Live Free or Die Hard

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

Some guys are just born unlucky. That was one of the things everybody thought about Bruce Willis’ iconic character of John McClane when the first “Die Hard” came out way back in 1988. McClane was the hero who just stumbled onto a terrorist plot, came out dirty and grimy, yet still managed to save his then-estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). Two sequels followed in 1990 and 1995 as each time, McClane was caught in a bad situation yet managed to come out saving the U.S. from terrorists. Now, almost 20 years after the first “Die Hard”, Bruce Willis returns to the role that made him a movie star. I was concerned that this might be another aging action star trying to make a comeback by returning to a role that he made famous, but I was still keen on seeing how the film would be.

In “Live Free or Die Hard”, McClane has become a senior New York police detective. His wife has left him, and he hardly has any interaction with his kids. When he’s assigned to fetch computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long), he’s caught in a plot that sees hackers and techno-freaks sending the United States into a frenzy. The “fire sale” plans to bring down the economy and send America back to the Stone Age through computers. Of course, the terrorists didn’t count on John McClane.

Most everyone thought that Bruce Willis was way past reprising the John McClane character. After all, he had lain dormant for over a decade already and Willis wasn’t getting any younger. However, it seems Willis was convinced he still had some kick left. This fourth installment of the franchise delivers the flat out big explosions, flying vehicles, and kick-ass action that the first three once gave us. To return to the action adventure genre meant that Willis had to compete with much younger stars and the fact that the explosions have progressively gotten bigger in part because of Willis’ first adventure in 1988. Still, with the genre seemingly getting stagnant, I wondered if it would take an old veteran to shake it out of the doldrums.

Lucky for us, Willis and his trademark smirk reminded us what good old fashioned blockbusters are all about. This is John McClane at his grimy, in-your-face, trash-talking best. I miss his interactions with actors like Reginald VelJohnson and Samuel L. Jackson in the first films, but Justin Long is funny enough that his exchanges with Willis come across as more than mere father-son ribbing. A nice cameo by Kevin Smith helps the humor quotient as well. Perhaps my main beef with “Live Free” is that villain Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) just didn’t seem sinister enough. Give me Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons any day, because Olyphant was like your typical run-of-the-mill actor who just happened to play a villain. He just lacked the creepiness of the other big bads in the series.

For the most part, the film was fast-paced with the expected explosions and fight scenes placed right where you expect they should be found. Maggie Q as the evil Mai Lihn gave us a view of what a female Terminator from Asia might look like as she proceeded to open a can of whoop ass on McClane. I for one think she was an even better villain than Gabriel was. It was an interesting plot device to use a technological attack to bring America to its knees, yet I couldn’t help but feel that this has been used before. I guess we should just be thankful that Willis even agreed to do another “Die Hard” in the first place, but there were times when I felt this film lacked the John McTiernan directorial touch that was in the first and third films. Len Wiseman (who directed the “Underworld” films) lacked enough oomph to push this film as far as it could go.

Jo told me that she thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic and I tend to agree. I won’t spoil that here for you, but with all the buildup and action in the first three quarters of the film, I was expecting a bigger pay off with the conclusion. Still, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy seeing old man Willis still chugging along with all the dirt and grime we’ve seen him put on as every “Die Hard” film progresses. But in the end, I believe it could have been done better.