Die Hard 4 still

Live Free or Die Hard / Die Hard 4.0 (2007)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (128 min.)
  • Unrated (128 min.)

Live Free or Die Hard or Die Hard 4.0 or simply Die Hard 4 is as the titles vaguely indicate is the fourth Die Hard movie. The relentlessly bloody and profanity filled adventures of John McClane have been the popular franchise trademarks. But in 2007 the franchise strayed from its trademarks and even managed to skip the ever classic line “yippee ki-yay, motherfucker” due to the simple fact that Die Hard 4 was rated PG-13. There are two cuts of Die Hard 4 available: the PG-13 rated theatrical cut and an unrated cut. The difference in length is minimal (unrated is only 8 seconds longer than the theatrical cut) but the unrated cut adds computer generated blood and a different dialog that has strong language.

Film Ireland interviewed director Len Wiseman where he talked about the PG-13 rating and how he lost the ratings fight with the studio:

“The director also admitted his disappointment at how the studio censored that film. ‘I shot a rated R movie,’ he insisted, and referenced the ‘Harder’ cut available on DVD. ‘I had no idea it was going to be PG-13; that came in halfway through the process. And I gotta tell you as a fan I felt like ‘I’m gonna walk.’ If they it PG-13! You know Bruce was really up in arms about it and everything. But in the end it was the most expensive Die Hard. It was also my first studio film, so I lost that battle over the rating. I’m not big on doing the cartoon gore. But McClane is McClane, so that’s really why I was glad to get that (the extended cut) out.’”

Source: Interview: Len Wiseman, director of ‘Total Recall’, Film Ireland

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

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