Live Free or Die Hard

As it turns out, re-watching the first three Die Hard films in anticipation of this new one is absolutely the last thing one should do – as the movie has exceedingly little in common with its predecessors and instead comes off as a cinematic cousin to such watered-down, egregiously slick contemporary action movies as xXx and Bad Company. Stripped of anything even resembling grittiness by filmmaker Len Wiseman (who, based solely on this movie, is undoubtedly one of the least creative directors currently working within the action genre), Live Free or Die Hard will surely confound and anger longtime fans of the series – although, admittedly, the film does benefit from the inclusion of several engaging yet all-too-short-lived moments (eg there’s a fairly poignant scene in which Bruce Willis’ John McClane laments his penchant for always being in the wrong place at the wrong time). And while Willis does a nice job of slipping back into McClane’s shoes, screenwriter Mark Bomback has essentially turned the everyman into an invulnerable cartoon character – something that’s particularly true of the sequence that finds McClane forced to battle a Harrier jet (it’s a ludicrously entertaining scene, certainly, but it absolutely does not belong within the confines of a Die Hard movie). That the absurdly over-the-top storyline generally feels as though it’d be more at home in a James Bond adventure (and not even a good James Bond adventure; a bad, Lee Tamahori, Die Another Day-type James Bond adventure) certainly doesn’t help matters, and Live Free or Die Hard is ultimately a pointless and thoroughly misguided sequel that tarnishes the series’ overall effectiveness.

** out of ****