Now that was an action movie. It’s 3:00 am and I just got home from previewing Die Hard. I must admit i wasn’t really excited about the revival of an old movie series, but this was great. After watching the CG crap so often this summer (Fantastic Four, Pirates, Spiderman), it was a lot of fun to see guns blaze and stuff blow up. No need in people swinging around or flying to jumping on walls, just one awesome guy stuck in another bad situation and kicking butt while he’s there.
So what better way to bring us back down to earth with our action movies that to bring back John McClane himself?
What if everything the world knows and relies on every single day was taken away? What if it just vanished? Or as they put it in the film, what if you had an emergency and dialed 911 and nobody answered? That’s the setup for Live Free or Die Hard, when a computer genius, Thomas Gabriel, unleashes a brilliant plan, known as Firesail, that will basically erase everything the country has established and start from scratch. All the power is dead, there is no trace of money, files, records, etc. There is no control over the water, gas… you get the picture. The nation is left at stage one all over again. But this guy doesn’t know John McClane.
Justin Long co-stars as Matthew Farrell, a young and intelligent hacker, who has unintentionally helped Gabriel jump-start his plan and is ready to be disposed of when McClane comes to the rescue. The two are great on screen together, Bruce using his great “i really hate being stuck in this situation, but if i’m gonna do it i might as well try it this way” attitude mixed with Long’s “holy crap i can’t believe that just happened” humor make for great entertainment when we aren’t being treated to an awesome explosion or slug throwing battle.
Live Free or Die Hard, i’m sorry i ruled you out before giving you a try, but now i’m a believer. With so many far-fetched, mutant empowered, fantasy world hero movies hogging the screens these days, it’s a nice break to see something so simple and old school come back for another bow. Keep an eye out for director Ken Wiseman down the road after this great show (Wolverine anyone?).
My grade: B+
