Good but not brilliant.

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2007)

Live Free or Die Hard, known as Die Hard 4.0 elsewhere around the world, starts as New York detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is ordered to pick up a computer hacker geek named Matt Ferrell (Justin Long) as a favour to the FBI who are investigating a strange computer hack at Washington. However it appears the FBI aren't the only ones interested in Ferrell as when McClane gets to his apartment several heavily armed men try to kill him, McClane saves Ferrell but finds himself in the middle of a plot to throw the entire United States into chaos by hacking into & disabling everything major system like paralysing the public transportation system, all forms of communication, gas, electricity, the internet etc. A disgruntled ex FBI nut called Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) & his men intend to use the chaos as a cover for one of the biggest robbery's ever, that is unless McClane can stop them...
Directed by Len Wiseman this is the fourth entry in the popular Die Hard series of action films & is good but not brilliant & if I'm honest I was a little disappointed with it overall. The script by Mark Bomback was apparently based on an 'artlicle' called A Farewell to Arms by John Carlin & I've heard of films being based on novels but a newspaper/magazine article? Although when it comes down to it the plot is basically the same as the original Die Hard (1988) as a group of thieves use the cover of terrorism to steal lots of money. Anyway, I liked Live Free or Die Hard for what it was as it moves along like a rocket which is good since it lasts for over two hours & it prevents boredom setting in, it's nice to see John McClane back in action & speaking of action there's some truly fantastic set-pieces & stunts. However I also didn't like Live Free or Die Hard for what it wasn't, it didn't feel like a Die Hard film with the obvious toning down of the profanity & violence, I mean the villains in this don't seem to put up any resistance to McClane & he simply ends up shooting them, there's no big fights with bone crunching sound effects at all & the violence is very tame to none existent (although it'll come as no surprise if a longer more graphic version is released on DVD). Then there's the main villain Thomas Gabriel who has to be one of the most bland & dull bad guys ever, he's just some young guy casually dressed who only gets to shoot one person in the leg & that's it, he's just not evil enough & who on Earth decided to kill off Mai (Maggie Q) so early into the film? She was easily the best villain & she was a babe as well, at least she could actually fight. I don't know, I liked it but at the same time I was disappointed.
Director Wiseman does OK here & he keeps the action moving along, unfortunately by dragging the Die Hard series kicking & screaming into the new millennium (the last film in the series Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995) was made over a decade ago) the focus of the storyline is all about modern hi-tech computers, cell phones, the internet, hacking, defence systems & it has the feel of distancing McClane from the action, since a lot of what happens takes place in cyberspace there's nothing physical there if you know what I mean & the film tries to make the point that we rely on such technology too much. McClane & Gabriel never meet until the very end either which also has the unwanted effect of distancing them, sure they talk over the phone but it's not the same as an intense face-to-face meeting is it? The action set-pieces are at times spectacular with cars launched into flying helicopters, chases, shoot-outs, huge explosions & my favourite sequence when McClane is driving a large semi truck under & over some elevated freeways being fired upon by a fighter jet. Most of it is very over-the-top & not based in reality as McClane can seemingly jump from a jet onto a concrete freeway & survive with no major injuries.
With a supposed budget of about $110,000,000 there's plenty of action on screen for the money but that really does sound like a lot doesn't it? It extremely well made with high production values & great stunt/effects work. The acting is alright but this isn't classic foul mouthed wise cracking Willis, why oh why did Fox cut this down?
Live Free or Die Hard as a stand alone action film is a pretty darn fine one but as the fourth entry in possibly the greatest action series ever it comes across as a bit of a disappointment, as I said I thought it was good & I liked it but I didn't love it as there's a lot of room for improvement.