It’s difficult to imagine that we’ve had John McTiernan’s Die Hard, with us for thirty years.
After all that time, it has not lost one iota of it’s thrills or pleasure.
Is it a perfect film?
Pretty much.
Brought to 4k UHD Blu-ray courtesy of Fox, along with HDR, and a huge DTS-HD MA track, it joins that ranks for that tiny number of bona fide true 4k Blu-rays.
And it’s perfect in every regard.
Full film resolution, with requisite grain, perfect color, deep rich blacks, and stable as a rock.
Bruce Willis still shines through. Alan Rickman is as nasty as ever. And Reginald VelJohnson still delights.
This ones is easy. Just buy a copy and add it to your library. Once you see it in 4k, there’s no going back.
A magnificent release from Fox!
Image – 5
Audio – 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Upgrade from Blu-ray – You better believe it!
Pass / Fail – Pass
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
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Dave H
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Scott Merryfield
I'll have to pick this one up before the holidays, as this film is always a must watch for us around Christmas. Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber is one of the all-time best screen villains.
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- Robert Harris
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Adam Lenhardt
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Adam Lenhardt
Absolutely. The shows that had the foresight to shoot on film, going back to I Love Lucy, survive in reruns forever. The shows that were broadcast live (where only a kinescope survives, if anything survives at all) have mostly disappeared from our consciousness.
At least with the 1980s to early 2000s shows that were shot on film and edited on tape can be resurrected at full resolution, albeit through a very expensive and time-consuming process of reconstruction. I doubt we'll ever see one as ambitious as "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but hopefully we'll see more "Twin Peaks" and "Freaks & Geeks".
sleroi
Supporting Actor
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I received this uhd disc yesterday and the first thing my son said was "whoa, that's a real movie?"
Can't wait to introduce him to it this weekend.
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To my eyes, the difference between standard definition and HD is the biggest leap. I think 2K mastered films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens will do fine even if they don’t look as good as some other native 4K productions. But I think stuff that’s shot on film but edited on tape can look pretty lousy especially on modern sets, and even worse when compressed for streaming, so I worry about the long term viability of those programs.
But it’s great to finally have a better-than-decent Die Hard release at long last!
revgen
Screenwriter
Matlock is the one that's most in danger of having this happen.
Both Murder She Wrote and Matlock premiered about the same time, but MSW stuck to film editing, while Matlock used video. MSW is now being released on Blu-Ray while Matlock doesn't have an HD master at all.
atfree
DavidJ
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So was I, but with the current pricing down to $19.99, I used some bonus points to get it down to $16.19 after sales tax.
YanMan
Stunt Coordinator
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Spot-on, Mr. Harris.
Every time I watch this movie, I come away completely amazed at how flawlessly it all comes together. And yes, it totally is one of the great Christmas movies!
...And for everyone's enjoyment, there's THIS guy's take (saw this link from discussion at the blu-ray forums):
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/i-watched-die-hard-for-the-first-time
Worth
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Dave H
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Lord Dalek
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