|
Bruce
Willis is back as his trademark character John McClane, the New York
cop who has now saved the world from terrorists in three movies. This
time he’s in Washington – transporting a cyber nerd (Justin Long) to
the feds, when cyber terrorists decide to take down the transportation
system, followed by the power…and so on. Naturally, McClane swings into
action and accompanied by his whiz-kid accomplice, takes on the
computer crazies.
Let’s get this out of the way first – the rating. You’ve no doubt heard by now that the latest Die Hard
has been family-ized; in that much of the swearing and corn syrup that
the series has become accustomed for has been removed in favour of
putting more bums on seats. Yep, even John McClane’s (the character
played by Bruce Willis) trademark catchphrase (you know the one!) has
been truncated.
Knowing that, and keeping in mind that McClane’s famous wife-beater is gone, as is his hair, it’d be easy to say Die Hard 4
is no more than generic action movie that bares the same title as the
landmark action film of 1988. In some respects, that’d be a fair
assumption – after all, we’ve come to know the character as a
tough-talking receding-hairline singlet wearing arsenal of f-bombs and
villain-ary afflict and he’s anything but here. So yes, this is a
generic action movie disguised as Die Hard.
Die Hard 4.0 could have been any movie (I’m surprised they didn’t just call one of Willis’s other recent flicks, say Hostage or 16 Blocks, Die Hard 4
and be done with it) because, quite frankly, you don’t need a lot more
than some character tweaks, references to previous sequels and Willis
devilishly laughing after he kills some bad guys.
This Die Hard (surprisingly, it’s the only Die Hard
film that didn’t start out as another movie; isn’t that ironic?)
belongs in a whole different box to the other films in the series.
Whereas the first three films were about a normal guy being caught up
in some rather inopportune situations and having to sweat his way out
of them, this one’s more or less a superhero adventure in the
Schwarzenegger mould (it’s almost Commando meets True Lies).
This
John McClane can jump from trucks onto stealth fighter jets (I kid you
not, its actually very corny), this John McClane doesn’t hurt at all
when his body’s bashed and this John McClane never feels the urge to
swear – in fact, the worst he’ll call his opponent is “Jerk” or
“Dickhead”. So no, it definitely isn’t the suspenseful
this-could-happen Die Hard
series we’ve come to know and love. For some reason, writer Mark
Bomback forgot that John McClane was a normal guy and not the
Terminator.
Also…. The main villain (Timothy Olyphant) is a bit
underwhelming; the sidekick’s expandable (trying to get the kids in ya
see?) and there’s no Bonnie Bedelia cameo (we haven’t seen her – as
Holly McClane - since the second movie!).
Having said that, the Len Wiseman (Underworld) directed Die Hard 4.0
is still an enjoyable movie (sometimes very) just something that
would’ve been more up Schwarzenegger’s alley in the early 90s. The
action sequences are fantastic; the skirmishes are great (the fight
between Willis and Maggie Q is a highlight), Mary Elizabeth Winstead is
great (actually, she’s not a bad match for McClane’s daughter) and the
storyline itself is intriguing – albeit a little too Under Siege 2 in some parts.
So all in all. It is a good movie – just not a good Die Hard movie.
EXTRAS
If you, like the rest of us, felt that something felt a little ‘off’
with the theatrical version of the new Die Hard, you’ll love this
DVD – it’s not only more violent but it graciously re-inserts the
cussing that was so sorely missing from the edited version released at
multiplexes.
Yes, Yippee-Ki-Yay…. Is no longer truncated. It shouldn’t
really matter, I know (a good film is a good film, right?) but the
addition of the F-bombs and the re-insertion of some bloody skirmishes
really improves the film. It seems less like an airplane version of the
film now and a little more (it still isn’t John McTiernan’s original)
like the hardcore action series we remember.
The unrated version of the film is far the best thing on the disc.
Not
to say there aren’t some good extra features on the disc, there are.
The audio commentary by Willis, Wiseman and editor Nicholas de Toth is a
good listen; "An Analog Hero in a Digital World: The Making of Live Free
or Die Hard" is a terrific feature-lengthy documentary that leaves no
question (well, besides the ‘where’s Bonnie Bedelia?’ one) unanswered;
the 20-minute chit-chat with Willis and Kevin Smith is amusing, and the
FOX Movie Channel’s making-of is redundant but interesting-enough.
There’s also a music video, and the making of that video, tacked on.
They say a theatrical release of a film these days is merely a teaser for an upcoming DVD, and in this case, they’d be right. Conclusion:
Movie 70% Extras: 65%
|
