Die Hard, to me, is the quintessential 80’s action film. You had your gruff, likeable, cop (Bruce Willis’ John McClane); a charming-yet-sadistic villain (Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber), and said villain’s team of assorted Eurotrash stereotypes representing the new face of evil in post-Cold War American cinema, the “international terrorist”.  The film was bloody, funny, fresh, and exciting, and kicked off a trend of action films that focused on a very different kind of hero; one just like you and me. Until Die Hard, action films tended to revolve around martial arts experts, mono syllabic Rambos, and hulking Commandos. With John McClane, we got a guy who was neither physically imposing nor particularly skilled. He smoked, drank, swore, cried, and bled…a lot. He was a hero because he had to be, which is something we could all relate to on some sort of level. John McTiernan’s taut direction and Bruce Willis’ star-making turn combined to make Die Hard a massive hit with both audiences and critics, and a franchise was born.

The so-so sequel, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, had McClane stumbling into another terrorist action, this time by a group of rogue soldiers who seize control of Dulles International Airport in Washington, where McClane just so happens to be waiting for his wife’s flight to land. The fact that McClane was once again caught up in a similar circumstance was laughed off in the script with lots of references to déjà vu and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but director Renny Harlin’s Die Harder suffered from too many similarities to the first film, and the reliance on self-referential humor bordered on parody at times. Flat direction, cartoonish action sequences, and a boring villain (Rickman proved an impossible act to follow) made for a disappointing follow-up.

Luckily for the series, McTiernan returned for 1995’s Die Hard with a Vengeance, setting the action in New York City, and lending the franchise a new grittier look and style, as well as introducing a fantastic foil for McClane with Samuel L. Jackson’s Zeus Carver. Jeremy Irons’ turn as Simon Gruber (Hans’ little brother) offered both a charismatic and interesting villain, as well as some validation as to why McClane was once again embroiled in yet another major terrorist threat. Die Hard with a Vengeance offered all of the thrills, spills, and belly laughs of the original. Willis insisted that this was John McClane’s last dance, so it was nice to see him go out with such a satisfying bang.

Of course, 2007 saw Willis step back into McClane’s shoes with Live Free or Die Harder, a film that promised to be the most exciting and inventive entry in the series, but was almost universally panned when it was announced that this fourth installment would be PG-13, as opposed to the R-rating each of the other films had been released under. While I was, at first, unwilling to accept the idea of a PG-13 Die Hard film, Live Free or Die Harder’s promotional campaign sucked me (and most of the series’ fan base) back in, and the resulting film proved to be a fantastically entertaining, funny, and action-packed feast for the eyes. Director Len Wiseman’s (Underworld) knack for helming FX heavy films paid off, here, with eye popping action sequences and heart-stopping stunts that could only be pulled off in the virtual world. Willis  and co-star Justin Long made for a fantastic comic pairing, with Willis’ old soldier being brought up to date by Long’s cutting-edge ubergeek, Matthew Farrell. While Timothy Olyphant’s super-hacker, Thomas Gabriel won’t have audiences forgetting the name Gruber any time soon, the film’s real villain is revealed to be the world’s dependence on technology, and the chaos that would unfold were that technology suddenly taken out of our control.  

Visually, the Die Hard collection is a bit of a mixed bag. The picture quality of both Die Hard and Die Harder is a modest improvement over their standard definition counterparts, with noticeable grain, soft edges, and irregular, sometimes fluid blacks. Still, this is a definite upgrade over the previous incarnations.

The transfers for the more recent Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard, however, are nearly flawless, with incredible detail, accurate color representation, and deep, luxurious blacks.

Each film boasts DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround tracks, each of which has their pluses and minuses. As expected, Die Hard’s audio mix is the weakest, with somewhat muffled dialogue, and a somewhat pedestrian attempt at sound imaging. Being the oldest of the films, I didn’t expect anything Earth shattering, here, and I didn’t get it. Die Harder fares slightly better in the dialogue department, but is noticeably weaker in terms of imaging and bass response. 

Once again, the older films are only modestly better than their DVD releases. However, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard each feature superlative mixes, with floorboard rumbling bass, wonderfully expressive sound imaging, and perfectly balanced dialogue.

Fox has rolled out a heap of extras for this set, but, sadly, only the trailers for these films are presented in 1080p (save for the television spots, which are presented in standard definition only). Die Hard sports three commentary tracks, a stills gallery, a compilation of the fake news footage from the film, and the aforementioned trailers, while Die Hard 2: Die Harder offers a single commentary (by director Renny Harlin), three short featurettes, extended scenes, interviews, and trailers.

Things get a little meatier with the assortment of extras on Die Hard with a Vengeance, including audio commentary, four featurettes, storyboard comparisons, green screen footage, an alternate ending, an interview with Bruce Willis, and trailers.

The newest film gets the best treatment overall, with a whopping 97 minute multi-part featurette entitled “Analog Cop in a Digital World”, commentary track, three other short featurettes, music video, trailers, and a BD Java puzzle game called “Black Hat Intercept!” that was co-created by Kevin Smith.

It’s a nice haul of supplements, but the lack of HD material is a bit of a bummer, especially with a marquee series like this.

If you own a Blu-ray player, you’ve either already picked up this set, or have added it to your Holiday wishlist. After all, this is arguably the greatest action franchise of all time, and it’s exclusive to the medium! Still, one wishes Fox handled this one with a little more care, especially seeing as how this is one of the “big guns” that could really push Blu-ray over the edge in the current format war.