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A Good Day to Die Hard
If relations between
Russia and America were tense before, they will be even more on-edge
now than ever before. And we can thank Bruce Willis for that.
Early last year, the
fifth (and final?) instalment of the long-running Die Hard series
filmed on location in Moscow, Russia. Most of the city centre was
shut down and affected for forty days at one point, so the filmmakers
could create the epic car chase scene which kick starts the action
early on in the film. Now I have seen many car chase scenes on film
before, but none that have had so much disregard for innocent drivers
and public property than in John McClain’s latest adventure.
However, it was an entertaining car chase scene; well shot, extremely
well edited and executed and of course, totally over the top. But
what else would you expect from a Die Hard movie? But before I get
into my review for this latest offering, let’s go back to where it
all began…
“Twas the night
before Christmas, when all through the office building, not a
telephone was stirring, not even a fax. The terrorist snuck in to
give the staff a scare, and they all hoped a hero would come to be
there”.
And a hero was there,
but he didn’t know he was their hero…yet. John McClane, a New
York City cop, flies into Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his
estranged wife. They are on the verge of divorce, but are hoping they
can patch thigns up by spending the holidays together. She works in
the Nakatomi Plaza Tower in Downtown LA, where the entire staff is
gathered for some Christmas drinks and shenanigans. Whilst the party
is under full swing, and McClane is in the bathroom, a bunch of angry
Germans storm into the building, heavily armed and hell-bent on being
bad. The entire building staff, including McClane’s wife, are taken
hostage. It’s up to this semi-alcoholic burnout to save the day.
The first Die Hard
movie was a huge success. Bruce Willis was already familiar to
audiences from his hit TV show “Moonlighting”, but it would be
his turn as the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, which would
cement his place in film history. “Die Hard” introduced movie
goers to John McClane and also gave us “The Everyman” action
hero. Up until then, action films had been overrun by the likes of
Schwarzenegger, Stallone and others; tough, muscular, almost
indestructible action men who seemed to dispose of the bad guys like
they were just swatting flies. But McClane was different; more real.
He was clearly out of his depth in this situation, and armed with
only a handgun, his wits and a few smart-arse comments, he ploughed
his way through the terrorists – one by one – rescued his wife
and saved the day. It seemed this action film would be a stand-alone
affair, depicting the story of a cop who does his job and walks away,
for the most part, unscathed. But it wouldn’t be the only time we’d
meet McClane. Over the years, the sequels began to roll in.
“Die Hard 2: Die
Harder” came along three years later. This time, Washington Dulles
Airport was the setting. It was Christmas Eve, again, and McClane's
wife became a hostage, again; only this time, trapped in a plane
circulating the skies above Washington because the bad guys were
controlling the runways and wouldn’t allow any planes to land. But
who would be waiting at the airport and find himself caught in the
middle of all this? John McClane of course. The chances of the same
thing happening to the guy twice are pretty far fetched, even for the
movies. And McClane doesn’t even put this past himself as he utters
those exact words in the film. In Die Harder, some rouge terrorists
want an ex-military Russian general released from custody for some
reason. The plan seems to go off like clockwork, but they didn’t
reckon with the cop from New York did they?
Fast forward another
three years, and we meet John McClane again. Only this time, it’s
on his home turf. “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” was released to
the world and many saw this as the best film in the series yet. The
plot focused on a mad bomber who likes to play games, his favourite
being “Simon Says”. He instructs the police that John McClane
can’t have the day off and has to do what Simon tells him to. With
a massive hangover and less hair, McClane surfaces and is pulled into
a deadly game of cat and mouse with the unknown villain. Along the
way, he recruits the help of a small store owner, played to
perfection by Samuel L. Jackson. The two become partners for the day,
and initially can’t stand each other and It’s the chemistry
between Jackson and Willis that carried the film to some very
entertaining places. McClane eventually finds out the bad guy pulling
the strings this time is actually the brother of Hans Gruber, our bad
guy from the first Die Hard. McClane killed Simon’s brother, now
Simon wants revenge. Simple right? With his own army of German’s
and some nifty explosives, Simon puts McClane through hell, but with
sheer dumb luck and those killer wisecracks that can make any bad guy
lose the plot, McClane comes out triumphant again. After three
movies, it seemed McClane was hanging up his gun and wouldn’t be
picked for fighting bad guys again. And so the years rolled past…
Bruce Willis went on to
make an assortment of other movies, scoring some big hits but also a
few clunkers, but In the mid 00’s, a resurgence was happening in
the film industry. Hollywood seemed to be running out of original
ideas, so in order to draw in already-established audiences and stick
with winning formulas, they resurrected some old movies and classic
characters for another swing on the silver screen; Schwarzenegger
brought back the Terminator for one last mission, Stallone jumped
back in the ring as Rocky for his final bout, so it seemed timely
that Bruce Willis should bring his most famous character back to life
for another case of “Wrong Guy in the Wrong Place at the Wrong
Time” syndrome.
