Live Free or Die Hard

Plot synopsis:
Hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long), not knowing who he is working for, finishes work on a computer program and sends it to Mai Linh (Maggie Q), who advises her boss and lover, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), that they can now proceed with their operation. Gabriel's operation begins by killing the hackers he hired. This involves using a virus he has implanted that detonates wired explosives attached to the hackers' computers when they press the delete key, and commencing the initial stages of a computer attack on US government networks.Meanwhile, a young couple is making out in a car at Rutgers University in New Jersey. New York City Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) breaks it up; the girl turns out to be his estranged daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She leaves in a huff, refusing to acknowledge her father's last name but calling herself instead by her mother's maiden name, Gennero. Simultaneously, the FBI command center's computers are momentarily interrupted, leading Deputy Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis) to order a roundup of all the hackers who could conceivably have been involved. McClane is sent to pick up Farrell in Camden, and his arrival interrupts the hacker just before he performs the operation which would detonate his computer. Gabriel's assassins, who had the apartment under surveillance to confirm Farrell's death, open fire. McClane kills several thugs who enter the apartment. Debris from the shootout sets off the explosion of Farrell's computer, destroying the apartment. McClane and Farrell escape down the fire escape, McClane killing various henchmen on the way and Farrell astonished by McClane's calmness during the ordeal.As McClane makes it to Washington, D.C. with his charge, Gabriel sabotages the nation's network of traffic signals, rail transport and air traffic control. Chaos on the roads ensues. Gabriel also forces the evacuation of numerous federal buildings with a false anthrax alarm, with some of his men infiltrating a Maryland facility by posing as a hazmat cleanup team to sneak in and kill the guards.After arriving at the temporary FBI office, Farrell recognizes the pictures of the dead hackers on the wall, but denies knowing who they are. Gabriel broadcasts a message threatening the nation, using spliced video clips of the last twelve presidents, and then sabotages the nation's financial systems.Farrell and McClane are redirected by the FBI to the Department of Homeland Security so that Farrell can be interrogated. While they are on their way, Gabriel begins downloading a huge quantity of significant data from the Maryland facility onto his own computers. McClane, Farrell, and their FBI escort attempt to contact the police to have a route opened for them, but have their radio communication intercepted by Gabriel and Linh, who direct them to an ambush. McClane suspects their communication has been intercepted, so he tests Linh by asking her about a certain police radio code and when she says they've had to dispatch all units to this type of call, which McClane reveals then is actually the code for naked people, exposing her.Gabriel gets on the radio and advises McClane he knows everything about him, wipes out his financial portfolio, and offers him a bribe to kill Farrell; McClane refuses. McClane and Farrell attempt to evade the ensuing ambush, but are set upon by a helicopter. McClane and Farrell escape the ambush in a police car, and are chased into a tunnel by the helicopter. Gabriel opens the traffic on both sides of the tunnel, sandwiching our heroes in a massive pileup in the middle. McClane drives straight out of the tunnel and jumps at the last second before launching the car up a toll barrier into the helicopter, killing most of the thugs; the one survivor mistakenly tells Gabriel that their targets have been killed.McClane and Farrell escape on foot, but as they try to contact the FBI via cell phone, they discover that Gabriel has also sabotaged the telecommunications networks. Gabriel then takes over the nation's television signals, and broadcasts the demolition of the U.S. Capitol building; Bowman and McClane each run into the street for a clear view, and see that the footage was faked. Farrell admits that he recognized some of the dead hackers from their pictures, and that he innocently wrote some code that may be being used in this computer attack, which appears to be a three-stage plan to cripple the United States, beginning with attacks on its transportation and financial infrastructures, which have already been accomplished. The third stage will be to take out the power grid; this cannot be done remotely but requires intervention at the actual physical plants. Farrell confesses that he had always viewed hacking as harmless pranks, but is now horrified by the actual damage and suffering caused; he reconfigures the cell phone to use a different network to allow them to communicate.McClane and Farrell commandeer an abandoned car. By pretending to be the son of its owner in a medical emergency, Farrell gets the car's OnStar system to remotely start it for them. They set off for the main power station in West Virginia which controls the Eastern seaboard. Farrell, who tends to avoid taking action by citing numerous minor medical conditions and phobias, admits to McClane that he doesn't feel capable of heroism.Linh and a group of henchmen, disguised as FBI agents, meanwhile, have entered the power station, shot the guards, and taken over the facility. As they commence shutdown procedures, McClane and Farrell arrive. Their presence is detected, and henchmen are dispatched to kill them. McClane and Farrell fight their way to the station's command center, McClane fights Linh, and Farrell manages to abort the shutdown sequence. McClane finally kills Linh by driving a truck into her and down an elevator shaft, where the truck explodes at the bottom. Farrell saves McClane by killing one thug, knocking him from behind down the shaft. Seeing that the shutdown hasn't taken place yet, Gabriel calls Linh's cell phone. McClane answers and tells Gabriel that his plan has been foiled and Linh killed. Enraged, Gabriel redirects all the natural gas in the pipelines to converge on the power station. Farrell notices this on one of the computer screens, and he and McClane take shelter just before the station explodes. Gabriel once again believes the pair to be dead. The destruction of the station causes a massive power blackout over Washington and much of the Eastern seaboard. Lucy McClane is caught in an elevator in the blackout.Farrell and McClane decide to visit "The Warlock" (Kevin Smith) in