A Good Day to Die Hard, 2013
Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of the Die Hard franchise. I feel that they have the ultimate action film blend of down-trodden hero, dastardly villain, unlikely sidekick, and awesome (albeit unlikely) action sequences. The truly dark motives of the villain would threaten to drown out the film if it wasn’t for the perfectly timed and sometimes unexpected (although no longer) comic moments. These comic moments are delivered by both villain and hero at times, but are especially superbly delivered by the often underrated Bruce Willis.

The two Die Hard films that really stand out for me, in terms of the winning formula, are Die Hard and Die Hard: With A Vengeance (the first and third installments). Interestingly these two were both directed by John McTiernan (Predator, Last Action Hero, The Hunt For Red October). Although Die Hard 4.0 (also known as Live Free or Die Hard) wasn’t directed by McTiernan, he produced and it still had an awesome villain in Timothy Olyphant, and brilliantly funny sidekick Justin Long.

This most recent installment was neither directed or produced by McTiernan, which doesn’t bode well in terms of adhering to the beloved formula. However…

As a stand alone it makes for a good action film. It has all the big budget, high adrenaline action sequences that we have come to expect from these films. Car chases (mostly involving Mercedes interestingly enough…), explosions, helicopter crashes, Chernobyl (don’t ask), it has them all.

If you were expecting our usual John McClane misadventure, unfortunately this film misses a few key targets. It seriously lacks in the comic department, the first funny moment is more than half way through. It opens feeling very maudlin and bitter, and that feeling doesn’t really lift throughout. The entire first half feels like one long opening sequence, and who the villain is and their motivation is rather more muddled than it should be for a Die Hard movie. I get the feeling that Willis still has what it takes in terms of comic timing and that he was seriously underused. It was great to see Australian Jai Courtney playing McClane’s son, but again I think his skills were also underused.

Overall this was a fun action film full of explosions and gun fights. But for the die hard Die Hard fan, it didn’t quite hit all the right notes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off making fists with my toes…