In 1988 when the first Die Hard came out, Bruce Willis was a sitcom star and nothing more. His list of credits was minimal and somehow he won the role of John McClane for which he was 5th choice after Richard Gere, Arnold, Stallone and Burt Reynolds. Yet when the movie came out the role, the actor and the villain were instantly iconic. Willis brought back the every man action star, the blue collar action star. His stoic face, cheesy but bad ass one liners and not-afraid-to-bleed attitude turned the movie into an instant classic. Whether it was walking over broken glass with no shoes or uttering the now infamous phrase "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" Willis changed the landscape of the action genre. The movie was over the top but not so over the top that it was ridiculous. In the sequel things got too over the top and in the third movie things got good again as Willis and Sam Jackson verbally sparred through the whole movie, but is the world really needing a new entry into the Die Hard franchise? Does Bruce Willis still have it in him to be a real American hero, or is he lost in a techno-babble world? With the last movie happening 12 years ago, does anyone care anymore? Is there any reason to make a pg-13 version of die hard?
McClane is back and in the first scene we see that not much has really changed- he is still estranged from his family, still a cop, but his usual sarcasm has been replaced by a more cynical approach to one-liners. His daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wants nothing to do with him and McClane is all alone. After a brief and harsh conversation with his daughter, McClane gets a call from the precinct that he needs to go pick up a hacker and take him to F.B.I headquarters. See, the F.B.I got hacked the night before and it is time to wrangle the usual suspects. McClane shows up expecting nothing big but it is obvious he is about to get more than he bargained for. Matt Farrell (Justin Long) is our hacker but someone is out to kill him. MClane shows up at just the right time and we have our first pg-13 Die Hard action scene. Don't worry though, Mcclane still knows how to shoot and we get one doozy of a gun fight. It is loud, furious and awesome. Willis never loses his stoic face or his one liners, but this time he has a snarky side kick and Long gets some serious laughs throughout the movie.
We learn that these cyber-terrorists are doing what is known as a "fire sale" meaning everything has got to go. First, they take out street lights and what not, forcing all kinds of traffic collisions and is an interesting take on the cyber thriller genre. Then, the power and everything else goes and finally all the money will be gone and America will be thrown back to the stone age. Not wanting to reveal who they are, the terrorists broadcast a video tape that id basically a collage of speeches from Presidents cut together to form one horrific message. It is a stroke of political thriller genius as it would be crazy terrifying to see our own presidents dooming us as a nation. Farrell also realizes that 7 other hackers have been killed and they were his competition as they were all vying for money to create algorithms but he didn't realize what they would be used for. McClane takes this young hacker under his wing and they spend the movie attempting to stop this massive shut down in America. They learn that the terrorist is Thomas Gabriel (Timyothy Olyphant), an ex department of defense employee who after 9/11 told all of the countries leaders that their security system could be breached and that they needed to fix it. They crucified him and he is back with a vengeance proving his theory.
Look, this movie is over the top yes, but it is non stop action packed, with some genuinely funny moments between Willis and Long. Yes their relationship starts like a typical mismatched movie pairing but it works because McClane never stops for even a second to care about the cyber stuff. McClane is old school and the action is old school. SO many action movie feature only people who are very skilled fighters and here, McClane is not and he gets his ass handed to him by a "little Asian ninja chick." But, after the ass kicking he proclaims "That's enough of this kung-fu shit" and he goes to do what he does best which is he makes a mess but gets the job done. The fight between he and Mai Lihn (Maggie Q) is a very fun fight and ends in an elevator shaft (classic Die Hard set piece). This movie is full of awesome testosterone filled gun fights, one-liners and violence. The death toll is higher here than in previous Die Hard flicks and McClane even wonders in conversation with Gabriel "Do you just call a hot line like 1-800- henchmen, because you gotta be running out of bad guys."
There are some stunts that seem a bit too over the top like driving a car into a helicopter but the absolute glee Willis exudes makes it work because he seems just as surprised as us that it worked. This is not a carefully crafted action star we are talking about, this is Bruce Willis, this is John McClane, the Jack Bauer of movies. Olyphant is very good as the a villain for the new era, but he is hindered by the fact that Alan Rickman from the first Die Hard may be the best movie action villain ever. Willis is just as unflappable here as he is in every Die Hard movie and has not really lost a step. He still takes a punch, kick and a bullet better than anyone. he still looks better with cuts on his face and head than anyone else and he still hits iconic movie star poses that let us know McClane is still a bad ass. Justin Long is in full snarky effect, with his smarter than you one-liners and sneaky under his breath one-liners. He doesn't quite make the cut as an action movie buddy, but he doesn't feel as out of place as he could. Kevin Smith shows up for a cameo as "Warlock" an infamous Internet hacker and he knocks it out of the park with his wirey balled up energy right next to Willis' contained action star energy. His presence gives the movie a shot in the arm and takes a scene that could have been boring and flips it on its head. The Climax is a bit ridiculous but the stunts are good old fashioned throw back action stunts. The CGI is minimal but effectively used. Lucy shows up again in the last half hour and is awesome as McClane's daughter. She captures the no nonsense hard ass McClane attitude and shows us that the helpless McClane women have been replaced by tough ready to rumble chicks. We still get the iconic line, even if smothered a bit by a great tough guy gun shot, but the pg-13 rating does not take away from an action movie that knows exactly what it is and does not apologize for being a guy movie through and through and sometimes you just want to watch a guy escape death 5 times in a movie and still be ready for more and this movie delivers in spades!
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