Pointyskull

I enjoyed the action sequences but overall it never felt like a Die Hard movie. The plot was so-so, but I'd be curious to see what the "extended" cut has to offer. As a franchise completist I will likely be purchasing when it hits my magic price point...

DJariya

Tyler Foster, one of the reviewers here, just tweeted that apparently all of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's scenes were dropped from the extended cut. He heard from a friend who saw the extended version.

gerrythedon

WTF! only reason why I wanted to watch it. That sucks.

Michael Corvin

Really? That seems really arbitrary and stupid.

gerrythedon

Only reason why I borrowed my brother's Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter Blu-ray and watched it... I dig her so I checked it out... no I'm not stupid.

whotony

Are ya sure?

Michael Corvin

Not sure if you're serious. I was referring to cutting her from the film.

DJariya

In the R rated version, she only had 2 really insignificant scenes and one scene with her audio on the phone.

Silly that they were dropped on the extended version.

gerrythedon

gerrythedon

Damn that's all.

Michael Corvin

Yep, but she opens up and sets the movie in motion by dropping off 'dad' at the airport. Kinda weird to excise that.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I blinked and missed the part at the beginning that explained why he was in Russia in the first place. So for me, the film was basically one action scene after another, and it wasn't really going anywhere other than trying to setup his son as continuing the series.

The bad guy's stupid laugh and doing it all the time was the worst.

GoldenJCJ

The beginning shows McClane preparing to go to Russia to save his son whom he thought was in serious trouble for murder. Of course you wouldn't know that considering McClane bitched and moaned about "being on vacation" the rest of the movie.

I guess that's one reason they could have cut out Winstead's part. To make the plot flow a little smoother.

I guess that also means an alternate ending considering Winstead shows up again for the final scene.

Shannon Nutt

I wonder if cutting her from the extended version has something to do with a contractual issue...like FOX has to pay her again if she's in that version or something.

RocShemp

Or the extended cut has John actually be on vacation. Probably MEW's scenes were added after-the-fact to change it to John going to RUssia to help out his son. Hence all the "I'm on vacation" lines.

JZ1276

This was like watching a bad episode of 24. Did they ever mention McClane having a son in any of the previous DH films?

GoldenJCJ

That's what I suspected when I wrote my thoughts in the review thread. There had to be rewrites that occurred to either add Winstead into the movie or to explain away what would have otherwise been a huge coincidence for John to stumble across his son half a world away while he was on vacation.

Michael Corvin

Ever seen Die Hard?

JZ1276

For some reason I only remember him having a daughter

Pointyskull

I like that idea - even if it is just a thought.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

That's what threw me off. I kept thinking he was on vacation but it seemed odd he was going to the courthouse and then he just happened to stumble upon his son. I only figured out why he was in Russia after I looked online, since it wasn't making sense.

DJariya

Alright I rented the Blu-Ray today. My local video store put it out early.

The extended cut runs about 101 minutes.

The theatrical cut runs about 98 minutes.

I just finished watching it and from what I can tell the only added footage is some scene and dialogue extensions.

As for Lucy McClane. All her scenes from the theatrical cut are indeed deleted in the extended cut. The scene where she drops off John at the airport, the scene where she calls John when he's in the middle of the car chase and even the closing scene when they return home is also deleted.

The movie ends with John and Jack walking away after taking out the father-daughter at Chernobyl.

As for the scene at the airport. They still show John exiting the car, but some new audio is added in post. It makes it look like Amaury Nolasco drops him off.

And to answer another question, all of John's lines about being on vacation are still there. Those lines don't make any sense because he's clearly not on vacation. He gets the info from Nolasco that Jack is in a Russian jail, flies there and is walking to the courthouse to see the trial before the initial attack.

And the director John Moore is a moron. I listened to some of his commentary and he doesn't even acknowledge the deleted footage.

And Mary Elizabeth Winstead's name is still in the closing credits even though she isn't seen in this new cut.

Honestly, I don't think the extended cut is any better. The movie is still a mess. If the BD drops below $10 later this year (maybe the holidays) I might consider getting it to be a completest. But, this movie has pretty much no replay value at all. There is a 1 hour behind the scenes documentary that I may watch if I get it.

DJariya

This pretty much is the case. You called it.

stingermck

Great so the theatrical is better. Damn.

Julie Walker

This post mentions some of the changes, which were already mentioned, but in a bit more detail on how badly edited this version is.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=197


So like Live Free Or Die Hard, the unrated/extended version is an amateurish joke that shouldn't exist and everyone should stick with the theatrical cuts. Fox seems to be king at these crappy alternate version releases so far.