Die Hard

With "Live Free or Die Hard" about to hit the theaters, Fox reaches back into the vaults for the action movie franchise that turned wisecracking lug Bruce Willis into an action hero. "Die Hard" (1988) dropped New York cop John McClane in a Los Angeles skyscraper to match wits with terrorist Alan Rickman and his ruthless crew when they lock down the building on Christmas Eve. Yippee ki yay. The disc features the extended video version (amounting to a single extended scene) and the commentary tracks recorded for the original laser-disc release (by director John McTiernan and production designer Jackson DeGovia, with scene-specific commentary by special effects supervisor Richard Edlund) and subtitle commentary by cast and crew. It's another Christmas and another crisis for McClane when he battles terrorists at a snow-bound airport in "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (1990), the film that launched Renny Harlin's short reign as a Hollywood action king. Harlin provides commentary on the disc. In "Die Hard With a Vengeance" (1995), Samuel L. Jackson becomes Willis' reluctant ally when criminal mastermind Jeremy Irons puts them through a lethal game of Simon Says. Director McTiernan returned to direct and provides commentary on the disc. Each film is also available separately. Frankly it's a bit slim for the re-release of the action franchise and I'd expect a more lavish special edition to follow the DVD release of "Live Free or Die Hard." But the box set of thinpak cases does come with the exclusive bonus disc called (what else?) "Yippee Ki Yay," which features the documentary "Wrong Guy, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: A Look Back at 'Die Hard'" and the featurette "The Continuing Adventures of John McClane."