Die Hard goes digital

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2020)

After a 12-year hiatus, Bruce Willis came back for a fourth entry of the Die Hard. The fourth film sees an analogue hero in a digital age: the villain even states this to John McClane. Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free or Die Hard as it was known in the States) was an action film of its time: instead of old-fashioned brawls and bloody shootouts, the fourth film saw henchmen use martial arts and parkour, the cinematography had that noughties sheen and the plot focused on national security and terrorism. Even with this new direction Die Hard 4.0 was still a well-made action-thriller and the plotline of hackers being able to bring America to its knee was ahead of its time considering what Russia and North Korea were able to do in the 2010s.
Die Hard 4.0 did have some excellent action sequences like the parkour in Camden and fight between McClane and Mai Linh (Maggie Q). Although the action is a lot more ridiculous than in the previous film: i.e. McClane taking down a helicopter with a car and the jet fighter sequence.