LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

indianasmith · December 29, 2007, 09:56:22 AM

WOW!!! I watched this on video last night (the unrated version, BTW), and I must say this is probably the best of the franchise. You'd think with Bruce Willis pushing 60 that this sort of role wouldn't work for him anymore, but his John McClain is still believable and tough as nails. His hacker sidekick, Matthew Ferrell, is played by the same kid who was the Creeper's snack in JEEPERS CREEPERS, and he does a good turn as an anarchy-prone computer nerd. What did the rest of you guys think?

(BTW, the whole chopper vs. police car tunnel scene was AWESOME!)

Andrew · December 29, 2007, 10:20:26 AM

It amused me, because every time he ran into an apparently superior opponent, he used a vehicle to take them out. The chopper, the one evil martial arts female, and even an F-22 Raptor jet fighter. A bunch of us Marines watched it together and they were all howling in laughter after I pointed that out. We had to stop the movie a couple of times.

Snivelly · December 29, 2007, 05:56:53 PM

I watched this one this afternoon, and as Andrew pointed out, most of it was unlikely but it was good entertainment. Willis is still believable in the action hero role, the script and pacing never lagged, and it was a fun way to kill an afternoon.

Mr_Vindictive · December 29, 2007, 07:05:24 PM

It was good but I'm still partial to the original as far as being the best of the franchise. The original took the action films of the period and played on their cliches by having a main character who was completely destructible and not having all the flash and boom of the Arnie films of the time. This film ended up just being another generic action flick. It was fun, but nothing particularly original.

Yaddo 42 · December 29, 2007, 08:10:44 PM

Liked it a lot for the over the top action and Willis in grouchy action mode. Didn't buy into pretty much anything being realistic, but that's not what I was looking for here. My one real complaint would be that Timothy Oliphant, who I think was great in Deadwood, made for a pretty underwhelming villain.

It's probably my second favorite of the series after the first one, which is a well made and well plotted classic.

And was that an F-22? I thought they identified it as an F-35, it looked like the V/STOL version of the proposed Joint Strike Fighter project. Cool looking but why twin cannons? And in real life couldn't the missiles used have taken out the truck or the elevated highway from much further out, no need to get in close? Like I said it was a fun movie, but check your realism expectations at the door.

Andrew · December 29, 2007, 10:07:43 PM

Quote from: Yaddo 42 on December 29, 2007, 08:10:44 PM
And was that an F-22? I thought they identified it as an F-35, it looked like the V/STOL version of the proposed Joint Strike Fighter project. Cool looking but why twin cannons? And in real life couldn't the missiles used have taken out the truck or the elevated highway from much further out, no need to get in close? Like I said it was a fun movie, but check your realism expectations at the door.

You are right. The F-22 is the Air Force fighter. The F-35 is the Joint Strike Fighter, and some will have STOVL capability. The funny thing is that, from what I remember, the aircraft in the movie looks more like a F-22 than a F-35, but both have similarities.

Neville · December 31, 2007, 08:40:40 AM

I had a ball with this one. It dosn't have the same tone as the other three, but it's every bit as good as those. Even better than "Die Harder" if you ask me. It was nice to see an action film made with the fans of the 80s in mind, with a hero more grumpy than wisecracking, and with action scenes you could actually tell what was going on.

So yeah, it has some CGI and the action is (even) more far fetched, but it felt like I was on my teens again for two hours anyway.

I saw it with several friends within a similar age (25-30) and our laughs could be heard in the entire theatre.

odinn7 · December 31, 2007, 11:40:57 PM

I saw this opening night in the theaters (by myself) and I couldn't wait for it to start...The film was fantastic...It was the quickest 2 hours I've spent in a theater other than when I saw Sin City. Sure...there was much that was unbelieveable but hell, it's Die Hard...great film though I still like the first the best but only because it was the first.

Kooshmeister · January 01, 2008, 04:04:53 AM

I loved this immensely due mostly to the fact Bruce Willis is his being Bruce Willis-est as John McClane and it's nice to see another member of the McClane clan after they were only mentioned in Die Hard With a Vengeance, in this case John's daughter Lucy. Gabriel is mostly a paint-by-numbers villain except for the fact he seems to, unlike other villains, actually care about his henchmen. Sure, all of the hacker guys were expendable which is why he killed them all, but he was p**sed when McClane killed Mai (the "skinny little ninja chick who likes to kick people"). Also I was pleasantly surprised when he was so p**sed off over McClane seemingly killing Russo in cold blood that he offered another henchman (Rand, I think, or "Spider Boy" as McClane calls him) Mai's cut if he would kill McClane for him. You don't see that too often in big action movies lately, a villain who actually likes his helpers. Nevermind that McClane didn't really kill Russo, Gabriel thought he did so it's the thought that counts.

My one real gripe with the movie is the title. Why Live Free or Die Hard? Since McClane "dies hard," i.e. he's difficult to kill, shouldn't it be "Live Free and Die Hard?"

Yaddo 42 · January 01, 2008, 10:47:41 AM

It's a play off the New Hampshire state motto "Live Free or Die"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Free_or_Die

You're right that your version makes more sense though.

trekgeezer · January 01, 2008, 04:18:15 PM

I liked the movie until the jet fighter scene, that was just pushing the envelope on my suspension of disbelief.

And by the way Indianasmith, Willis is the same age as me(52) and neither of us is pushing 60.

Harrison Ford just finished another Indiana Jones and he is 65, Stallone is doing Rambo and he's 61. Chuck Norris is 67 and can still kick butt with the best of 'em. Better get used to us geezers.

indianasmith · January 01, 2008, 05:08:56 PM

TG, you have aged WAY better than Bruce has . . .

Jim H · January 02, 2008, 04:23:37 PM

Quote from: Andrew on December 29, 2007, 10:20:26 AM
It amused me, because every time he ran into an apparently superior opponent, he used a vehicle to take them out. The chopper, the one evil martial arts female, and even an F-22 Raptor jet fighter. A bunch of us Marines watched it together and they were all howling in laughter after I pointed that out. We had to stop the movie a couple of times.

Good point. My favorite part of the movie is probably actually when Willis smacks down Maggie Q. Right before it he says "enough of this chop socky mumbo jumbo bull****" or something like that. It was great. He's the classical American fighter (huge heavy punches) and she's the new wave choping and quick punching Asian fighter. I have to say her character's near invincibility stretched the my suspension of disbelief more than the jet sequence did.

Still, I quite enjoyed the film.

Torgo · January 02, 2008, 05:22:30 PM

Lots of fun if you leave your brain at the door along with your suspension of disbelief. I was expecting a complete disaster and was pleasantly surprised.

I never had thought about him using vehicles to take out superior opponents every time but not that I think about it that's pretty hilarious.

DistantJ · January 04, 2008, 09:55:44 AM

This film's actually called DIE HARD 4.0 here in the UK, I've still got to see it, but I need to catch up on the original two sequels first! That's right, I've only seen the original (though I love it).