Reviews by Matt

I can remember the first time I had a favorite movie. It was Die Hard. I watched it every time I saw it on TV and eventually got the series on VHS (that’s right folks we are going WAY back). John McClane was the embodiment of the action hero. He always seemed to be in the right place at the wrong time. He was witty, sarcastic and tough. He did what he had to do, not because he wanted to, but because he has to. It is for those reasons I was both excited and worried when I learned that there was going to be a fourth Die Hard movie.

“Live Free or Die Hard,” or “Die Hard 4.0” depending to whom you talk, is the fourth installment in the “Die Hard” series. This time John McClane (Bruce Willis) has been asked to transport computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) from New York City to Washington D.C to be questioned on some recent suspicious activity that the government noticed on the internet. The terrorists responsible try to kill Farrell before he can get there. When McClane gets him to the government, he becomes a target and the leader Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) will stop at nothing, including kidnapping John’s estranged daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winsted) to keep McClane from stopping him from shutting down America.

I heard about this movie years ago and over that time I have been both looking forward to and dreading the release. While a part of me really wanted another movie, the other part of me was convinced that it would destroy the franchise that redefined the action hero. I knew that no matter what I was going to see this movie and I had to prepare myself for a major disappointment.

I was so very wrong. I loved this movie. It kept all the things that made the originals good and did not try to reinvent the franchise. McClane is still the reluctant hero who always has a wise remark for the bad guy he is after. He keeps fighting even when the odds are stacked against him. It was everything I thought it was not going to be.

Bruce Willis delivers an aging John McClane. He is getting too old for the job and just wants to do his job and get home. When he is told that he has to take Farrell to D.C, he does it begrudgingly. When he finds himself once again as the hero he does so only because he has to. What struck me the most was we get another side of McClane in this movie. When, in a quiet moment, Ferrell asks him why he does it, McClane says “because there is no one else to do it right now.” It is a nice moment that gives an insight into the character.

Justin “I’m A Mac” Long plays off Willis very well. McClane is, for the most part, serious and battle hardened. Farrell on the other hand is not. He has never seen shootouts, bullets flying and explosions like this before. His inexperience in dangerous situations makes for some very funny lines as he gazes in disbelief at what he sees.

Even as a PG-13 movie, “Live Free or Die Hard” is still worthy of the “Die Hard” title, despite less gore, swearing and, the famous line being edited. The movie still delivers on what an action movie should be and I for one, would be happy to see another sequel if they could make it this good.

8 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation.
2 hrs 10 mins