Live Free Or Die Hard Review

See, now THIS is the fun, straightforward action movie I've been waiting for in a summer that's been, to use the technical term, "meh."

For starters, I could actually count the number of important characters in this movie in one hand (whereas you need a glossary to keep track of everybody in "Ocean Pirates of the SpiderShrek")

Also, I'm not gonna lie — part of the reason I enjoyed this movie so much is because the expectations weren't very high at all. I mean, honestly, who was expecting too much out of DIE HARD 4?! It'd been well over a decade, and there were all these other shinier movies out there.

But that's exactly what set it apart. Other than a truly ridonkulous sequence involving a jet fighter attacking John McClane (Bruce Willis) on a highway, the (over-the-top) action sequences, with real cars slamming into each other and a hero who routinely gets his butt-kicked and injured, were a refreshing change from other just-as-dazzling, but not-quite-as-impressive-as-they-used-to-be action sequences.

"Live Free or Die Hard" (which, for some reason is NOT set in New Hampshire) finds our hero — grizzled, wisecracking NYPD detective McClane — still alienated from his family. Following a brief, funny scene with his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I liked) the movie doesn't waste time kicking into high gear (honestly, I think the first explosion happened less than two minutes in) as McClane teams up with a computer hacker (Justin "Hey, I'm a Mac" Long) to stop an Internet-based terrorist (Timothy Olyphant) who is crippling the U.S. government just to prove how easy it is and to make a few billions (even the plot was suprisingly engaging).

To me, this movie was full of pleasant surprises. As a GIGANTIC (well not THAT big...I'm 6'1" and down to 197 lbs) fan of the first film (and the entire trilogy in general), I was a little worried about this one for a few reasons.

The first was pretty superficial and it was the fact that Bruce Willis chose to forgo his usual John McClane look, including dirty wifebeater and wig (does Bruce Willis get the best wigs in Hollywood or what?) and went for a more stripped down, bald look that made him vaguely resemble a thinner, older Michael Chiklis in "The Shield." Well I recently found out that shirt had been donated to the Smithsonian (and wasn't available for the movie, I guess). Also, 15 minutes in, I was into the movie and forgot all about that other junk and it seems kinda silly now. Willis is still an easygoing presence on screen. At 52, he still looks convincing pulling off all the stunts and he looks like he's having fun.

Secondly, I was worried that the movie being rated PG-13 (the previous threes were R) would mean this would be a watered-down "Die Hard", but the action (directed by Len Wiseman) was as hard-hitting (if not sillier) than ever.

Finally, I wasn't too crazy about the casting of Justin Long. I was prepared to go in and roll my eyes at his forced attempts at comic relief (which has never been needed before because Bruce Willis is funny), but what I got instead was surprisingly good chemistry between the two actors who complemented each other nicely and mirrored the plot of the movie McClane/low tech vs. bad guys/ super hi-tech. Long and Winstead were both very solid in younger-people roles that could've been irritating.

Not faring as well was Olyphant, a very good actor who probably did more than he should've of with a severely underwritten villain. Honestly, do we know ANYTHING about this guy other than he's really smart and he apparently likes Asian women? He still manages to get off a few good lines though, but it's not his fault that he pales in comparison to original "Die Hard" villain Hans Gruber, who just so happens to be the best action-movie villain of all time. Also, the movie is about 15-20 minutes too long, and it loses a bit of steam at the end.

Still, on top of the already-mentioned impressive action sequences (I particularly enjoyed the sequence in a darkened tunnel and McClane's fight with the bad guy's head henchwoman), there were a few fun references to the original movie and the franchise in general. I liked seeing Willis' reaction when an "Agent Johnson" of the FBI is mentioned to McClane (the first "Die Hard" featured two meddling, humorless FBI agents both named "Johnson") although, judging from the look on Erica's face when I brought this up to her, I was the only one in the theatre that got that one.

I also enjoyed a scene with McClane and Long's hacker character where the younger man asks McClane why he does what he does and the old cop responds with "if there somebody else to do it, I would be glad to let them do it...but there's nobody else." I thought that was a nice callback to how his character, from the semi-realistic original to the increasingly bombastic sequels, always seems to be the one that has to save the day.

Well, especially considering that a movie revisiting an iconic character more than a decade later (like "Rocky Balboa") probably had no business being this good, I'd say he's saved this summer action movie season.

Live Free or Die Hard…B+