The novelty has worn off but it still excites and thrills more than most action films today

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2007)

Bruce Willis still has some life in him, as evidenced in this competent fourth entry into the Die Hard series. Long gone are the glory days where Willis' fish out of water act was new and thoroughly surprising but the movie still has the quality to entertain you.
Much has been said about the movie's lack of the F-word to avoid it from receiving an R rating. It was as usual to gather a wider audience as was Martin Scorsese's The Aviator but it doesn't really make any difference. The movie still has virtually the same impact. The way, Samuel L. Jackson and Willis used every opportunity to wring out a laugh with the word in Die Hard with a Vengeanse was to be expected, following their part in Pulp Fiction, where Jackson made a contest out of how many times he could say it in one line. Plus, that film had a more strong villain in Jeremy Irons and he was mostly in on the joke. Just looking at Irons' character brought a hilarious disdain for the character he played in that movie.
Here we have a much weaker villain, a computer expert (Gee, has that not been done before) and an even weaker side kick, Justin Long. But to my surprise, Long wasn't as annoying as he could have been and even got me somewhat involved in his destiny to save Washington D.C.
As in past entries to the series, the villain's motivation is totally outrageous and selfish and doesn't have anything to do with destroying the world as we know it. The villain has an eastern sidekick and Willis makes some rather tasteless remarks about her race which I think was totally uncalled for. It is offensive and totally thrown in to get a cheap laugh from the audience. We must have somebody to ridicule so who do we go for, the foreigners whoever they are, be they German or Chinese or whatever. This is the only objection I have about the film and it pretty much soured my attitude towards the rest of it.
Now on to what is good about it. Willis' stunt with a car flying to destroy a helicopter is the most spectacular piece of film trickery I have seen in years. It is obviously CGI but it still looks somewhat possible (not totally) but maybe. The end is also as it should be and Long has one of his best moments together with the actress who play McClane's daughter, without resorting to the obvious of a love scene.
To sum up, it is nowhere near the level of the past three entries but you weren't totally dissatisfied to pay for an overpriced ticket to see Willis near-geriatric stunts towards crushing a bad guy (Sorry, Willis but you asked for it).