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DVD Review: 'Live Free or Die Hard'

The film is giddily stupid fun and the two-disc DVD is packed with extras

Daniel Fienberg
Zap2It.com

November 20 2007

While the Summer of 2007 may go down as a season of bloated sequels and disappointing blockbuster follow-ups, one of the few franchise pics to deliver was "Live Free or Die Hard." Overcoming a horrendous New Hampshire-inspired title and a main villain who failed to live up to the standards set by Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons, "Live Free or Die Hard" wasn't exactly intellectually substantial cinema, but it was surely great fun.

Directed by Len Wiseman ("Underworld"), "Live Free or Die Hard" wastes little time in establishing its plot -- wisecracking John McClane runs afoul of a group of computer experts bent on taking the United States out behind the woodshed -- and rushes into a series of increasingly muscular set pieces. "Live Free or Die Hard" has only occasional respect for the laws of gravity or even for simple narrative continuity, but it makes up for those failings in pure, balls-out audacity.

Granted, the John McClane of "Live Free or Die Hard" only has superficial similarities to the resourceful, but simple John McClane who used to dread Christmas. The John McClane who liberated the Nakatomi Tower probably wouldn't have thought to blow up a helicopter using a car as a projectile and he might have thought twice before riding on the outside of a fighter jet. Yes, the new John McClane is a bit more of a traditional action hero and a bit less of the reluctant, but decidedly human character we met at the beginning of the franchise, but when the new guys stunts are staged with this much giddy, child-like enthusiasm, it's hard to care. It's a greater concern that this new John McClane has to self-censor his "Yippee Ki Yay" to earn a PG-13 rating.

While Willis anchors the movie, he's been surrounded by an assortment of co-stars obviously geared towards helping "Live Free or Die Hard" skew younger. Justin Long is a worthy and surprisingly unannoying sidekick, while Maggie Q's butt-kicking henchwoman easily outshines Timothy Olyphant's tightly-wound, but limited baddie. Kevin Smith adds enough humor to his brief cameo that you ignore that his scene grinds the movie's momentum to a halt.

"Live Free or Die Hard" arrives on DVD on Tuesday (Nov. 19) in a variety of different formats, including a single-disc theatrical cut, a single-disc unrated cut and a two-disc set including both versions of the movie.

All versions include a mostly lively commentary track from Willis, Wiseman and editor Nicolas De Toth, though that audio track becomes superfluous on the two-disc set. Also overlapping is the clip-package video for Guyz Night's "Die Hard," plus behind-the-scenes footage with the band.

The feature-length documentary "Analog Hero in a Digital World: Making of Live Free or Die Hard" covers this film with a level of depth and reverence usually reserved for a "Lord of the Rings" film. Just about everybody involved in "Live Free" pops up to talk about the movie, from the cast to the producers to the editor to the sound editor to the composer. There were more than a few times that I'd just as soon settled for a bit less information, but that's a good complaint to have.

I had high hopes for "Yippee-Ki-Yay Mother F*****!," a 23-minute conversation between Willis and Kevin Smith, just two guys sitting on some steps on the Fox Lot. Unfortunately, Smith treats the assignment like he's a serious journalist and Willis treats it like he's on Quaaludes, resulting in a remarkably dull chat devolves into the usual promotional babble about how this is the best "Die Hard" since the original and Willis never would have done it if he hadn't believed they were working on something special.

A Fox Movie Channel documentary and a gag reel round out the satisfying two-disc set.