When New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) discovers his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney) has been imprisoned in Russia, he cashes out his vacation days to see what trouble his son has gotten into this time. However, John soon discovers that Jack is actually working for the CIA, and that his unannounced arrival in Moscow disrupted Jack’s operation.

In exchange for his rescue, political prisoner Komarov (Sebastian Koch) was going to provide valuable intelligence to the US government. However, his former business partner Chagarin (Sergey Kolesnikov) doesn’t want this information to come to light, and sends a team of men led by the eccentric Alik (Rasha Bukvic) to stop him. Now the McClanes must learn to work together to keep Komarov alive long enough to retrieve the information and flee the country—but John’s approach is to run in with guns blazing doesn’t really resonate with Jack’s more methodical, planned-out way of doing things.

All of the action we’ve come to expect from the Die Hard franchise returns for this fifth installment—from one of the longest, most destructive and over-the-top car chases, to people diving out of buildings and helicopter crashes. Not to mention all of the gunfire and explosions that are too numerous to count. Also back are the John McClane one-liners, the humor and callbacks to the previous films. A Good Day To Die Hard also introduces some great new larger-than-life villains and some unexpected plot twists and turns.

This latest installment of the Die Hard franchise has a much darker, grittier look than the previous films. The picture is a bit grayer and washed out to add to this feeling. The director utilized a lot of hand-held and hidden cameras to try to give it more of a “YouTube feel”, making the viewer more of an eye witness to the action.

Bruce Willis feels like the same old John McClane we have grown to love over the years, and delivers on both the comedy and the action just as well as ever. I was also impressed with Jai Courtney, who I only knew from his work on the Spartacus TV series. His American and Russian accents both sounded natural, and his chemistry with Bruce Willis was great. It was believable that these two could be father and son. He, too, was able to deliver a well rounded action hero performance.

The early Die Hard films had this claustrophobic, confined feeling. John McClaine was stuck somewhere in close confines with the villains and had to thwart their plan. These tight circumstances helped add to the non-stop action and unrelenting stress of McClane’s predicament. However, this film is more spread out, allowing for more breaks in the action and changes of scenery. The result is missing that non-stop pressure feeling for out heroes. While I did enjoy the relationship between John and Jack, and how it develops over the course of the film, it broke up the momentum of the action. However, there are still plenty of fun edge-of-your seat moments.

For the most part the action sequences are well done and look incredibly realistic. The car chase sequence near the beginning of the film was spectacular and ranks right up there with the ones in Ronin and The French Connection! However, it’s like they ran out of budget or time when it came to the finale of the film. While the sequence itself is quite thrilling, there are too many points where the use of green screen becomes obvious and it takes you out of the moment—and there is over-use of slow motion.

The video quality is very uneven on this blu-ray, but that may be a limitation of the original film. Outdoor scenes look quite gritty and washed out, while indoor scenes look much cleaner and crisper. The sound, on the other hand, is quite a nice mix that makes great use of surround and bass channels. You feel like you are in the middle of all the action—and experience all of those explosions.

I was extremely impressed with the shear quantity and quality of bonus features packed onto this Blu-ray. There are hours of behind the scenes footage and interviews along with deleted scenes, concept art and storyboards. If there’s one thing missing it’s a gag reel, but that is easily forgiven with everything else that has been provided. There are also two cuts of the film—the original theatrical cut and an extended cut that runs about four minutes longer. I watched the extended cut for this review—according to the audio commentary, the extended cut takes advantage of being unrated and changes things like shooting a character in the head instead of the shoulder. This Blu-ray combo pack also includes a DVD, an iTunes Digital Copy and an UltraViolet DigitalHD copy.

While this fifth installment doesn’t match the awesomeness of the early Die Hard films, it comes close and has some amazing action sequences, and the return of one of the most iconic characters in cinema. It’s definitely worth at checking out for fans of the franchise or fans of the actors, and the bonus features alone are worth the price of the disc.

