8. Live Free Or Die Hard
The announcement yesterday that the impending A Good Day to Die Hard has received a 12A rating opened an old wound that first surfaced back in 2007, when Bruce Willis' fourth outing as John McClane, Live Free or Die Hard (or the clunkily titled Die Hard 4.0 in the UK) was announced to have been cut for a PG-13 release in America. Director Len Wiseman shot two versions of the film - the more extreme, R-rated cut of which became the Unrated DVD - and the studio picked the version they preferred which, smelling the allure of more green, was obviously the milder cut. The cut was considered strong enough to still earn a 15 rating in the UK, though it is rather tame as far as that rating goes. The inverse of the present Die Hard debacle - in which the latest installment is rated R in the US but has been cut for a 12A in the UK to apparently maximise profits - saw John McClane not even be able to say his signature, "Yippie Kay-ay, Mother******" line to completion, with it being obscured by a gunshot instead. How can it be a Die Hard film without that line? Blood is meanwhile mostly removed, though the film sizzles enough action-wise that I do recommend watching the Unrated edition, because
that version sits proudly with the other three films.