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The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and the picture can’t be faulted (only the widescreen ratio, but I’ve covered that already).
The sound is in DTS HD 7.1 and there’s explosions all over the speakers. Again, it technically delivers here, but it’s over the top.
The extras are as follows, all of which are also in HD:
- Deleted Scenes (14.28): There are 7 here, all in stereo, and none of which need to be put back in. You’d think there’d be something here that would help extend the length of the film since 97 minutes is too short for a Die Hard, but most are little set pieces that just divert from the main storyline, such that it is, or repeat plot points we already know.
- Making It Hard To Die (60.22): Well, for the effort they don’t put into the finished product, they certainly do for the extras. This is a 15-part piece that looks at many aspects: Stunts, Helicopters & Aerial, Special Effects, Motion Base, Armoury, Russia & Budapest, The Look of the Movie, Chernobyl, Camera Work, Editorial Los Angeles, Color Grading, Visual Effects, Film Scoring and a Wrap Up.
There’s talk about from key cast and crew members about how they want to make things like explosions as real as possible, rather than just relying on CGI – even though there’s a lot of that; filming scenes inside vehicles where only half of it has been made and the backgrounds are added with green screen; filming some exterior scenes in countries while using movie sets for others; and a compilation of behind-the-scenes moments.
- Anatomy of a Car Chase (26.12): A breakdown of the early car chase where Bruce is going after the bad guys.
- Two of a Kind (8.00): Expect lots of gushing from the cast and crew about how Jai Courtney makes the perfect son of McClane.
- Back in Action (7.06): A puff-piece about John McClane being ‘back in action’ on the big screen.
- The New Face of Evil (6.57): i.e. The Russians.
- Pre-Vis (11.36): Three pre-visualisation sequences here, i.e. basic-looking CGI sequences which are created prior to making the film so the director knows what he’s aiming for. All of these are 2.35:1, and it shows how it could’ve looked. In fact, these are more entertaining than the film itself!
- VFX Sequences (5.35): Creating the final visual effects sequences for 16 scenes. Therse are all obviously brief but make for a nice little addition.
- Storyboards: Taken from five scenes, there’s more storyboard sequences than you can shake a stick at…
- Concept Art Gallery: Almost 130 separate images.
- Theatrical trailers: Two of them here. One about a minute, and the other clocking in at 2:30 (below), both in 1.85:1. These are the only times you’ll hear Beethoven’s Ode To Joy. I remember seeing these with them mentioning the release date being Valentine’s Day. No good action films get released in January or February. Good action films are saved for the summer.
- Maximum McClane (3.16): Clips from the first four films, reminding us when Bruce Willis was at his best… well, for the first 3 films, anyway.
- Audio commentary: From director John Moore and first assistant director Mark Cotone. This is for the extended version only. I rarely listen to these and only skipped to the part where Mary Elizabeth Winstead was cut out, as I was curious to know about this change. They didn’t even mention her.
- Audio descriptive track: For the theatrical version only.
The menu features clips from the film playing with the incidental music playing in the background. There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired and Spanish. Meanwhile, there are a decent number of chapters with 28.
With well over two hours of extras – not including the commentary track, this is a good package… as long as you liked the film. Sadly, that’s the only duff part of it for me.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
2 10 10 8 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 / 101 minutes
Studio: 20th Centuy Fox Home Entertainment
Cat.no.: 5513007001
Year: 2013
Released: June 10th 2013
Chapters: 28
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 (English only), DD5.1: Spanish and French
Languages: English, Spanish and French
Subtitles: English and Spanish
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: John Moore
Producers: Wyck Godfrey and Alex Young
Screenplay: Skip Woods
Music: Marco Beltrami
Cast:
John McClane: Bruce Willis
Jack McClane: Jai Courtney
Komarov: Sebastian Koch
Lucy: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Irina: Yuliya Snigir
Alik: Rasha Bukvic
Collins: Cole Hauser
Murphy: Amaury Nolasco
Chagarin: Sergey Kolesnikov
Anton: Roman Luknár
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.