What’s Included:

Film :

Blu-ray:
• Extended Cut (1:41:11)
• Theatrical Cut (1:37:39)
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
• English SDH, Spanish, French subtitles

DVD:

• Theatrical Cut Only
• 480p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DD 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround DD 2.0, French Surround DD 2.0
• English SDH, Spanish subtitles

Digital Copy: (Redemption Deadline 6/4/2015)

• Theatrical Cut Only
• iTunes Digital Copy (transferred via the DVD)
• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy

Extras (Only available on the Blu-ray):

• Deleted Scenes (14:28)
  Seven deleted scenes—a few that slightly change how events take place in the film. Choose Play All or select from Jack Scopes Out Courthouse, Collins Gets Approval To Move, John McClane Original Introduction, Russian Girls On Plane, Safe House Intrusion, Gun Store, and Fight With Anton.
• Making It Hard To Die (1:00:22)
  Extensive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film including interviews with the cast and crew and a lot of footage from the sets. Choose Play All or select from Introduction, Stunts, Helicopters and Aerial, Special Effects, Motion Base, Armoury, Russia and Budapest, The Look fo the movie, Chernobyl, Camera Work, Editorial Los Angeles, Color Grading, Visual Effects, Film Scoring, and Wrap Up.
• Anatomy of a Car Chase (26:12)
  The creators, cast and crew talk about what went into the extensive chase sequence near the beginning of the film. Includes a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.
• Two Of A Kind (8:00)
  Jai Courtney, Bruce Willis and the film’s producers talk about the character of Jack McClane and his relationship with his father. Includes behind-the-scenes footage.
• Back in Action (7:06)
  Bruce Willis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Lucy McClane”) and the producers talk about the return of John McClane. Includes behind-the-scenes footage.
• The New Face of Evil (6:57)
  The cast and producers talk about the film’s characters, their relationships and motivations, and some of the twists and turns in the film.
• Pre-Vis (11:36)
  A look at the computer-generated versions of some of the film’s biggest action sequences. It was interesting to see the detail to which things are planned out ahead of time. Choose Play All or select from Cold Opening, Desert Heist, and Truck Chase.
• VFX Sequences (5:35)
  A look at how effects were added to enhance various scenes. There is no audio, but we are shown how the various layers of effects are built up to create each of the scenes. Choose Play All or select from Helicopter Shoots Up Hotel Ukrania, Helicopter Shoots Up Hotel Ukrania 2, John and Jack Jump Through Window, Helicopter Shoots Barrels, John and Jack Fall, John Climbs Into Helicopter, John Drives Truck Out of Helicopter, Helicopter Being Pulled Down, View From Helicopter, Helicopter Swings Towards Building, Truck Crashes Into Building, Truck Crashes Into Building (Zoom), John Hanging From Truck, Truck Falls, Helicopter Approaches Rooftop, and Explosions at Chernobyl.
• Storyboards (7:12)
  Using your remote control, navigate through a series of still image storyboards for various scenes from the film. Choose View All or select from Cold Opening, Courthouse, Car Chase, Ukrania Fight, and Chernobyl.
• Concept Art Gallery (10:47)
  Using your remote control, navigate through a series of still image concept artwork for various scenes from the film. Choose View All or select from Courthouse, Car Chase, Safe House, Ukrania Fight, Chernobyl, and Micellaneous.
• Theatrical Trailers (3:30)
  Choose Play All or select from two theatrical trailers for the film.
• Commentary by Director John Moore and First Assistant Director Mark Cotone (Extended Cut Only) (1:41:11)
  The two men provide a humorous and informative commentary. They give a lot of interesting trivia and information about the film, point out some of their mistakes and talk about the differences between the theatrical and extended cuts.
• Maximum McClane (3:16)
  Montage of clips from the first four Die Hard films.

Final Thoughts:

A Good Day To Die Hard does not compare with the initial films of the franchise—it has quite a different look and feel from the previous installments. I didn’t get that non-relenting threat feeling I experienced with the early films—but the film is loaded with some great action sequences and that John McClane humor. On this Blu-ray, the movie sounds great, with excellent use of the surround channels to really brings the viewer into the middle of the action. However, I was a bit disappointed by the look of the film—the outdoor scenes especially—it has a grainy, darker, washed-out look.
I was really pleased with the bonus features on the disc—hours of behind the scenes footage, interviews, deleted scenes and commentary that provide a great inside look into how the film was made. If they could have added one thing, it would have been a gag reel, but I was still really impressed by what was included. Fans of the film will not be disappointed, and fans of the franchise should check out this latest adventure of John McClane.