Die Hard 4.0

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2007)

It has been 12 years since we last saw the vest-wearing, humorously rude and action loving hero in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this was the anticipated return. The first film was brilliant, the sequel was okay, the third film was better, and personally this is the much more enjoyable sequel that is just as good as the first. He may have lost his hair, and not completely the same streak of humour as before, but John McClane (Bruce Willis) is still a great hero. Basically, after a brief introduction of McClane's daughter Lucy (Final Destination 3's Mary Elizabeth Winstead, cyber-terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Scream 2's Timothy Olyphant) threaten to hack America (nowadays almost all things are run by a network). The only thing stopping them is all other hackers in the country, including Matt Farrell (Jeepers Creepers' Justin Long) who was unexpectedly rescued by McClane, and they are now both on the run from the bad guys, and with Matt's help (McClane hardly knows about computer technology) hack the computers to stop their plan. Also starring Maggie Q as Mai Lihn (Gabriel's lover and partner), Cliff Curtis as Bowman, Jonathan Sadowski as Trey, Andrew Friedman as Casper, Kevin Smith (aka Silent Bob, and director of many films he appears in) as Warlock, Yorgo Constantine as Russo, Cyril Raffaelli as Rand and Chris Palermo as Del. The odd-couple partnership of McClane and Matt, and the villain are good, the action, special effects and stunts never disappoint, the story of computer-hacking is cool, and it is ultimately a great thrill-ride. Bruce Willis was number 35 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!