Die Hard 4.0
Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q
Director: Len Wiseman
Rating: 3.5/5
It's hard to believe that it's been a dozen years since Die Hard 3 and like many ageing Hollywood actors including Stallone with Rocky and Rambo and Harrison Ford with Indiana Jones Bruce Willis is back for more.
NYPD Detective John McClane is back in a high tech digital age that is post 9/11. When McClane is sent to pick up a known hacker to deliver to the FBI for questioning it appears to be a routine assignment.
However no assignment is routine for John McClane.As soon as McClane picks up Matt Farrell (Justin Long) it becomes clear that Matt has enemies that will stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't reach the FBI.
Unknown to Farrell he was just one of the hackers that helped Thomas Gabriel (Timothy oliphant), a cyber terrorist, bring the U.S to its knees. Gabriel's plan includes knocking out the financial, communication, transportation and power systems.
Sequels aren't supposed to be good but Die Hard 4.0 really packs a punch. McClane maybe older and balder but he appears to have no trouble in killing a large number of bad guys whilst causing a huge amount of damage and chaos.
It's a high octane, fast paced ride that doesn't stop until the closing credits and while some of the stunts are a little hard to believe; such as the hovering Harrier jet, and the falls that would have killed a man half his age they look fantastic and old school stunts are well worth the risk.
McClane strikes up an uneasy partnership with computer savvy Farrell, Justin Long who has come a long way since his days in U.S TV show ED, who proves to be the brains to McClane's brawn.
And the banter between the pair provides light relief from the action as well as highlighting just how far behind technologically McClane is to his sidekick. while subtley suggesting that this time around without Farrell, and his knowledge of what Gabriel was trying to achieve and how he would do it, McClane would not have been so succeessful in saving the day. While the films does have a story of it's own it's also a great nostalgia trip for fans of the origional and this can be seen with his daughter Lucy.
To show the passing of time Lucy is now a college student, and like her mother before her uses the name Gennero instead of McClane and wants nothing to do with her over protective father. But as the film progresses it becomes blindingly obvious that she is her father's daughter.
It's a slick picture that contains a clever mix of politics and knockout action. Willis is superb as the disgruntled McClane develooing a great raport with Long.
Instead of destroying the Die Hard franchise 4.0/Live Free and Die Hard has just given it a boost with long term fans running out of the cinema to re-watch the previous movies as well as introducing new fans to the original movies.
There's never a normal day for John McClane.
Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Bruce Willis