Truly Dreadful Film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Twelve long years without a John McClane movie is like an eternity to an action fan. This one spent so many years in production hell that it was easy to believe that it would never happen. But after years of eagerly awaiting another, and possibly final, adventure from the now classic character of John McClane we got what we wanted. A brand new, original, and action packed sequel that delivers in more ways than one. This is a great additon to the franchise and, except for a few flaws, it lives up to the hype that so many years away from the screen had produced. The story is one of the reasons that this one is so good. A brilliant cyber-punk exposes the faults of our information age in what is called a 'firesale'. A systematic deconstruction of our advanced and computer dependent society into the dark ages. The simple ideas expressed in the movie bring a fear that many Americans wish they never see in their lifetimes. With everything going awry, John McClane is asked to escort a computer geek to Washington who could be responsible for the calamity or possibly know how to stop it. Its a great idea for a Die Hard movie, but did the director and cast make it what it had the potential to be? Quite simply, yes. Like the third installment in the series, we get to see a new John McClane. An older, wiser, more mature, and cynical John. He gives us the feeling that he has been here before and he has seen so much in his life that this is just another story he can tell his grandchildren. He also makes you feel a little sad for him. After all he has done and been through, his wife and children still want nothing to do with him. Joining him to hose out the 'firesale' is our computer geek Matthew Farrell played by the always good humored Justin Long. This one brings back the buddy film vibe from Die Hard With A Vengence, but our buddy is a lot more funny and incapable of handling the situation he finds himself in. The only disappointment from the actors in this one comes from an actor I usually enjoy. Timothy Olphant plays our cyber-punk villian trying to destroy everything our current society relies on, and his performance seems a little weak and hollow. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays John's estranged daughter Lucy and her acceptance of her father give the ending of the movie a nice heart touching power. Overall, the movie turned out MUCH better than I had expected. With the exception of the ending, which seems a little too ridiculous, the movie is good in almost all respects. The action kicks in early and never relents. The ferocity of the violence and the humor of both our leads give credit to another installment in the Die Hard saga. If anything you must watch this just for the ten minutes that Kevin Smith is on screen. It is priceless.

A serious tough guy, wishing by no means to be a hero, but accidentally becoming him during different feasts. Who? Of course, John McClane – ordinary police detective returning to our cinema screens. In order to teach the baddies. Any crime, even original and ravishingly planned, must be revealed. Its organizers must be arrested."Die Hard 4.0" is the movie of the 21st century. It consists of the minimum ironical dialogues and maximum dose of action. The old Hollywood formula dictates to finish introducing the characters at the 20th minute of the story and start the adventures. The first "Die Hard" film that successfully appeared in the year 1988, diligently followed this formula. In the new film, the shooting takes place immediately and without introduction. The direction was entrusted to Len Wiseman, author of "Underworld". He has kindly surprised me, by presenting not only the effective attraction of advantages, but, by being able to maintain that layout, which causes us to sympathize John McClane for so many years. Actor Bruce Willis ideally fits the main hero. He is more than 50. He runs hard. His wife – Hollywood star Demi Moore – left him and married the considerably younger guy. At the set, he is relentlessly caused to still be the last action film hero. He is such: arrived from the 80s, fond of listening to classical rock by "Creedance" and realizing nothing about the modern information technologies. It is hard to fight against the enemies, as the whole state control is automated and entrusted to a single computer centre. Who controls these computers, that takes all possible assets. The bald character of Bruce Willis has only to follow the old methods: to respond to the hit in double manner. If the close person is threatened – go and eliminate the villain.The computer knowledge is offset by young hacker Matthew Farrell (28-year-old actor Justin Long, who still plays the teenagers). The action of the film begins with John McClane receiving the simplest task – to deliver the computer pirate to the FBI agents. Short escort turns into the long adventure. Totally as in "16 Blocks" thriller by Richard Donner seen recently. The amount of money spent is different. And exactly "Lethal Weapon" by Richard Donner competed with "Die Hard" in