WarGames,Terminator and Bruce

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2008)

This surprisingly enjoyable (and very overdone: music, mess and grime) action thriller benefits from the excellent and shrewd casting of hacker Justin Long whose Gen x computer antics pitch well against Willis' John Wayne/baby boomer no nonsense heroics. There is a tremendous a lot of babble, apocalyptic urban smashes and stunts, and a full scale Terminator level truck and car chase. All chrome and concrete, DH4 has jaw-dropping set pieces, improbable but believable stunts and destruction galore. the CGI of stunt and vehicle and even freeway vs plane antics (like from TRUE LIES) is absurdly hilarious and crowd pleasing. Why the bad guys just did not kill Mclane's daughter when they first had her is one of those silly plot holes like you would get in any dopey spy film (as Austin Powers would point out). Like any respectable serial there is a colossal hero disaster every ten minutes. Some gun scar and drug quips wrap up the pic over a rock score. It's great to see NZ actor Cliff Curtis on high profile in this rock'n'roll action stew.