The fourth Die Hard installment once again finds John McClane taking on a group of terrorists. The movie delivers what you'd hope to get in a Die Hard movie--plenty of action and McClane showing again why he's the working man's action hero and one of the best action movie characters ever created. Bruce Willis has some good one liners, and his alliance with a young hacker (Justin Long) works pretty well. Timothy Olyphant is solid as the villain Thomas Gabriel, but I would have preferred an actor who is a bit older with a bit more gravitas in the role. I suppose that since Bruce is getting a bit older, they decided to cast a younger actor as the villain to appeal to a younger demographic (no doubt Justin Long also was brought in to do this) and the ladies. Maggie Q plays Gabriel's femme fatale far-east assassin, and does well enough, though her character is so tough in a fight scene with Willis that I laughed to myself and wondered if this girl was the female terminator from Terminator 3.
This time the plot, in a nod to our internet age, involves a terror group that uses computer nerds to create havoc. If you remember what the ultimate goal of the villian in Sneakers was, you'll have a good idea of what these villains are up to. In fact, the enormity of the villain's goals is really my main problem with this movie. The whole premise of Die Hard surrounds whether the hero can overcome overwhelming odds and defeat the criminals by himself. However, if the criminal's goals are too extravegant, then it ceases to be realistic that only one man would be involved in taking on the bad guys. In Die Hard, it made sense that an off duty cop would be in an office building where hostages were being held, and would heroically take matters into his own hands. In Die Hard 4, our terrorists are aiming so high and succeeding to such an extent, that it simply isn't believable that one man is taking them on. Quite frankly, the entire US military would be called back from Iraq and anywhere else they might be to secure the country and get the enemy. My other problem with this movie is a certain chase scene towards the end. Let's just say that when the stinking military finally shows up, it is in the form of just one jet and the resulting action is just a little too over the top.
Despite these flaws, Live Free or Die Hard is simply a fun action film. There's plenty of action to take in and some wry chuckles to be had. It's a good action film that is worth catching in the theater if you want to have a nice two hour escape and some thrills. Really, isn't that what a summer action movie is supposed to accomplish?
RATING: ***/4 (Good)
No comments:
Post a Comment