A 'Hard' man is good to find - even 20 years later

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2007)

The basic formula for the "Die Hard" film series is this: A seemingly invincible foe with multiple henchmen, unlimited resources and access to the latest in cutting edge technology hold a group of people or the government hostage, killing at will and demanding an unbelievable ransom  until the bad guys meet unbreakable police officer John McClane.
Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1987, the world met the tough, sarcastic LAPD constable played by Bruce Willis (who became a household word as the bumbling private detective in the quirky TV series, "Moonlighting"). With his wife among a group of hostages at the huge Nokitomi Building in Los Angeles, McClane systematically dismantled the terrorists' plans and defeated the head villain, Alan Rickman.
Two inferior sequels followed suit.
Flash-forward two decades to the franchise's fourth installment, "Live Free or Die Hard." Now a New York Police detective, McClane happens upon a geeky young computer hacker, Matthew Farrell (Justin Long, "Accepted"), who was the target of a bombing attempt. Dragging him from the scene (as McClane does to lots of people in this role), he finds out the kid was part of a complicated computer plot with a network of other hackers  all of whom have now been blown to pieces.
Meanwhile, a group of sophisticated cyber-terrorists, led by Thomas Garbriel (Timothy Olyphant, a character in such TV series as "My Name Is Earl" and "Deadwood"), has shut down all traffic, utility and communication networks throughout the Eastern Seaboard, causing major disruptions, financial chaos and wholesale panic in the streets.
The idiot villains also make the ultimate mistake and kidnap the gruff cop's equally feisty daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, "Grindhouse," "Bobby"). Now it's personal.
Gathering what information he can from the rebellious Farrell, McClane figures out that Gabriel is using a "fire sale" or a catastrophic computer meltdown to hide the fact he is trying to steal billions in money form the government treasuries. Of course, McClane is the hardware to Farrell's software  he will kill people and blow things up, while the nerd will try to foil the bad guys' plans cybernetically.
It's a combination that goes together pretty well. I mean, this isn't Shakespeare, so don't expect a lot of philosophical rambling or long dialogs about art, literature or physics. It's basically Bruce Willis killing people and breaking things and then wryly commenting on what he just did.
That's okay with me. I wasn't expecting to be intellectually enlightened by this experience, just entertained for a few hours; and that's what happened with "Live Free or Die Hard." I now look forward to the fifth version  in 2027, "Live and Let Die Hard."