Escorts Die Hard to its Highest Level

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2007)

The fourth Die Hard movie was announced in 2003, eight years after John McClane's last screen adventure. There was no apparent progress for next two years. Rumors abounded, such as Jessica Simpson playing McClane's daughter or the two being caught in a terrorist action in the Caribbean. I had my doubts that this project would ever be completed. Even when filming began I was pessimistic, feeling there had been too much turmoil by that time. I saw the film, and have rarely been so delighted that I was wrong.
I do not recommend two of the first three Die Hard films. The first would earn a nod, but too many idiot characters ruined it, and the third is awful. I wanted to see this one nonetheless because I had become endeared to John McClane (Bruce Willis). Willis returns and does so well it seems like there was no twelve year gap between films.
McClane is once again a detective in the NYPD. He no longer abuses alcohol, but suffers anxiety over the well being of his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Lucy shuns her father and insists she be called by her mother's surname.
When the control center at the FBI is temporarily disabled, Bowman (Cliff Curtis), the director of computers, issues orders that every hacker capable of the attack be brought to Washington DC for questioning. McClane, now a respected and trusted officer, is asked to transport New Jersey hacker Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), but runs into trouble when he realizes that somebody desperately wants Farrell dead. That same person activates the anthrax alarm at the computer center, alters the stock market, and penetrates every computer database in the country. His shadow group transmits its threat to the public and pandemonium ensues.
The leader (Timothy Olyphant) keeps watch from his hidden command post while he conducts the country like his personal orchestra. He can use public surveillance cameras to see anywhere in the country, alter natural gas lines, reroute telephone calls, confuse public service, control traffic and more. When McClane and Farrell flee into a tunnel to escape his helicopter, he floods cars into the tunnel from both sides. Farrell believes this faction is using a three step takeover scheme called a "fire sale." He realizes that his help may be invaluable since the terrorists may be using a program he wrote.
I have asserted before that films can violate the laws of physics without harm, but once they violate the laws of common sense they lose credibility. This film is a fine example. McClane's body takes a physical beating and he is still able to fight. It is, after all, McClane's adamantine tenacity that lends the title "Die Hard." As for the other token, the villain's scheme is frighteningly well-planned. Olyphant's character, whose name I am withholding since it is one of the film's revelations, makes excellent points defending his deeds. I was almost convinced until I was reminded how much destructive chaos his behavior causes. There is only one problem with his plot, and that is McClane.
Olyphant's villain is intellectual and well spoken, just like Hans Gruber from the original "Die Hard." Olyphant grants uncanny life to the page and creates a character even more imposing than Gruber. When he is flustered, we believe him; when he can barely control his anger, we believe him. The villain is just as resourceful as McClane and is a first ballot hall of fame antagonist.
As an actor with stage experience, I look at performances differently than the average viewer. I am less concerned about whether or not it should be Oscar nominated than I am towards success within the demands of the character. Indiana Jones is not as difficult to play as Charles Kane, for example. These people are rehearsed professionals and we are not viewing their rough draft. The average Hollywood acting is better than most people want to admit. With that said, most of the performances are above average. Cliff Curtis looks so stressed out I wonder if he needed relaxation therapy when filming concluded.
It is Willis' movie, but Justin Long comes as close as possible to outshining him. Farrell's expression is suppressed by the overwhelming nature of the situation, yet Long nevertheless brings distinctiveness to each emotion within those narrow walls. Willis has the more gripping screen presence, but Long is clearly the better actor.
The one exception is Winstead. She is the perfect physical casting with her resemblance to the child Lucy, but her lack of emotion is too pronounced. Winstead spends most of her time flex cuffed but seems insufficiently distressed by it. Her acting is below average.
I worried that the action would be truncated when I saw the PG-13 rating, but that is not the reality. The staging and choreography are even more praiseworthy from a technical standpoint than they were in the first three. We all know McClane is wrong when he advises Farrell not to bet on him. He has, after all, killed nearly every one of the terrorists at every type of location by that time. There is even the villain's lover (the attractive Maggie Q) who is even more immortal than McClane. One such encounter involves a car slipping down an elevator in a clever reference to the highlight of "Jurassic Park 2." Only a highway scene with a Harrier jet does not quite work, but at least it is fun to watch.
The superb execution helps, but the action's context is equally important to adding impact. Repeating all that was good in its predecessors and omitting the bad, "Live Free or Die Hard" entertains far beyond the typical summer action movie It can eat the first three for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and rates a nine of ten.