Review

Rating: 3/10 (27 June 2007)

I love the Die Hard series and Bruce Willis. He is THE action hero of the golden age of action that was the decade from mid 80's to mid-late 90's. And myself, being a film person/major, i come into to a movie with the same expectation... to see a good movie. This movie however disappointed me in every sense of the word.
I never thought i'd watch a movie and never be drawn into it. I don't know where "Not-Wiseman" went to film school at, but apparently it didn't teach him structure and how to bring people in the story through camera, pacing, timing, or rhythm. None were evident. The film dragged from the start. I was dosing off at the beginning.
The plot was extremely... boring. Cyber-terrorism? That's a thing people were skeptical about since the 90's and is hardly something to make an action movie out of. "NO! Stop him! he's hacking something!" I'd rather worry about terrorists who kill people or get down and dirty. Every movie starts with the script, so the downfall of the movie started there. I don't even know why Willis agreed to that. None of the dialogue catched the charm that Bruce Willis can bring to the screen, the sassy sarcasm, the witty punchlines, or over-the-top humor in the most ironic situations.
Now, there were some here and there, but, Bruce Willis is getting old, and it's shown on screen unfortunately. Almost all his lines come out a whisper, which doesn't give any of his lines much impact, and the John McClane's character suffers from it. Instead of having a look on his face that he's fighting for his life and is gonna make whomever put him in these situations suffer, he just looks tired. He looks as if he's just doing things because, "i'm in the situation", thats it.
The director gave us no insight into any of the characters. The dialogue comes out flat, and the manifestation of the situations of each character dims under the shadow of shallow/stale directing. But i think it's also the fault of poor casting. Willis' hacker sidekick that he's suppose to escort, bad actor IMO, and is contradictory as he is super smart and slow at the same time. The bad guy, i can kick him in the balls and and get away with it. No intensity whatsoever, which was pretty annoying... you're suppose to hate the guy, and like it!
By the time that McClane says the famous lines at the end, it's done in such a way that you don't care anymore, by that time, it doesn't even feel like Die HArd. I didn't even like the film stock they used. The dark and grainy look doesn't bring to light that John McClane is just a normal guy caught up in the wrong situation.
No character development, no build up of action, random elements, and lack of vision.
I say you enjoy the first 3 of the Die HArd series and leave this one to the general teenager population, for which this movie is obviously for (i.e. stereotypical Asian karate-girl anyone?). If you think that the PG-13 rating won't water down this movie, you're wrong. It seems McClane wants to say something but can't for fear of the ratings board.
Hope this review has been helpful in saving your money. Go see 1408 for some real suspense.