In 2007, “Live Free
or Die Hard” or “Die Hard 4.0” as it is also known, hit
cinemas. It had been twelve years since McClane fired a gun, and in
that time he had settled into a fairly peaceful existence as a lonely
cop. His only concerns came with who his daughter Lucy was dating,
and McClane would often park his car outside her apartment on
stakeouts to suss-out the douche-bags trying to win over his
daughter. Times have changed as well, with the advances in technology
and the world’s security and law enforcement policies forever
changed in a post 9-11 world. But McClane hadn’t changed much –
he just looked older and was also completely bolder.
The story this time
focuses on the movements of Cyber Terrorists, who try to take over
the world with their laptops. It works well, as they are able to shut
down America’s traffic system, public transport and power systems
with the touch of a button. It’s called a “Firesale”, with the
intent of brining down a nations entire infrastructure. In the middle
of all this mess is Matt Farrell, a young computer hacker who was
hired to write some code for the terrorists to carry out their plan.
However, he didn’t know what he was working on and once he’s
fulfilled his purpose, the bad guys try to take him out. But the
police are onto him for something else and send along one of their
own to pick him up. Who you might be asking? McClane of course, and
as he goes to retrieve the nerdy young hacker, the bad guys try to
take him out. Once again, McClane is thrust into a situation he
didn’t ask to be in, and is forced to face some bad guys who are
smarter, more equipped and better prepared than anyone he’s faced
before “You’re an Amex watch in a digital age” the main villain
tells McClane “You’re gonna lose”. This doesn’t deter McClane
as he puts up with the card he’s been dealt, and incorporates the
help of the young hacker to save the day….again!
So after four
instalments and almost twenty years, you’d think McClane must be
done. I mean, how many more times can he keep on surviving shit? The
guy’s indestructible, and surely his luck would soon run out.
And now, we have “A
Good Day to Die Hard”. This time, McClane leaves the US to visit
his son, who has been arrested in Moscow for a serious crime. McClane
hasn’t seen his son, Jack, for many years and when they are
reunited, it’s obvious the lack of contact over the years has done
its damage. Jack doesn’t even refer to McClane as dad, simply
calling him John. Jack is in the middle of a big situation, working
with the CIA on a special mission to bring down a big crime boss.
Literally minutes after McClane arrives in Moscow, all hell breaks
loose and like it’s just another day at the office, he jumps into
the action to help his son fight the bad guys and try and patch
things up with him at the same time.
The character of Jack
is played by up-and-coming Aussie star Jai Courtney, who audiences
will recognise as the sniper from”Jack Reacher”. Courtney is a
bit of a cross between Sam Worthington and Russel Crowe in my
opinion, and acquits himself well as the gun-toting son of John
McClane. This time around however, Bruce Willis seems a bit distant.
His character and his reactions to the situation happening around him
aren’t so much the focus on this occasion, as it has been in the
past. Instead, this fifth instalment drives straight into the action
with no hesitation, and relentlessly, gives us car chases, gun
fights, helicopter’s attacking, big explosions, more gun fights and
the most full-on display of machismo ever displayed in an action
film. Just like his father, Jack is an indestructible force, as he
and McClane survive one intense action scene after another; after
which, they’re always walking away with only a few cuts and
bruises, ready for the next fight and all the while, bashing heads as
a father and son who don’t have the best history with each other.
The overall look and
tone of the film is very different from the previous four. Directed
by John Moore this time, the move is gritty, stark and cut in a
rough-and-tumble way. The setting is certainly different, the story
of the villains and their motivations is often confusing and what
felt like the blink of an eye, all of it was over.
So will there be more
Die Hard films after this one? I’m not sure. The ending doesn’t
determine if this is the end or not, and Bruce Willis has proved he’s
still got some swing left in him. Overall, I enjoyed the latest Die
Hard offering. The character of John McClane has been around for so
long, and the franchise has been well looked after and treated over
the years, making it one of the best and most entertaining action
series of all time. So if they make another one, I’ll be there.
What will they call it then?
“Today is the Day
McClane Will Die Hard – For Good” or maybe call it “Just Die
Already?” Even action heroes have their limits so unless McClane
wants to be shot and killed after surviving so much for so long, he’d
do well to just get a desk job at the police station. But then, what
kind of a movie would that make?
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