There is something about 20th Century Fox’s “Die Hard” franchise, whether it’s any of the three blockbuster movies or the respectable “Die Hard Trilogy” videogames from a few years back, that tickles the psyche of every American male I’ve ever come into contact with. At the risk of alienating the many women readers that can enjoy an action flick as much as the guys, the “Die Hard” movies and its lead character John McClane (personified to near-perfection by actor Bruce Willis) bring to cinematic life everything an average American male would like to do in order to be considered a hero. You know: save the wife, outsmart the bad guys, shoot them dead, make a friend in the process and live to see your loved one’s another day. McClane, a one-liner happy New York City cop with an average physique, can bleed when hit and cry out of frustration (or pain) when things aren’t going his way. It’s the character’s vulnerability and need to rise up to the challenges thrown at him that makes average guys like you or me murmur to ourselves ’I could do that’.

This so-called “Die Hard” formula felt fresh and new from being executed so flawlessly for the first time back in 1988. Director John McTiernan (“Predator”), screenwriter Steven E. De Souza (“The Last Action Hero”), producer Joel Silver (“The Matrix”) and newcomer-to-action-flicks Willis, who was best known then for ABC-TV’s “Moonlighting” than for gunning down terrorists and jumping off buildings, effectively sold the McClane character as an everyday superhero that happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Alan Rickman, Reginald VelJohnson and Bonnie Bedelia also deserve props for injecting thankless roles like ‘the heavy,’ ‘the fat cop’ (as well as McClane’s only contact with the outside world) and ‘the wife’ with enough pathos and conviction to sell the illusion their encounter is fate. Then there are of course the classic action scenes that made the movie one of the best cinematic spectacles of ’88: the exploding Nakatomi Tower rooftop, the computer room shootout, the elevator shaft, the hose-around-the-body bungee jump, the cat-and-mouse games between McClane and Hans Gruber’s troops, etc. Not an action scene in “Die Hard” feels out of place or implausible, elevating the whole endeavor to the pantheon of James Bond-like flicks that have actually surpassed the master at his own game. One of the best American-made action movies of all time, “Die Hard” is easily the best of the three flicks in this Box Set.

It’s a shame the “Die Hard” formula became so strained beyond credibility by repetition and copycat formulas throughout the years though. None is guiltier of this than the first sequel to “Die Hard,” 1990’s “Die Hard 2: Die Harder.” LA’s Nakatomi Tower is replaced with Washington DC’s Dulles International Airport, and an imprisoned South American dictator (Franco Nero’s General Ramon Esperanza) that is sought after by rogue American Colonel Stuart (William Sadler, whose bland and impersonal on-screen persona are tough to adjust after Alan Rickman’s magnificent bad guy in the prequel) replaces the bonds that the terrorist/thieves were after in the first movie. Even Bonnie Bedelia and William Atherton (the obnoxious reporter that got his just deserts at the end of “Die Hard”) are brought in to give McClane both a reason and an excuse to involve himself with the action.

Other than familiar TV faces playing cliché action flick roles though (“NYPD Blue’s” Dennis Franz as the airport’s security chief, “Law & Order’s” Fred Dalton Thompson as airport supervisor Trudeau, etc.) “Die Hard 2” is a rerun of the first movie’s basic structure: McClane annoys bad guys, bad guys chase McClane away, the hero comes back with the cavalry but they find themselves outsmarted by the terrorists, McClane hustles, etc. Director Renny Harlin directs with the same manic energy he brought to his better action films (“Cliffhanger,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” etc.), but ultimately “Die Hard 2” is like a roller coaster ride: intense while it lasts, but likely to be forgotten a few minutes after you’ve gone through it. The switch from snow and a wide amount of real state (a whole airport, complete with its own abandoned town that the bad guys use as a headquarters) also robs “Die Hard 2” of the sense of claustrophobia and immediacy that made the first flick so tense. At least when the action scenes kick in they really do kick in: exploding airplanes (try to tell yourself you haven’t thought of them when flying in real life), shootouts aboard snowmobiles and taxing 747’s, jumping from helicopters, you name it.

By the time “Die Hard with a Vengeance” came out in 1995 there wasn’t even a beloved family member for McClane to bleed for (Bonnie Bedelia’s character was written off the series), with the producers choosing instead to borrow from Warner’s “Lethal Weapon” series and give McClane a black sidekick character to trade insults with. Thank Goodness we got Samuel L. Jackson’s Zeus Carver to give Willis’ McClane as good as the other one gave, which compensated for the generic Euro-trash villains we’re saddled with this time around. Jeremy Irons totally phones in his performance as Hans Gruber’s little brother Simon, and the other members of his crew are as faceless as they are interchangeable with terrorists from a thousand other forgettable action movies. Director McTiernan returns to helm part three and tries desperately to inject the movie with energy by shooting most of it with either handheld cameras or a ‘cinema verite’ (i.e. rough) look. The result is a “Die Hard” movie that is all over the place (literally: uptown/midtown/downtown NYC, Upstate NY, Canada, etc.) without really feeling new or fresh. Willis has grown comfortable enough in the McClane role to sell a few physical stunts (jumping into water to evade an explosions alongside Zeus), but the vulnerability that made the overweight NYC cop so appealing in ’88 and ’90 has given way to a Superman-like shield of invulnerability. Oh well, great car/air stunts throughout the film at least makes its 131 min. running time go by relatively fast.

Even if the tragedies of September 11th, 2001 have brought a de-romanticized view of terrorists as bloody psychopaths to today’s action movies though, the over-the-top fantasy elements that accompany each of McClane’s three confrontations with small armies of terrorists makes “Die Hard: The Ultimate Collection” compelling grown-up entertainment worth owning on DVD. Even “Die Hard 2” and “Die Hard with a Vengeance” have their little moments (few and infrequent as they might be) that shine when the trilogy is watched consecutively. Before one-phrase descriptions like ‘Die Hard on a Bus’ (AKA “Speed”), ’Die Hard on a Boat’ (AKA “Under Siege,” “Speed 2,” etc.) or ’Die Hard on a Train’ (AKA “Under Siege 2”) became common in the industry there was the first and one that started it all, “Die Hard.” Though its two sequels watered down considerably the amount of BANG audiences got for their money in ’90 and ‘95 the ’88 original can still kick some serious butt and entertain as much as it did audience theaters back when Ronald Reagan could still think somewhat coherently.

Who needs to watch this masterpiece butchered, censored and cropped to half its original size on Fox-TV when you can own it (along with its equally-butchered sequels) for $50?