Still a fun movie with plenty of action although a bit far fetched at times

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2015)

I actually had misgivings about this movie at first. First, Bruce Willis is over 50. Second, although there is plenty of action the violence has been toned down. Third, there is not a single 'f' word. The famous line, "Yippi-kai-yai motherf....." is censored, sending many fans of the Die Hard movies in an uproar. This had the potential of sucking big time. How wrong I was. Die Hard 4.0 is actually a fun movie with plenty of action. I have seen both versions, the cinema version and the uncut version and both are just as good. To be blunt, the uncut version should have been released in the first place rather than diluting the violence and language to attract a wider audience. It just felt sacrilegious.
Bruce Willis returns in his iconic role as New York Police Detective John McClane. This time he is divorced from his wife and estranged from his family including his daughter Lucy Gennaro McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Following a brief computer outage at the FBI cyber-security division, the FBI requests all law enforcement agencies take all known computer hackers into custody for questioning. McClane is asked to take in young computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long). McClane arrives at Farrell's place in the nick of time to foil an attempt on Farrell's life by a group of henchmen sent by cyber-terrorist Mai Linh (Maggie Q) who is working for and a love interest to the mastermind behind the cyber attack ex-Department of Defence consultant Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant). While Thomas Gabriel orchestrates a "fire sale" on the vulnerable US infrastructure and the entire computer system, McClane and Farrell must team up to prevent the fire sale from shutting down the USA and sending it back to the dark ages. It also takes a personal turn for McClane when Thomas Gabriel locates and takes his daughter Lucy hostage.
It was great to see Bruce Willis back as John McClane, with his witty dry humoured one liners, although now he acknowledges that he doesn't receive anything for being a hero at the cost of losing his family and being lonely. McClane also acknowledges that he is "that guy" that gets thrown into the action because there is no one else to do it. Justin Long as Matt Farrell was a bit whiny and wimpy at first, but he still acts as a decent sidekick for McClane. Timothy Olyphant as Thomas Gabriel is a lot different to Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, William Sadler's Colonel Stuart or Jeremy Irons' Simon, but he made a decent villain as the icy, grimacing mastermind behind the cyber attack aiming to create anarchy across the USA. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy Gennaro McClane was excellent as John's estranged feisty daughter. A memorable scene for Lucy was when she tells Matt Farrell to dig deep and find his manhood.
Len Wiseman (Underworld) takes over the director's reigns of Die Hard 4.0 and he does a credible job. Composer Marco Beltrami (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Scream) takes over from the late Michael Kamen and ensures he honours Michael Kamen's work by maintaining the similar score , including a few references in the score from previous Die Hard movies. Based on a magazine article "A Farewell to Arms", Mark Bomback and David Marconi keep the story mostly realistic and show viewers the reality of what could happen if the country was under a cyber attack and thrown into chaos.
Though some of it is a tad far-fetched, Die Hard 4.0 is definitely worth watching, and Bruce Willis proves he still kicks butt and puts bums on seats. The uncut version of Die Hard 4.0 shows what the movie SHOULD have been if it was not watered down to attract a wider audience. That aside, Die Hard 4.0 is still good entertainment.
Cinema version: 7/10
Uncut version: 8/10