and have reviewed. (The BBFC is a major cause of bother with this, incorrectly stating the running time of the theatrical version at 135:05. With the 4% PAL conversion that would imply 6 minutes of cuts, which is just ridiculous. It`s fair to say that the US NTSC running time of 130 minutes approx is more accurate, especially when compared to this discs PAL running time of 122:48)

The two disc Special Edition contains the same film as this, at least in terms of running time. The additional scenes mentioned on the cover refer to the scenes that were excised from the first version of this disc, and the minor cuts and dubs that remain do so to keep with the 15 rating of the disc.

For the completist, the R1 Special Edition has the fewest cuts and a DTS soundtrack to boot. If you are one of those few who have a R2 only player, then you may consider the 2 disc versions released in Denmark and Germany, which are identical to the US release, but lack DTS soundtracks.

A final coda, if you can find the widescreen VHS or laserdisc in the UK, you`ll find that they are rated 18. That`s right, THEY are uncut.

As for this disc if you can find it, it is infinitely preferable to the first disastrous release, but it is still cut and clumsily so. While the BBFC are zealous in their efforts to keep the audiences of the UK safe from corruption, the blame falls solely on the studios, who to maximise their cinema profits insist on lower ratings and gut their own movies. Surely by the time it comes to home Video and DVD releases, this aspect is irrelevant. The film should be submitted in its complete form to the BBFC and it should be released at that rating for home viewing. I doubt that the sales of this disc would have dipped in the slightest had it had an 18 rating. The low Content and Overall marks are for the clumsy edits and a jarring layer change.