Most expectations fulfilled

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2007)

It may be 12 years since John McClane (now a bald and battered 52 year old Bruce Willis) donned his dirty vest to save his fellow Americans, but a fourth outing for a franchise that kicked off almost two decades ago means that you know exactly what to expect - and, in that sense, this movie doesn't disappoint. It is all pretty senseless and over the top but, if you want some mindless entertainment for two and a half hours, you'll get your money's worth.
In the States, "Die Hard 4.0" - an allusion to the computer hacking plot and an attempt to be cyber hip - goes by the more triumphalist moniker of "Live Free Or Die Hard" and it is a very American work with its emphasis on explosions over exposition, its allusions to Hurricane Katrina and the anthrax plot, and a clever compilation of clips from Presidential utterings. On the other hand, if you didn't understand a word of the dialogue, you could enjoy the set-piece confrontations - especially the downing of a helicopter and the showdown with an F-35 jet.
All the support roles - Justin Long as the expert hacker, Timothy Olyphant as the cyber-terrorist, and Maggie Q as the bad guy's kick-ass companion - are the sort of age Willis was when he first took on this role and this audience demographic will be willing to trade anything like a credible plot or meaningful characterisation for non-stop action, bullets and explosions - even if the end is weak ("Yippee-ki-yay" doesn't do it).