A Timex Watch In A Digital Age...

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2007)

LFODH was my favorite Action Film to come out in years.
As a Huge Did Hard fan I feel I must point out that I was indeed a little worried about the PG-13 situation.
However it is a complete non-issue in the film itself. They handle the change so well that unless you go in looking for it you would probably never know this film was toned down at all.
To uses Bruce's own words it is a Smash Mouth Action Film and it's just as good as the ones before it.
McClane is back in a big way, his character has grown and yet is clearly the same man, there are no fears in regards to that... It's not just some Bruce Willis Action movie... It's Die Hard.
The Plot is pure summer action delight. It reminds you that the good old days have been gone for a while... Before seeing this I did not even realize that I had not seen a Great action flick WITHOUT some super powered dude in tights, in ages... And Die Hard is exactly that... A good old Fashioned Action Flick.
And yet it also manages to bring the series into the Millennium smoothly. The changes are summed up nicely in one of Olyphant's lines. He says to McClane "You are a Timex Watch in a Digital Age"
A perfect line to sum up the film.
The thing that I really loved about LFODH was the fact that it served as a reminder that Good Men Die Hard. This is not only a fun action romp but it also says a lot about who McClane is as a Character... Moreso then either of the other sequels... This is summed up in his signature Catchphrase.(you know the one) It is not just some throw away toughguy remark in this film... Which it could have been... He could have just said the line at any point and the Crowd would have cheered.... But instead, they use it to speak about who John is as a man and as a character.
It is so well handled that it actually comes off as BETTER then in the other films... Despite being altered to suit the Rating.
The supporting Cast is all great as well... The Baddies each have their own moments that are very enjoyable and are all fleshed out nicely... Olyphant lives up to his predecessors wonderfully... He is every bit the brilliant ringleader that Rickman, Sadler and Irons were and yet has his own unique flavor as well.
Justin Long is great and acts as a perfect modern young man to show us just how badly we need REAL men like McClane again. He rarely comes off as too annoying and when he does it's in the context of the plot and McClane is just as annoyed as you or I would be.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead was particularly impressive... Her role is not large but you can tell that she did her homework... Every line she utters, every look she gives... Everything about her Screams that she was raised by Holly and John McClane... It's uncanny how well she balances the character traits of her parents and still comes off as her own person.
I am trying to avoid all spoilers but I'll touch on the plot briefly. This concept of Cyber Terrorism was a very volatile subject to use as the center of the film... It could have blown up in their faces like so much C4 strapped to a Monitor. However it does not fail at all... They manage to show a great amount of what is possible with this sort of attack and they manage to do it without losing that Die Hard feel. Again I come back to the difference between John and the World the way it is today. This balance drives so much of the film that I cannot stress enough how impressed I was by the writing and direction... No, it's not Oscar worthy and no it will not change the way we look at the world but it DOES work perfectly for this type of film... I would have expected nothing else.
All in all I count Live Free or Die Hard as an Equal to the other films. It actually manages to be MORE character driven then the past couple and yet is loses nothing in the Translation to the Post 9/11 world.
For me... This was a Ten.