Terrific Action-Packed Entertainment!

Rating: 8/10 (28 June 2007)

In the past few years, the aging John McClane has managed to get divorced from his wife Holly and become estranged from his daughter Lucy, but still remains with the NYPD. On his way to turn a young hacker named Matt Farrell into custody, he experiences a modern version of a terrorist attack first hand when he gets stuck in traffic. A group of hackers, led by Thomas Gabriel, have struck at the vulnerable United States computer infrastructure and are systematically shutting it down, performing a "firesale" beginning with the traffic light system.
As they move on to crash utilities, banking networks and the stock market, the indexes plummet and America's economy becomes crippled. As usual, McClane gets caught up in the middle of the excitement. It turns out that the recently captured Matt seems bright enough to understand exactly what the terrorists are doing and what steps they are taking to achieve their mission. Soon, the crime-fighting duo of McClane and Farrell are pulling out all the stops and matching wits with the terrorists, hoping to figure out the motives behind their actions and to stop them before the entire nation collapses to its knees on Independence Day.
I wasn't really looking forward to this film because I've never seen any Die Hard films or really wasn't interested seeing them. Well, I finally got to see Die Hard for the first time and I liked (not loved) it. Then I find out this movie was rated PG-13, which got me excited and let down at the same time. I knew they wouldn't say the line in the movie but I was excited because it might be good to see something different for a change.
So it was late when I saw this in theaters but wow, when I saw this film, I did not get sleepy for a second! I didn't even bother to look at what time it was. This movie was so entertaining and action-packed, it was so much better than the original! Well, this is coming from a person who haven't seen the second or third Die Hard films, so my opinion might be different than the others. Yeah, it didn't feel like a Die Hard film but it certainly did give references to the original. If you watch this film, it will feel like an R rated film. It really does. Yeah, you don't get much profanity but you wouldn't be thinking about it when watching the movie. I never liked Len Wiseman's Underworld but I'm glad to say I love this movie!
Now getting the rating controversy out of the way, I'll talk about how fantastic the film is. This film is pretty much a notch up from the original. It has more imaginative/creative ideas to make you go in awe. It is much smarter, much suspenseful, and has many more action sequences that are top notch! I'm glad they used as little CGI as possible because so many films this summer has! It's great to see them doing it the "old skool" way using real stunts and props. No, I'm not saying this is a better film because of the action, but I'm saying it was better because it basically tops everything off from the original (yeah, except for the language).
In this film, John McClane is much more crankier. I loved it! The film was much funnier because of his fantastic one liners and comedic scenes! Bruce Willis' acting is great as always. Justin Long's acting is surprisingly good as well as Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who didn't shine through her previous roles in other films. Timothy Olyphant, who plays the villain gives a realistic evil and sinister role and Maggie Q's performance is kick ass! I'm surprised to say this film is fast paced, even for a two hour movie. I thought it wasn't possible.
This film uses what Die Hard didn't. It has a much thrilling score to make the action scenes much suspenseful. The camera movements are great! The film is much funnier and entertaining. This is possibly one of the most surprising summer movie sequel out this year! Average movie goers will get really entertained. Die Hard fans, well, will also get entertained but might get disappointed because of the PG-13 rating, which I wouldn't say they need to worry. This film is a solid action-packed film that delivers!