Movie Review: Die Hard 4.0
I was very eager to watch Die Hard 4.0, largely because I am a huge fan of Bruce Willis, and also in part because it has been a long long while since there was a movie worth watching in the theatres (when will the theatres go HD anyway). I have to say that, for the most part, I loved the movie, because it met all my expectations and surpassed some others.
Die Hard 4.0 tells a typical tale of terrorism (like all the other Die Hards) but updated to the modern era to make it Internet terrorism (hence the .0 in the 4). Although computer geeks, hacking, FBI and government-officials-turn-rotten themes have been made countless of times before, don’t expect a particularly deep or convoluted story with lots of backstabbing and innocent-guy-framed kind of stuff. Every character is introduced as is, you have a list of bad guys and a list of good guys and there are no twists and turns in the plot. Frankly, it would have been interesting if there was more “story”, but Die Hard was never about a deep story as it is about action, and, just like an action movie is supposed to be, you get lots of it.
McClane is an awesome fellow, and Bruce has never been better in portraying the character. A simple escort mission for the almost retired detective turns into a strife to hold the entire nation together. The catastrophe cause by the online terrorism is phenomenally large-scale (nationwide) and it shows future terrorists a door to what they can be capable of. Of course, though, things are made too easy, thanks to ridiculously fast computers and out of this world operating systems you can only find in movies.
Taking the audience’s naivety for granted aside, the movie delivers its action well through some well done “cinematography” and “choreography” (whoever coins such terms must be butchered). All action scenes are intense, thrilling and a couple are so tense you’d discover yourself holding your seat when they’re over. The action is over the top and employs of course impossible physics, acrobatics and a large dose of absurdity (wing-surfing an unpiloted F35 is a prime example), but for the context of the movie and for the fans, this is exactly what is expected. Lots of really good special effects and sound effects (we all love gunshots that don’t sound like tin cans banging) one-up the action significantly. It is a sin not to watch the movie in a theatre or on your HDTV with sound system when the HDDVD/BluRay (depends on where it ends up) gets released.
The supporting cast is good, mostly, and a couple of the “bad guys” in particular are absolutely incredible and star in some of the most intense fist and gunfight scenes. Unfortunately though, when disposed of, the coolness of the cast drops significantly and you’re left with some lackluster characters, but, thankfully, McClane and his daughter more than make up for it when the others don’t match up.
I liked the movie a lot, and, in my opinion, it is a must-watch, if not because of its great action, then for the fact that it probably is the last in Willis’s career as McClane and missing out on the Die Hard legacy is a mortal sin in its own right.
