I was hoping it would be this good. Like Fox Video’s recent THX, AC-3 reissue of the original 'Die Hard' last month, the new widescreen remaster of 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' in THX and AC-3 is a vast improvement over the original widescreen laserdisc version.
Like the newer THX 'Die Hard', the new 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' disc has a much sharper picture, and the letterboxing reveals a bit more information on both sides and a sliver more picture information on the top (while, curiously, losing a sliver of picture information from the bottom of the frame). The colors are more natural and the image is much warmer as a result. The sound is as spectacular as you’d expect.
I was, however, disappointed with the trailer for 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' that is included at the end of side 3 because it is the exact same trailer that appeared on the new 'Die Hard' disc. Since there were three different trailers in 1990 for 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder', I was kind of expecting Fox to give me one of the other two here. The teaser trailer for the forthcoming 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' is also included.
What is most satisfying about this new 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' is that Fox has chosen much better side breaks. Both the breaks on the previous edition were poorly timed. Here, the first break has been delayed by roughly a minute, and it makes all the difference in the world (the old edition broke the side right in the middle of a dramatic music cue; here the break occurs at a much more logical point). The platter break has also been delayed by a few minutes. Though less of side 3 is in CAV as compared to the previous edition, the well-timed disc break, again, compensates.
But it’s what’s not on this new disc that left me unsatisfied. In this exciting time of special edition laserdiscs boasting directors’ editions and deleted scenes, I figured any re-release of 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' would have been a terrific opportunity to showcase several moments that were cut from the film just prior to its release in July, 1990. I was lucky to see an exhibitor screening of a rough cut of the film two weeks before it was released nationally. It was about 2 or 3 minutes longer and there were lots of alternate bits of dialogue here and there that were modified for the release. Most memorably, several extremely violent scenes were trimmed, possibly to avoid an X rating (NC-17 wasn’t introduced until October, 1990). Included among the trimmed footage were gunshot wounds far more graphic than shown in theaters (including a brutal moment when terrorist Robert Patrick blows the back of a SWAT guy’s head out, in grueling slow motion), a lingering shot of a man after his eye has been poked out with an icicle and a few more horrifying seconds of screaming passengers who are killed when their plane is sabotaged, crashes and is consumed by fire (truly, one of the most terrifying moments in American cinema I’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder this bit was cut for general release).
While these scenes would undoubtedly upset viewers who thought the film was too violent to begin with, in their own strange way they served to heighten the "toughness" quotient of the film and added more power to its punch—something that, with the final edited version, was lacking when compared to its balls-to-the-walls predecessor. Oh well, there’s always the possibility of a "Die Hard Trilogy" set. But, wait, that would piss off a lot of people who buy these new remastered editions, wouldn’t it?
Vital statistics: Fox Video; 3 sides; CLV/CAV; Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1); Stereo Surround; THX; AC-3; Chapter stops; $49.95.
S. Damien Segal.
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