Blurghh

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2007)

I'm kinda half and half on this film. It was entertaining, yet ridiculous. I'm not a computer whizz, but this was the fundamental aspect in the film, but the utilization of computers is really silly frankly. It just bugs me in films when there's a shot of a hacker on a computer keyboard typing really fast and then something amazing happens. However this is made believable by the use of the massive array of LCD monitors and flashing codes and "security authorizations". I would like to see anything of this nature occur in real life. It was just gobbledygook really.
I see what many people say about the comparison between this film and the 1st. The 1st one has this proper authentic feel to it, it is well directed, acted and timed. However this one was kinda that John McClain is just super lucky and which seems ironic considering that the main enemy tells him on his headstone he'll have "Always in the wrong place, at the wrong time". Without his ability to do this he would be dead with the first bullet.
Do you see my jist here, it just seemed that this film probably did have a long time in the writing and ideas room. However like others have said the cheap, sleek use of post 9/11 security. If the film was brought out at the same time as the first, it would of had no effect. It's the naive audience who will watch this and believe that this could occur, due to the high amount of computers and phones in today's modern life. Trust me this could never occur, it's just the over use of fast keyboard typing and LCD monitors that just ruin the villain and hero aspect to it. I dunno it just really bugs me.
Just how much can the human body take in this film, if you got hit by a 4x4 doing 50 or so, even if it did not kill you it would break your legs, but if you were not dead by then, I think being smashed through sheets of tough glass and then smashed into a concrete wall just might render you unconscious.
OK, the redeeming factors to this film are that it offers escapism, I enjoyed my self, however much I got annoyed at the silly technological or medical aspects of it. I wouldn't say it was a waste of money, it is not the director's, producer's or actor's fault that this film is mediocre, it's the current state of our society. I mean if films such as the first came out today, it's just another story in the news. I believe that the film makers wanted to make a statement that we are living in a vulnerable society, were we take technology for granted. The only reason people enjoy the first today is that it is realistic and a "classic action film" which laid the foundations for the Die Hard films.
So yeah I'm half and half on this film. It is completely ridiculous, but appealing to a more "naive" society. I enjoyed it to, a good night out, so yeah alright yet completely stupid.