3.18.2013

A Good Day To Die Hard




Oh, John McClane. Where have you gone? 25 years after the original classic, nothing recognizable remains from the once classic action film series.

Budget restraints and a sense of greed permeate the latest entry into the Die Hard franchise as John McClane leaves American soil and must stop Russian terrorists. What is this, 1986? Stock Russian bad guy Viktor plans on silencing: whistle blower Yuri before a trial can happen that implicates Viktor as an evil, uber bad guy. CIA Agent Jack McClane, (Jai Courtney) through circumstances ends up with Yuri and tries to protect him. Once an attempt on Yuri's life has been put into motion, Jack and Yuri go on the run long enough for Yuri to provide evidence to Jack and the CIA Department.



Where does John McClane (Bruce Willis) fit into this? Not well, actually. John goes on "vacation" to Russia to help Jack out. For the main portion of the film, John really has no idea what is going on and plays second fiddle in the plot to Jack and Yuri. Most of the time, John fumbles around, surviving death-defying stunt after death-defying stunt with very little recourse of pain in this film. I understand that John has been here before, but any sense of logic, even the smallest sense, would have been welcome into this film.

Logic. That's a word that really should have been provided to writer, Skip Woods and director, John Moore. The action in the film is overblown, the stunts ridiculous and the acting very forced. One-liners come fast and furious from John, though none really have any staying power. Even Live Free or Die Hard had "I was out of bullets."



Nothing about this film is memorable except for the bad guys. Their plan: which includes harvesting weapons-grade uranium from Chernobyl (again, what is this, 1986?). Along with that, this is the first film in the Dir Hard franchise where the bad guys really don't even get their evil plan going. According to the script, they begin the motions of their nefarious plan, but then John and Jack interfere and the climax begins here. These are the most inept and least dangerous bad guys in the Die Hard franchise by far. And this includes Timothy Olyphant.

I really didn't like this film, which suffers from sub-par directing and a horrendous script. This franchise died in 1995 and unfortunately, the international market will make sure the franchise keeps ticking. Plus, who'd have thought that John McClane could read Russian? And I get it, Bruce, you're on vacation.



This film should have Died Hard.

2.7/10

5 comments:

  1. Wow, just another horrible review on this movie, makes me feel so much better about skipping it, sounds like it was DOA.

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  2. I had moderate hopes for this but I can't say I was surprised that it was crap!!

    It needed Timothy Olyphant! ;-)

    K :-)

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  3. Good review Rob. This film was just okay, but really lacked the excitement the first movies had.

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  4. Daniel, this film sucked. It is a shell of its former self.

    K, I am sorry to disappoint that Olyphant can't be bothered for a cameo. Justified is way more important ;)

    Dan, I agree. Though I think it was worse than okay. The action was so paint by numbers and lacked any real fun or suspense.

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