Die Hard [4K Ultra-HD + Blu-ray] [1988]

Product Information

We reviewed the Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Die Hard on a Samsung UE55KS8000 Ultra HD TV and a Samsung UBD-M9500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Over the last thirty years, John McClane has become such an iconic part of the action-film landscape that it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't etched in our pop culture consciousness. Most will get pirated heavily by consumers who do not live in a part of the world where Disney+ offer 4K HDR streams. On the flip side, the overall palette doesn't receive a dramatic boost though admittedly, primaries are a tad more enthusiast and colorful with reds, in particular, looking deeper and more crimson. Bruce Willis' John McClane is a NYC cop who has (reluctantly) flown to Los Angeles to reconcile with his upwardly-mobile wife (Bonnie Bedelia), but he ends up trapped in a skyscraper with a bunch of mercenary thugs led by the sniveling Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman).

discs slip easily—but not too easily—in and out of waxed sleeves, so I don't imagine you'll have any issues with scratches. Europe's busiest forums, with independent news and expert reviews, for TVs, Home Cinema, Hi-Fi, Movies, Gaming, Tech and more. Nevertheless, Die Hard makes a terrific impact on UHD and if you have the necessary kit, then the 4K is the version of the film you ought to seek out. This is more of a showcase for your fronts and centre channel which offer decent clarity, and basic placement of effects.Whites are truer and make for a striking contrast in the scene where McClane is patching up his bloodied feet in a sink. That said, the impressive native 4K presentation is probably more than enough reason alone to pick this title up, one of a number of all-time classics (following on from last month's Gladiator 4K release) which are making their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debut this year. Fans might have hoped for an immersive 3D audio upgrade in the form of Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, but unfortunately Die Hard has to contend with a conventional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.

And the seemingly incongruous pairing of Willis and Bedelia manages to generate real sparks, making us actually believe that this guy would risk everything to save his wife, instead of just another tired plot device.Facial detail is impressive, with no signs of waxy over-application of noise-reduction, and none of the clean-cut Terminator 2 4K controversy even, retaining (or, more accurately, reapplying) a fine layer of natural grain to lend further texture to the piece. The amount of grain may turn off those who prefer a clean look - here it gives the film a nicely textured and cinematic feel. DTS, with subtitles available in English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Spanish, French, Castilian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, two different forms of Chinese, and Polish (note that there are also subtitles for the audio commentaries listed below in a few languages).

The mix has a highly directional quality, though, with the dialogue very much front and center, and surround effects are specific to their individual channels. If the film had focused on them alone (Who are these guys, what’s their agenda really, and will they get out?The recent (pre-Disney) Star Wars release was a perfect example; they took an eight year old 4K scan of the movies, added an almost unnoticeable HDR layer and scrubbed the film grain to keep the bandwidth down. They will shift their focus on Disney+ and related ventures as they think it's more profitable and easier to distribute their main family friendly movies. It was after this film Ultra HD that the fashion for charismatic policemen went to save the world, while at the same time throwing jokes at their rivals.

The late 80s saw director John McTiernan at the height of his powers but Die Hard remains his best effort. There’s plenty of humour, several classic lines of dialogue (“I'm going to count to three, there won't be a four…”) and in Rickman’s Hans Gruber you have one of the great screen villains. The disc uses 10-bit video depth, a Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range (HDR), and is encoded using the HEVC (H. I hope Disney does license out their catalog and smaller companies like Arrow and Shout do get a chance to make proper discs for those movies to enjoy.You can select 'Free' and hit the notification bell to be notified when movie is available to watch for free on streaming services and TV.