Caffeinated Clint
They say a theatrical release of a film these days is merely a teaser for an upcoming DVD, and in this case, they’d be right.
Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maggie Q, Cliff Curtis
Put some titanium batteries into your old boom-box and chances are it’ll play better than ever. It’s still the cheap slipshod music player you purchased on sale in 1989, but with some added power behind it, it swings a much sweeter tune – though obviously not as good as it once did.
”Live Free or Die Hard” – or ”Die Hard 4.0” as its known downunder – is that old stereo. If it didn’t have such power behind it, it’d be no more than a device that simply ‘does the job’. In its current form, it’s a dying plant in a shiny vase….
Bruce Willis is back as his trademark character John McClane, the New York cop whose now saved the world from terrorists in three movies. This time he’s in Washington – transporting a cyber nerd (Justin Long) to the feds – when cyber terrorists decide to take down the transportation system, followed by the power…and so on. Naturally, McClane swings into action and accompanied by his whiz-kid accomplice take on the computer crazies.
Let’s get this out of the way first – the rating. You’ve no doubt heard by now that the latest “Die Hard” has been family-ized; in that much of the swearing and corn syrup that the series has become accustomed for has been removed in favour of putting more bums on seats. Yep, even John McClane’s – the character played by Bruce Willis – trademark catchphrase – you know the one – has been truncated.
Knowing that, and keeping in mind that McClane’s famous wife-beater is gone, as is his hair, it’d be easy to say ”Die Hard 4” is no more than generic action movie that bares the same title as the landmark action film of 1988. In some respects, that’d be a fair assumption – after all, we’ve become to know the character as a tough-talking receding-hairline singlet wearing arsenal of f-bombs and villain-ary afflict and he’s anything but here. So yes, this is a generic action movie disguised as ”Die Hard”.
”Live Free or Die Hard” could have been any movie – I’m surprised they didn’t just call one of Willis’s other recent flicks, say ”Hostage” or ”16 Blocks”, ”Die Hard 4” and be done with it – because, quite frankly, you don’t need a lot more than some character tweaks, references to previous sequels and Willis devilishly laughing after he kills some bad guys.
This ”Die Hard” – surprisingly, it’s the only ”Die Hard” film that didn’t start out as another movie; isn’t that ironic? – belongs in a whole different box to the other films in the series. Whereas the first three films were about a normal guy being caught up in some rather inopportune situations and having to sweat his way out of them, this one’s more or less a superhero adventure in the Schwarzenegger mould (it’s almost ”Commando” meets ”True Lies”). This John McClane can jump from trucks onto stealth fighter jets (I kid you not, its actually very corny), this John McClane doesn’t hurt at all when his body’s bashed behind fix, and this John McClane never feels the urge to swear – in fact, the worst he’ll call his opponent is “Jerk” or “Dickhead”. So no, it definitely isn’t the suspenseful this-could-happen ”Die Hard” series we’ve become to know and love. For some reason, writer Mark Bomback forgot that John McClane was a normal guy and not the Terminator.
Also…. The main villain (Timothy Olyphant) is a bit underwhelming; the sidekick’s expandable (trying to get the kids in ya see?) and there’s no Bonnie Bedelia cameo (we haven’t seen her – as Holly McClane – since the second movie!).
Having said that, the Len Wiseman (“Underworld”) directed “Live Free or Die Hard” is still an enjoyable movie – sometimes very – just something that would’ve been more up Schwarzenegger’s alley in the early 90s. The action sequences are fantastic; the skirmishes are great (the fight between Willis and Maggie Q is a highlight), Mary Elizabeth Winstead is great (actually, she’s not a bad match for McClane’s daughter) and the storyline itself is intriguing – albeit a little too “Under Siege 2” in some parts.
So all in all. “Live Free or Die Hard” is a good movie – just not a good “Die Hard” movie.
Sure, it’d be nice to have had McClane sprout a few more amusing F-bombs (it still doesn’t sit right that he’s be calling the villains ‘Jerks’; in fact, in one scene I could’ve sworn the words didn’t match his mouth, as if he may have said something stronger and was told to loop it later on – for the rating), it would’ve even been nicer to have seen him look a little more like he did in the previous films, but for all intents and purposes, and despite its slightly watered down nature, this is still a “Die Hard” film – just one you don’t want to watch in a double bill with John McTiernan’s original, because you’d be hard-pressed spotting a link.
If you, like the rest of us, felt that something felt a little ‘off’ with the theatrical version of the new ‘’Die Hard’’, you’ll love this DVD – it’s not only more violent but it graciously re-inserts the cussing that was so sorely missing from the edited version released at multiplexes. Yes, Yippee-Ki-Yay…. Is no longer truncated. It shouldn’t really matter, I know – a good film is a good film, right? – but the addition of the F-bombs and the re-insertion of some bloody skirmishes really improves the film. It seems less like an airplane version of the film now and a little more – it still isn’t John McTiernan’s original – like the hardcore action series we remember.
The unrated version of the film is far the best thing on the disc.
Not to say there aren’t some good extra features on the disc, there are. The audio commentary by Wilis, Wiseman and editor Nicholas de Toth is a good listen; An Analog Hero in a Digital World: The Making of Live Free or Die Hard is a terrific feature-lengthy documentary that leaves no question (well, besides the ‘where’s Bonnie Bedelia?’ one) unanswered; the 20-minute chit-chat with Willis and Kevin Smith is amusing, and the FOX Movie Channel’s making-of is redundant but interesting-enough. There’s also a music video, and the making of that video, tacked on.
They say a theatrical release of a film these days is merely a teaser for an upcoming DVD, and in this case, they’d be right.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
