The franchise is slowly dying

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2007)

Despite the PG-13 rating, I was still pretty excited to see the movie. Overall, it's a decent action flick, but it pales in comparison to the other three films. Yes, the PG-13 rating contributes to this sequel's downfall. While the other "Die Hard" flicks were edgy, violent, and full of swearing, "Live Free or Die Hard" is like the airline version of those three movies. Am I saying that a film requires excessive violence to make it good? Of course not. But this is not "Gandhi." This is "Die Hard." I expect to see blood and guts. I expect to hear John McClane swear like a sailor. Don't get me wrong. The film does have some spectacular action sequences, including a nail-biting fight sequence inside an elevator shaft. No, it's not a rip-off of the sequence from the original. It's a totally different action sequence, and it works. The same goes for the climactic scene on the highway, as well as the scene where McClane destroys a helicopter with a car, resulting in the great wisecrack you've seen in all the trailers. "You shot down that helicopter with a car!" "I ran out of bullets." Regarding Bruce Willis's performance, he seems to be on autopilot, almost bored with the role of McClane. He flashes his trademark smirk whenever possible, and seems to play almost a caricature of himself. I felt he brought out more dimension to his character in the other three films. Plus, the dialogue isn't nearly as witty, resulting in not as many of those sharp McClane wisecracks we've grown to love. I kept waiting and waiting for him to deliver the brilliant "Yippie-Ki-Yay" line. He finally does towards the end of the flick, but the F-word is muted by a gunshot. Justin Long plays Willis's unfunny sidekick. We go from the great Samuel L. Jackson to a young twerp who as much as wit as Seth Green. I was reading the trivia section, and found out that Jessica Simpson and Justin Timberlake were each considered for roles in the movie. Thank God the filmmakers came to their senses! Hopefully, after watching "Live Free or Die Hard," Hollywood will finally learn that some movies are not meant to be PG-13! Think of it this way: One of the incentives of shelling out the big bucks to see the movie on the big screen is to see things you can't see on network TV or even basic cable. If you want to condense a Matthew McCoughnahey romantic comedy or "Lord of the Rings" flick down to a PG-13--that's fine! But not action movies! Not horror movies! We're living in such a PC society that pretty soon porn flicks will be released as PG-13.
All in all, this is a slightly above average movie, but if you take my advice, dust off your "Die Hard" DVDs or VHS tapes and watch them all back to back. You may as well wait until this fourth installment hits the DVD shelves. It's not worth coughing up your 10 or 11 bucks. However, I will give the filmmakers props for using the great CCR tune "Fortunate Son" over the end credits.