"Live Free or Die Hard"

Bruce Willis
Timothy Olyphant
Justin Long
Maggie Q
Kevin Smith
Sung Kang
Mary Elizabeth Winstead







PG13           130min           2007


”Live Free or Die Hard” is the fourth installment in the “Die Hard” franchise taking place 18 years after the first, this time around aging officer McClane has to fight internet terrorist out to bring down the United States government infrastructure, as an example of its weakness.

Bruce Willis bring back a character that is the epitome of one-man defense. It’s the same formula that makes the others work but a different flavor. John McClane is out just doing is duty when he’s draw into a larger than life situation that is typical of his life.

I liked that it showed McClane older and a bitterer version. “Live Free or Die Hard” showed that his previous adventures have shaped a bitter character. He’s a man that has lost his family because of the turns his life has taken from the previous films.

This time around the bad guys are more of a gray area. We’re to believe that this terrorist attack is bad because it against the United States. Many people have warned that the US is vulnerable and we need to take steps to fix the problems. Instead the government takes the governmental stance and the chicken came home to roost. I was rooting for the terrorist until they took McClane’s daughter Lucy what was a political statement became personal; the Achilles’ heal of typical bad guys.

Something that I gleamed from this film is that Len Wiseman loves to film strong female characters fighting equally against men. From the moment Willis and Maggie Q start to fight there is not doubt that she can kick his ass. If this were the really world that fight would have turned out differently. But it was a great fight anyway.

It’s not as good as the classic but I do think its up there with Vengeance if not better and it’s way better than Die Harder. Justin Long, a computer hacker, targeted by the group lead by Timothy Olyphant is the comic sidekick just trying to grasp the destruction that he thought would be funny in his mind. Timothy Olyphant plays the thinking man’s bad guy, I think better than Hans Gruber but too easily distracted by McClane.

”Live Free or Die Hard”is a great popcorn movie for the summer of 2007. I can’t say what you’re looking fro from this outing of the ”Die Hard” franchise but for me it did not disappoint. I expected big explosions. Check. I expected a high body count. Check. I expected the authority to be running around hold their dicks. Check. With inside jokes referencing all the previous movies and a funny cameo by Kevin Smith, “Live Free or Die Hard” is a good addition to summer movie season.

I give it 4/5 Gs.