Hey, hello, how are ya? Well, the indestructible John McClane is back and more indestructible than ever! 30% more indestructible than the other action heroes!
Arnold? Please, all he did was fight a terminator. McClane fights the entire internet!
The Rock? Come on, all he did was beat up Stiffler from American Pie in The Rundown. Mac kills the badass sheriff from HBO’s Deadwood.
Jet Li? Oh whatever! Sure, he fought an entire army in Hero who were armed with arrows, swords and crazy kung fu, but Mac BEATS UP A FIGHTER JET!!! He killed it, killed it realll gooood.
As you probably surmised, Bruno Willis is trying to stop a cyber-terrorist, played by Tim Olyphant, who is trying to shut down the entire US. Bruno is sent to pick up a hacker (Justin Long, the Apple Mac guy) just as the bad guys show up and blow everything to heck. He then has to take him to Washington, D.C. so he can help stop the fire sale.
I know what your thinking–”sounds a lot like 16 blocks”. You are correct. Fistfights, gunfights and mayhem deluxe ensues as each set piece is bigger and louder than the last.
This is the first Die Hard to be rated PG-13 instead of R, so the blood and cursing is toned down. Kevin Smith has a small part, and Bruno is Bruno, but Justin Long is the standout here. So, yep, this is an over-the-top, bickering buddy movie instead of the lone wolf movie the first 2 Die Hards were. Live Free or Die Hard runs a little over 2 hours, but it moves fast — just leave your logic at the door.
The chemistry between Bruno and Long raise this up from mediocre minus to average plus. The real stand out scene is a fight in a cooling shaft between Bruno and a very acrobatic bad guy. A lesser Die Hard, but an O.K. summer popcorn movie. BTW its being called Die Hard 4.0 in Europe.
Next: Transformers. I hear there’s more than meets the eye.
