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Summary:
After several years of un-cinematic mundane police work, McClane is at it again when he is ordered to apprehend super hacker Matt Farrell. By sheer happenstance, he nabs the youngster just before he gets blown up. Farrel's murder is part of a massive plot to remove evidence that leads to the trail of a Super-Uber hacker's desires to completely wipe out all control of electronic devices in America, causing anarchy in the U.S. and bringing us back to the stone age.  Lucky for us, McClane ends up right smack dab in the middle of their well-oiled plans, mucking up the gears.  Time for some asskicking, yo!

Review:
One of my most favorite action movies of all time, Die Hard got a less than worthy follow up with the sequel.  The third time around helped redeem the franchise a bit, being rather entertaining on a lower level of satisfaction than the original, much to the help of Sam Jackson.  I was more than hesitant about keeping expectations of any sort for Live Free or Die Harder, especially after they got the teen-friendly PG-13 rating on it.  It's John McClane, assholes! "Yippy ki yay, MOTHERFUCKER!" and all that shit. Half the charm of the character is his foul mouth and take-no-shit demeanor!  Next on the list of Die Hard Goodies lies in the onscreen violence.  These movies are supposed to be about hard hitting, relentless, in-your-face adult oriented action! Last but not least, putting Len Wiseman in the director's chair really seems to put the seal on the movie's fate before even seeing it.  Just read about my love for Underworld: Evolution, and you'll get a whiff of the shit that I thought I'd be piled under for this decade late rehash mistake.

Color me surprised, but I liked this movie! Even with numerous doomsday tell tale signs of assured failure, Die Hard 4.0 pulled through where it counts most: in entertainment. It starts with a bang, and the stakes only get higher as the movie progresses.  This is a summer blockbuster done right.  It's silly and preposterous, but not silly enough to have me squirming in my seat.  The preposterousness (yeah, that's a word, go with it) stays mostly within my realm of the movie's recommendations to one's suspension of disbelief...  but more on that later.

A decent cast is lined up with Bruce Willis doing what he does best.  John McClane is what put him on the A-list, and he's been pretty steady since then.  Even when he's behind at the box office, he's far from invisible.  McClane is still as sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek as usual, but without the expletives.  Justin Long does his usual thing, with the weak guy pseudo-geek act, but it works well for him.  Timothy Olyphant is a rising star.  I loved him in Girl Next Door, and being a fan of Deadwood only makes me respect him even more.  (Having him in a movie in which Michael Biehn plays his older brother would make for a super-radical flick!)  Maggie Q... fuckin' hot.  I think I mentioned this a bit in my Mission Impossible 3 review.  Either way, she just had to do some spin kicks and give the guys in the dark theater half a boner. Everyone was serviceable, and Kevin Smith's cameo was amusing. 

Instead of a major bail bond heist or mind-games against McClane, the plotline gears towards the threat of cyberworld domination. When I put my think helmet back on, I can't grasp the plausibility of events unfolding so easily in real life, complete with constantly chirping computer screens (WHY the fuck do they always make text have digital tones when people use computers in movies?  It's retarded) and hi-speed access on any electronic device on hand.  That's ok, though,because within this movie's world, it worked.  I can't stress enough that this isn't a thinking man's movie, it's a "want to be entertained" man's movie. From one explosive destruction derby to the next, I lost count of the beyond nine lives that McClane wasted, and cheered him on to the next baddie that needed dispensing. 
There is, however, a point in which Die Hard 4.0 jumped the shark.  There is an elaborate chase under and over freeways as a Marine modified (V-STOL variant action, baby) F-35 shoots missiles and weaves its way in and out of overpasses, leading to the moment in which I was no longer enjoying myself and thinking "OK, now they've gone too far." I couldn't quite digest the outlandish freeway deconstruction and True Lies Harrier imitation action that ensued.  James Cameron did an alright job... even when a baddie was launched to his death while hanging on a discharged Sidewinder missile.  In this movie's case, things got a little too silly and unbelievable for me - even for a movie this impossible.  It's a small complaint when all is said and done, because any other time McClane was kicking ass, I was having a good time.  I'll let those 5 minutes go. Another surprise was how long it was. I was expecting about an hour and forty minutes, but it runs at a full two hours.  Hey, no complaints here!  It did feel a little long near the last leg.  At the same time, it wasn't enough for me to wish for the credits to roll.

Despite my misgivings about a decade later addition of a trilogy that might have been best remaining a trilogy, I can admit that Live Free or Die Hard is worth the wait. Even the hackneyed talentless endeavors of Len Wiseman's previous movies didn't mar the fun to be had with John McClane once again pummeling his way through baddies with the grace of an elephant on roller skates.  Bruce Willis is great, and when he's John McClane, it seems he can even make wrong come out alright.  For a brainless, fast moving summer action movie, Live Free or Die Hard is a 2 day air travel UPS delivery to a theater seat near you! Not quite a first-class ticket, but these days, even 2-day delivery is hard to come by.
　

GRADE: B

Reviewed 7/18/07