the action cinema arena. Today, we can see the result.John McClane still dies hard, matching the original name of the film "Die Hard", which has been unnecessarily ignored by the film distributors, by distorting the ironical sense. John McClane's balls are still hard and withstand the powerful Kung- fu hits. Bruce Willis himself accepted that the most difficult episodes he found were those when he was kicked by erotic Hong Kong beauty Maggie Q. The director succeeded in organizing the persuadable company of actors. The main terrorist of the virtual space was played by Timothy Olyphant ("Sex and the City"), who impressively contributed to the camp of enemies. The French-speaking actor Cyrill Raffaeli, who has mastered the Parkour that is popular in Europe, tries to manage detective McClane in person. However, McClane may only be injured. Not killed. John McClane is the symbol, who does not die equally like James Bond. These two characters have become much similar. Daniel Craig's agent 007 became harsher. Bruce Willis's McClane started jumping down from the planes. We are forced to believe that he is not less lively than his colleague from the secret British service.The first "Die Hart" films developed the plot in the closed space (skyscraper and airport). They used the claustrophobic tension and actor's contrasts. The third part of "Die Hard" has mainly collapsed because the action has been transferred to the streets of the city. This made the integrity of the story collapse.In this, latest, film, the place of action is not limited. Therefore, the underexperienced director had to sweat well for us not to have a tedious time. Our focus had to see the memorable heroes all the time. The lack of the particular place of action needed to be offset by the stunning adventures.I think the task is fulfilled. I agree with the viewers, who were sitting at the hall and applauding after the ordinary effective action episode. Only the cinema magic and artfully distributed humorous cues may cause to believe the trueness of the events being shown. There is plenty enough of them in the film. They even more cause to remember "Casino Royale"- the most stylish adventure film of the year 2006. The new "Die Hard" justly pretends to the best summer entertainment, buys us over with its wittiness and ageless hero. Let Bruce Willis not become angry, but he was born exactly for this role. We must not become surprised, if the producers will cause him to pin a police officer's badge and to introduce himself to us once again: "Hello. I'm McClane. John McClane".

"Die Hard" is pure cinematic gold. Upon release in 1988, the original film in what would soon become a franchise was met with critical acclaim and went on to be an instant classic of action and adventure. Audiences were in awe of its spectacle and sharp writing, and to this very day, it remains a cherished and beloved masterwork that few are able to compare to. Two sequels followed in the 90's, and while not quite able to come close to matching the high bar set by that first film, both were strong and wickedly exciting chapters that continued the series well and maintained its integrity.For a while, it seemed that the series was finished, with the third film having capped off the series while also giving a sense of completion to Bruce Willis' legendary action-hero John McClane. More than ten years passed before we heard the murmurings of a fourth film. Years of anticipation and dreams of a new film would finally be answered. But there were some snags along the way. Most troubling being a studio-mandated PG-13 rating, which betrayed the hard-R tonality set by the previous entries. Some also took issue with the choice in Len Wiseman as director, with his previous directorial efforts in the "Underworld" series being exciting but a little light on story. But even still, we held onto our hope that the newest chapter would be a worthy installment.And oh boy, was it!"Live Free or Die Hard" (also known as "Die Hard 4.0" in some territories) is a darned-good modern take on the franchise, that skillfully mixes the best of both old and new-school cinematic techniques and storytelling to deliver yet another grand installment in the series. While there are some inherent problems with the film (particularly in the tamed-down PG-13 theatrical cut), it was like seeing a dear old friend again walking into the theater. McClane was back. The explosive entertainment was back. The attitude was back. And it was a pleasure to behold.The FBI is tracking a potentially dangerous situation, as a number of highly skilled computer hackers have been assassinated. When it appears hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long), who is on the FBI's watch-list, may be a potential new target, New York cop John McClane (Willis) is dispatched to collect him for questioning and protection. However, McClane soon finds himself a target for murder upon collecting Farrell when he comes into the sights of deranged former Department of Defense official Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), who is seeking retribution for his dishonorable