Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
6/27/07
Those who peruse my Blog
recently chuckled with disdain when I declared John McTiernan's Die
Hard to be the 10th Greatest American Movie. But they also have
some idea of the high bar I set for any further adventures of NYC Police
Detective John McClane (as immortally played by Bruce Willis). Die
Hard 2 had its' moments, although it's far too long and full of its'
own cleverness, while Die Hard With a Vengeance was a sorry attempt
to shoehorn McClane and Special Guest Star Samuel L. Jackson into a Lethal
Weapon sequel. Now, twelve years after that misfire, McClane
returns in his best sequel yet. Live Free or Die Hard may
fall far short of the Greatest Action Movie Ever Made, but it's a fun,
exciting summer thrill ride with some of the best stunt/FX sequences I've
ever seen.
The last few years haven't
been so good for McClane. He's divorced and his daughter Lucy (Mary
Elizabeth Winstead) isn't speaking to him. It's during a late-night
attempt to ambush her into talking that he finds himself in just the right
area to pick up computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long, best known for
being
a computer in those cute Mac/PC TV ads), wanted by the FBI for questioning.
It seems that government computer systems are being hit by cyber attacks
over the 4th of July weekend, and one by one, everyone on the feds' list
of suspects is turning up dead. If not for McClane's intervention,
Matt would have too, so the unlikely duo race across town until all the
traffic lights suddenly turn green, stopping everything dead. It's
just the first salvo in a plot by disgraced government computer expert
Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) to bring the entire US infrastructure
to its' knees. Once it's started, it's going to take the combination
of Ferrell's high-tech brains and McClane's old-school invincibility to
turn the lights back on.
And believe me, even by his
standards, in Live Free or Die Hard, John McClane is positively
invincible. Using CGI techniques that were unavailable to his earlier
adventures to amp up stunts beyond belief, LFODH sees him dodging
flying cars inside a darkened commuter tunnel, driving a car into a helicopter
in mid-air, driving a truck down an elevator shaft and battling a fighter
jet with an 18-wheeler. Since old-school action has fallen out of
vogue in the modern effects era, we've never seen anything on this sort
of scale, and the stuff here is so convincing I had no idea where stunt
ends and FX begins. Of particular note is the jet/truck battle, one
of the best action sequences in years, and while the shot of McClane and
Farrell ducking down between two cars while another flying one lands inches
from their heads has been played to death in trailers and ads, it still
packs a wallop. Director Len Wiseman proves capable of handling a
production much more massive than his previous experience on the Underworld
series would suggest.
The story itself is nice
Summer Spectacle fodder, and playing up how behind the times McClane is
really helps to make the fact that Willis is not as young as he used to
be an asset rather than a problem. The “Fire Sale” computer hacking
scheme is impressively massive, and the movie is willing to take it a lot
farther than a less expensive enterprise would dare. But we're missing
some sort of character to experience the National Shut-Down as an ordinary
person. I can't help but wonder if Lucy is supposed to fill this
role, but had scenes cut, since she is introduced in the very first scene
and then vanishes until almost the 2/3 mark.
After not really connecting
with the character in With a Vengeance, Willis does a much better
job of convincingly playing Old John McClane this time out, and it's easy
to remember why he's one of my favorite movie heroes. Despite his
superhuman luck, he is just a guy, and even he has to stop to chuckle at
his amazing good fortune at surviving one unbelievable event after another.
It's also a nice change to pair him with a more high-energy partner, and
the endlessly likable Long provides a funny running commentary on just
how Die Hardy he is. Another cool addition is Winstead, who does
a wonderful job of showing off The McClane Toughness without “doing” Willis
per se. Olyphant makes an impressive villain, his cold, steely eyes
making him always seem like a capable adversary for one of the movie's
top heroes. I really liked the way the film takes advantage of technology
to have repeated “meetings” between the two throughout even though they
don't actually end up in the same room until the closing moments.
It took me back to the use of walkie-talkies to do the same job between
McClane and his first and best opponent, Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in
the original Die Hard. His henchmen, led by Maggie Q, are
also nicely pitched to match Old School McClane against things he's never
seen before, like kung fu-fighting women and a guy who dives and dances
around like an acrobat while fighting.
If there's a problem with
the movie, it's that it's a little too long and leisurely: no offense
to Cliff Curtis, who plays the bureaucratic crimefighter as well as anyone,
but I could have stood a lot fewer cutaways to he and his team piecing
things together, particularly since they don't play much of a role in the
climax anyway. The overall pace is a little closer to With a Vengeance
than the classic original. And an extended cameo by Kevin Smith reminds
us why he became famous playing a character who doesn't say anything.
It's a shame that neither of the last two sequels has seen a reappearance
of any of the great supporting characters who populated the first two Die
Hards. It's also a little dispiriting to watch a PG-13 sequel
to one of the most joyously profane movies I've ever seen; doubly so because
the characters lips keep failing to match their watered-down words (I assume
European audiences, seeing the film as Die Hard 4.0, are hearing
more fittingly salty dialog).
But the truth remains that
Live
Free or Die Hard was my best John McClane fix in almost 20 years, and
the super-sized action should entertain even those unfortunate souls who've
never seen Die Hard. To them, I recommend they follow this
cool summer flick with a hasty trip to the video store. Yippie Ki
Yay!
On 11/25/07, I blogged these thoughts
about the movie's Unrated DVD release:
Last night I fired up my
DVD player and got a look at the new Unrated cut of Live
Free or Die Hard, something I've been anticipating ever since learning
that while we Americans had been stuck with a watered-down PG-13 version,
International audiences saw the film in the R-rated form which was so clearly
intended. I'm not somebody who comes out of PG-13 movies complaining
that they weren't violent or gory enough, but when you try to strip the
profanity from a sequel to the most joyously profane action movie ever
made, you've crossed the line. Well, now it's back (the Collector's
Edition package I purchased includes both the theatrical and unrated cuts)
and I, for one, was delighted to hear John McClane's language appropriately
resalted. I mean, come on, the man's catchphrase is “Yippie Ki Yay,
Motherf***er”! Let him do his thing!
I liked the movie even more
this time around, and not just because of the swearing. I generally
find that when a movie is good enough for you to overlook its' flaws, you
say that the first time, but really do it on subsequent viewings.
I barely noticed Cliff Curtis's pointless squad of investigators or the
fact that John's daughter Lucy disappears for more than half the film,
because I knew all that coming in. And those action sequences...
man, I could watch Bruce Willis and Justin Long duck between two cars while
another one bounces over their heads a thousand times and it would still
make me jump!
I was, however, disappointed
by the absence of any deleted scenes. Did they really intend to discard
Lucy for all that time? To not show any non-participant in the action
affected by the “Fire Sale” Computer Hacking scheme (which, in an aside
to my readers, I should again point out has no basis in reality)?
As creative choices go, that's just f***ed up. |
