Live Free or Die Hard

Len Wiseman’s 2007 film is the fourth in the series and the only Die Hard given a PG-13 rating for American cinemas, a decision that shapes everything: blood and swearing were trimmed, the stunt scale grew. Bruce Willis called it a studio decision becoming more and more common; the unrated cut appeared only on home video. The second change is company. In the first Die Hard McClane is alone in the tower, talking by radio to a policeman outside. Here a young hacker he must protect is beside him throughout, putting the explaining in front of the camera and turning muttering into a double act. The script came out of journalism: John Carlin’s 1997 Wired piece “A Farewell to Arms”. David Marconi made it a screenplay called WW3.com, shelved after 9/11 and rewritten years later. Outside North America it went out as Die Hard 4.0. The helicopter was wrecked across two takes, a stuntman jumping clear first, a car then driven into a stationary aircraft; the jet sequence used a miniature and a full size prop. A fifth film followed in 2013. A good fit if a real car hitting a real helicopter is worth losing the blood for. Not for you if you want McClane alone and bleeding, since he gets a talking companion and a softened theatrical cut.