The best "Die Hard" sequel to date

Rating: 10/10 (7 July 2007)

No one is a bigger fan than I, of the original "Die Hard" (1988). I was silently rooting for Bruce Willis to have a major breakthrough flick after his smarmy but endearing stint as Cybil Shepherd's sidekick on TV's "Moonlighting" and his first foray into features as Tom Mix in "Sunset" (also 1988). And he came through, big time, in "Die Hard." The original DH blew my socks off... just as, I suspect, thousands of fans from coast to coast were sockless after seeing this very violent, very profane, but also very humorous thriller set in an L.A. hi-rise, featuring a charismatic villain (Alan Rickman) and Willis as a displaced NYPD cop, John McClane.
"Die Hard 2" (1990) and the third entry in the series, "Die Hard With a Vengeance" (1995) were disappointments... especially since we knew Willis still had it in him as an action star, with stupendous performances in two more thrillers, "Striking Distance" (1993) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994).
So now, watching the latest episode in the "Die Hard" series -- alternately called "Live Free or Die Hard" (for the U.S.) and "Die Hard 4.0" (for other nations around the world) -- it was impossible to hold one's hopes too high. Would this sequel fail also, as had the first two followups to that immortal original?
The good news is that "Die Hard 4" is the best sequel to date. John McClane (Willis) is older now -- the promos say he's 52 -- and completely bald, but he is no less ready for action.
In this one, McClane is dispatched on a routine mission -- pick up a computer hacker and deliver him to headquarters -- but along the way, both he and the young hacker (played with an agreeable nerdiness by Justin Long, 26 but looking younger) are ambushed by the minions of Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), a former FBI computer programmer gone wrong, who has masterminded a plot to wipe out all of the U.S.' infrastructure... by remote control. Obviously, this is a 21st century "Die Hard." When the computer geeks take over, watch out! But in an effective, reassuring way, the strictly analog John McClane proves more than a match for the cyberpirates. He dispatches them one by one -- most deliciously, a ferocious female kung-fu master (Maggie Q), whom he defeats after a lengthy tussle, eventually dropping her down an elevator shaft, then throwing an SUV on top of her, to keep her company. Yes, it's that kind of movie: One violent sequence after another, but all played tongue-in-cheek.
In fact, there are times when the ongoing action in the film is upstaged by the humor. John McClane has always had a comedic streak in him, and here the wisecracks come fast and often... and not just his famous "Yippee-Kai-Yay" line, either. After he maneuvers his police car into jumping a ramp and diving into a low-flying enemy helicopter, his young hacker friend says, with understandable disbelief: "Wow! You killed a helicopter with a car!" McClane's deadpan reply: "I was out of bullets."
Finally, after two hours of mostly Road Runner/Wyle E. Coyote-type mayhem, McClane draws a bead on that most malevolent King of All Things Digital, Thomas Gabriel, and dispatches him with the famous McClane signature line... only this time, because of the film's PG-13 rating, the final word (after Yippee-Kai-Yay) is muffled by the sound of a gunshot.
Unlike some others who have left messages here, I was not at all distressed by the film's lack of F-bombs. We've heard enough of those by now, haven't we? It was actually a relief -- a moment of giddy pleasure -- to hear McClane issue that signature line, with the profanity filtered out. And it was funny. As I say, the whole film is played tongue-in-cheek. And finally, we have a second John McClane film worthy of its illustrious pedigree.
"Live Free or Die Hard" is the best sequel ever, to the magnificent original.
Dan Navarro (daneldorado93@yahoo.com)