Hang on Lucy, Dad is coming to get you.

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2009)

The news that another Die Hard movie was on the way was met with the usual howls of derision that greets such developments. Coming almost twenty years after Die Hard had bench-marked the action genre, and twelve years after Die Hard With A Vengeance divided the critics, it smacked of being a money making cash cow. Upon release, Die Hard 4 (lets keep it simple eh?) not only had the critics unsure as to its worth, but also the franchise's fans. Many felt it was a pointless exercise that saw Bruce Willis' John McClane watered down for the new millennium. Embracing an internet driven plot (based on John Carlin's digital warfare based "A Farewell To Arms") it was clear the makers were indeed updating McClane's tough as nails cop, but Die hard 4 is far from being the embarrassment many thought it would be. With subsequent revisits, now the dust has settled, showing it to be an explosive and hugely entertaining piece of action fluff.
The plot basically sees terrorist types attempt to bring the U.S. to its knees by way of cyber war, yep it's hacker warfare folks. Enter McClane who is around the area trying to rebuild a relationship with his estranged daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Asked to go and collect an under threat good guy hacker (Justin Long as Matt Farrell) McClaine and his unwitting sidekick soon come under attack from the nasty baddies led by Timothy Olypahant's smarmy Gabriel. On the run they go, the tough no nonsense cop and the computer-literate geek (see what they did there?) and then things get personal, very personal.
Len Wiseman directs and fills out the picture with truly fantastic stunts and set pieces. Most modes of transport are given an explosive part in proceedings. Be it a chopper, a truck, a jet, cars or an elevator, they are either aiding our intrepid heroes or naturally hindering them. And in some cases even being used as weapons of mass destruction! Willis quips away with the usual McClane cheekiness and with the affable and wise-cracking Long playing off him to good effect, it makes for over two hours of unadulterated popcorn fun. All of which of course is played out amongst the rather scary concept of Virtual Terrorism. You have to believe that John McClane is the hardest man on the planet, but really he is you know! So although the vest may be absent, McClane is still someone not to be messed with, and that can never be a bad thing really. 7.5/10