termination. Together, McClane and Farrell must do whatever they can to stop Gabriel's ultimate goal- to cripple the US by initiating a devious scheme known as a "Fire Sale"... where every computer-based network will be eliminated, throwing the country into utter chaos.The strength of the film is that it is pure, unadulterated "Die Hard" in virtually every sense, only given a fresh spit-and-polish with modern day effects and a contemporary storyline. Director Len Wiseman masterfully weaves a tale that takes McClane out of his comfort zone and puts him into a worst-case- scenario where his hard-boiled wit will again be put to the test. Together with writers Mark Bomback and David Marconi, Wiseman delivers non- stop thrills and thorough entertainment from start-to-finish, with some of the most mind-bending action set- pieces of its decade. It's over-the-top... but over-the-top in all the right ways that only "Die Hard" can pull off.Willis is phenomenal as always in his trademark role, and its nice seeing that the script gives him a bit of development as he's struggled in the years that have passed. McClane might be doing things no other man could reasonably survive, but there's a humanity beneath the surface. Olyphant makes for an adequately menacing villain, even if he's far more hands-off than previous foes. He's got a good look and voice for the part of such a treacherous baddie, so I didn't mind that he was more of a behind-the-scenes figure. But the stand-outs here are the delightful Justin Long, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kevin Smith in supporting roles. Long might just be a sidekick to McClane, but he's a ton of fun and is never grating. His attitude compliments and contrasts with Willis quite nicely. Winstead, a delightful young actress, portrays McClane's daughter Lucy, and she's a welcome addition, as her small role helps ground McClane and give him a bit more heart. And Smith is just a ton of fun as an underground hacker known as "The Warlock." He hams it up well and gets some good zingers.However, this is not a perfect film, and it loses a few points for a few big issues I have with it. To start, Gabriel might be a decent villain, but he is very underdeveloped. Despite trying his hardest, Olyphant's good performance cannot overcome weak motivation and a lack of screen time. Hans Gruber, he ain't. The film also pushes the boundaries of believability a few too many times, which bugged me. And oddly enough, the problems I had don't lie in a certain sequence involving a jet that I will not spoil. No, to me, it's more that there's a bit too much CG work and inorganic wire-stunts in the earlier half of the movie that feel out of place. And a few too many moments of McClane and Farrell being saved by unlikely circumstances. And finally... the edits made to get the film down to a PG-13 are very obvious. It's blatant where dialog has been redubbed with lighter language and where the film had to cut so they didn't show too much blood. It's a tad irritating. Thankfully, an R- rated edition was later released that corrects these issues."Live Free or Die Hard" is a complete blast and re-invigorates the franchise after a prolonged break. It's exciting. Entertaining. And pure "Die Hard." It's a very good 8 out of 10.

Bruce Willis (and the Die Hard franchise he perpetuated) will always be judged next to the other famous action franchises of the 1980s, such as "Rocky", "Rambo", & "The Terminator". While all those series got re-booted in the 2000s, they also contained a heavy dose of nostalgia for the past. In "Live Free or Die Hard", however, it is "full steam ahead" with little time for remembrance.For a basic plot summary, "Live Free" sees John McClane (Willis) pulled into another tense criminal situation when villain Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Oliphant) executes an event of cyber- terrorism severe enough to bring Washington to its knees. Along with "hack-boy" Matt Farrell (Justin Long), McClane sets out to find the perpetrators and bring them some 1980s-style justice.This film really works primarily due to airtight direction & pacing. Director Len Wiseman never lets the pace flag whatsoever. When the action dies down, the wisecracks & humor ramps up. Suffice it to say that there is never a boring moment what with all the action, chases, explosions, technology, & typical Willis humor.The main plot ("cyber-terrorism") also serves to usher McClane into the 21st century. McClane's old-school justice provides a nice counterpoint to the tech-nerd played by Long (who is actually, on a rare occasion, watchable in this effort).Actually, the only negative thing I can say about this movie is that I almost wished it would have harkened back to the themes of the original even perhaps a bit more. There is a subplot involving the daughter of McClane, but little more is mentioned (besides a few "easter egg moments") regarding the original Die Hard trilogy.Overall, though, "Live Free" is a great addition to the Die Hard cannon (already better than parts two & three). For an action-oriented film, it really holds its weight.