Live Free Or Die Hard
2007
Director: Len Wiseman
Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy
Olymphant(astic), Maggie Q, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kevin Smith, Cliff Curtis
Rated PG-13 (more appropriately R-13)
What, like you a big
fan of the Fett?
No, I was always more a Star Wars guy.
~WAR10CK
to McClane
It took twelve years for John McClane to return to the theaters
around the world. The franchise seemed a
tad like it was complete. No, With A Vengeance didn't spell out an
end, but it just felt satisfactory and I think everyone kind of assumed it was
the last hurrah. Now, that didn't stop
murmurs of a Die Hard 4 from popping
up every so often. Following the opening
of Armageddon in 1998 came the first wind.
Willis and Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck were going to team up for
it. Affleck would play McClane’s son
Jack and the film would take a minimalist “no weapons” approach taking place in
the jungle. This never panned out.
Throughout the years the rumors would be there and most of them somehow
including a Lucy McClane rescue. Maybe
inspired by Stallone’s revisiting of Rocky Balboa, Fox and Willis were motivated
to finally get this off the ground.
A lot of the action pieces in the film feel like a bunch of
“Die Hard on a…” situations group
together to get from place to place. There’s
some absolutely thrilling and fun pure Die
Hard stuff going on at times in this film.
I absolutely love the battle in Matthew Farrell’s apartment. It’s an exciting, intense escape with McClane
having to be incredibly quick on his feet.
Another fun situation pits them in a darkened hellacious traffic tunnel
with cars going full speed at each other.
While not perfect, this film is rather good at keeping you on your toes.
Bruce Willis seems to be having a lot of fun with this
one. McClane is backed, it appears he’s
cleaned up since we’ve last spent a day with him. However, he’s divorced and he’s struggling to
connect and garner interest in a relationship from his children. In a nice call back to the original, Lucy is
going by her mother’s maiden name of Genarro (another call back I like is FBI
agent Johnson). John’s still a man
refusing to adapt to modern technologies as we were told in the second film. While that’s acknowledged if
you’re paying attention, there’s still no real recognition of any
sequels. You could honestly watch this
after the first Die Hard or go 1-2-4 or 1-3-4 so far with this series. I don't think its that they don’t want to
recognize the sequels, its just maybe that its inconsequential to the current
episode.
There is a great moment in this film where John discusses
with Farrell what it means to be a “hero”.
It’s a great speech and a wonderful summation of McClane and of the
80’s-90’s action hero in general. Its
bits like this and the fun ride we’re taken on that makes me appreciate this
film more than most internet trolls.
There’s complaints that John is too much of a Superman in this film and
not the “common man”. I argue he’s still
got that average thing going for him.
And yes, he survives his biggest beatings of the series and is at a much
older age. However, I feel in this film,
since its so far removed from the original three tells the story of John
McClane as a legend. Whereas the first three were being there and seeing the events unfold in the present time, Live Free’s
John McClane is a product of a man growing through years of stories being told,
exaggerated and building a mythology to a man.
In this regard, I fully accept what John McClane has become in this
film. I don’t think its too hard to see or enjoy. These films get bigger each time, and John
suffers more and more. We started with
glass in the feet and have worked our way to getting knocked over by cars and
falling off ledges. That said, let me
get to this jumping off a jet fighter, free way being destroyed mumbo
jumbo. It’s a bad moment. The whole thing. It’s a scene that isn't just a bad thing in a
Die Hard movie, it would have been a
bad scene in any action movie. Luckily,
its not the end of the film and there’s more to come.
The rest of the cast rounds out just fine. Justin Long as Matthew Farrell provides yet
another new angle for McClane to partner.
While his and Willis chemistry is a far cry from Samuel L. Jackson’s,
its not trying to be and I thank them for it.
Long’s character brings about a few very funny moments (I love the
OnStar scene). Timothy Olyphant is
merely serviceable/good as the villain.
As a big fan of Olyphant, I was definitely wanting more for him. It feels as if he was keeping himself on a
leash, fearing that he might sink to camp territory with a wrong move. Instead trying to play everything to smart
and too clean. He does bring about some
menace and threat, but always feels a little too far to be too dangerous (a
script fault likely, not his). Maggie Q
is the real scene stealer here. She may
just be my favorite hench person in the series.
I really like the fight/elevator shaft sequence in the middle of the
film. She’s smart, competent and super
kick ass. And she’s given absolutely no
special treatment because she’s a girl.
In a way, we feel she may just be just as equal to Olyphant’s
Gabriel. Rounding out, we get Lucy
McClane and Winstead manages to to give us a convincing performance to believe
she’s truly a Genarro-McClane.
Now, this Die Hard
got a lot of crap for getting the moneygrabbing PG-13 rating, making people
have their minds made up that they didn’t like it before they even purchased
their tickets. I think an appropriate
rating for this would be R-13. As it
stands, the PG-13 rating is as gory/violent as any of the previous films in
this series, if not moreso. Its almost a
joke that this cut is PG-13. I think
having to do quicker cuts away from some scenes make the violence/implied
violence much worse than anything that could have been shown. I also thought the “Yippie-Ki-Yay” moment in
the film was actually cleverly done.
When getting released on DVD, the uncut version was dropped. Did it “fix” what people wanted? I dunno.
All that appears in the uncut version are bunch of “fucks”, a couple
lingering shots and some extra CG blood at a couple spots. Really, it doesn’t do a whole lot for
it. I could care less whether somebody
is saying the word “fuck” or swearing more.
Doesn’t do much for me. But if
that’s your fancy, I guess its there for you.
I prefer the PG-13 cut. Sue me.
I really think this is a fun film, while maybe stretching
the series to some bigger heights than weave come to expect. There’s one big moment that really doesn't work, but I can shrug it off. I feel
like everywhere I read, there’s an incessant hate for this film. However, looking through the internet, I've seen quite the opposite in the general arena.
Metacritic gives it a 69, Rotten Tomatoes 81% (critic) and 86%
(audience), and a 7.3 on IMDB (higher than 2 and just below 3). So, it must be that those who hate this movie
are just a bit more vocal about it. I
really like it. Is it he best in the
series? No. Is it a fun time, that
thrills me and keeps good with the character I've loved through 3 films
now? Hell yeah! Its Die
Hard. Every film so far has taken
the scale up a notch every step of the way.
This one is no different. Sometimes
as a franchise takes time off, and the originals are allowed to grow to a thing
of legend, any new follow up is held up to this absurdly high standard that the
series’ sequels were never held up at to begin with. I applaud Len Wisemen for making a fun film,
not succumbing to overly Greengrass Bourne
action, and keeping things practical with as much physical effects and stunt work he could cram into it.
Next Up: Ranking DIE HARD
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