Baltimore, who Farrell describes as an "Internet Jedi." Traffic being a nightmare, McClane chooses to fly the helicopter that Linh and her henchmen had used to arrive at the power station. McClane reveals he had a few flying lessons, but never completed the course; they have a rough landing in Baltimore. Meanwhile, Gabriel and a few select henchmen kill his other remaining computer engineers to eliminate witnesses and, travelling light, set out in a semi-trailer with a mobile computer command center in the back.The Warlock lives in his mother's basement where he has set up his own "command center" -- an impressive collection of computers running on his own generators, interspersed with geek memorabilia. The Warlock is suspicious of the police, but reluctantly agrees to help. He reveals that Gabriel was formerly a highly-placed FBI computer security director, responsible for building much of the system, who discovered its vulnerabilities to attack. When Gabriel brought these vulnerabilities to the attention of his supervisors, ultimately interrupting a meeting of the Joint Chiefs to do so, he was denounced and publicly humiliated. The Warlock tells Farrell that he has been examining the type of code he was hired to write, and that it is only being used at one facility - the one in Maryland, which is still running and drawing massive power loads. Gabriel is alerted to Warlock's intrusions; he traces the intrusion back to Warlock's basement command center, and commandeers Warlock's computer and web cam to communicate with McClane. He shows McClane images of his daughter in the elevator, and advises that he is going to get her. McClane sets off to find and kill Gabriel; he tells Farrell to stay behind, but Farrell insists on helping him. Under the ruse of a rescue, Lucy is brought to Gabriel at the data facility; a chip off the old block, she fights all the way before being tied up.McClane and Farrell communicate with Bowman and show him an image of Gabriel. Bowman is dismayed; he tells them that the facility still running, part of the National Security Agency, was designed by Gabriel as a failsafe in the event of an attack on the nation's infrastructure. The initial attack on the FBI had triggered the download to that facility of all the financial data from stock markets, corporations, and government agencies. Gabriel apparently intends to download this information onto mobile hard drives, allowing him to undetectably siphon off billions of dollars.McClane and Farrell head to the data facility, but Gabriel is alerted to their presence. Farrell realizes that the code he wrote was designed to defeat the security at the last door to the facility's main databanks and, slipping in as McClane distracts Gabriel's men, manages to encrypt all the data that Gabriel has downloaded, making it useless to them without the decryption key which he alone knows. He is subsequently captured by Gabriel's thug and brought to the control center where Lucy is also captive. When he suggests to Lucy that she needs to be less confrontational with their heavily armed adversaries, Lucy tells him he needs to show more bravery and resolve. McClane kills the various thugs sent to stop him, and communicates with Farrell via one of the thugs' walkie-talkies. Gabriel attempts to talk McClane down but is unable to do so. He puts Lucy on the radio, to "talk some sense" into her father, but she aids him by telling him that there are only five bad guys left. The bad guys escape in two vehicles: Gabriel, two thugs, and the captives in an emergency services van, and one thug in a semi-trailer carrying their portable computer control center. McClane jumps onto the back of the semi-truck as it leaves the facility, climbs to the cab, shoots the driver through the door, and gives chase to the remaining bad guys and their captives in the van. In the van, Gabriel orders Farrell to unlock the data, but Farrell refuses, knowing that this is his only bargaining chip and that Gabriel will kill him once he has the data back. Bowman orders an F-35 fighter plane dispatched to intercept the van after McClane contacts him via Warlock's CB radio link.Gabriel realizes they are being chased. He obtains the go codes for the fighter plane by accessing the military's data banks, and impersonates military commanders to order the pilot to destroy the semi-truck. The F-35 fires various missiles and artillery at the truck, causing McClane to break off his chase and move to a ramp leading to a bridge. The F-35 virtually destroys the truck and a large portion of the ramp. As the truck begins to slide backwards down the destroyed ramp, McClane falls out of the cab and down the back of the ravaged trailer. The plane, now just next to the truck, is about to deliver the coup de grace when it is damaged by a chunk of falling pavement. McClane falls onto the plane's wing. The pilot ejects, and McClane slides down the spiralling plane and jumps onto another section of destroyed ramp, sliding down the ramp as the jet crashes and explodes just behind him.The van carring the bad guys and captives enters a warehouse. McClane pursues them. Gabriel orders Farrell to enter the code to decrypt the information. Farrell refuses and is shot in the knee by Gabriel. When Gabriel puts the gun to Lucy's head and says he will count to ten before killing her, Farrell gives in despite her pleas to resist, and begins to enter the code. McClane arrives and kills one of the henchmen, but is in turn shot in the shoulder by Gabriel. McClane dives behind a car, his gun on the ground near Farrell. McClane goes for his gun but is grabbed by Gabriel from behind. Standing behind McClane, Gabriel taunts him and tortures him by sticking his gun into the bullet wound in McClane's shoulder. Lucy struggles with the thug holding her, shooting him in the foot before he recovers his grip on her. Gabriel tells McClane that his epitaph will read "Always in the wrong place at the wrong time." McClane replies that it might read "Yippee ki yay, mother-" and pulls the trigger, shooting himself through the shoulder and killing Gabriel. Farrell has grabbed McClane's gun and shoots the other thug.The FBI arrive and provide medical attention to McClane, Lucy, and Farrell. Farrell and Lucy separately indicate to McClane their romantic interest in each other. Lucy indicates that, for today at least, she's a McClane.

Tags: comedy, boring, murder, cult, violence, psychedelic, action, suspenseful

Review:
It is one of my personal favorite action movies, it is a sequel I love to death.It's been over a decade since audiences last saw New York cop John McClane (Willis), but now, as the world's greatest criminal mastermind (Timothy Olyphant) attempts to cripple the entire country with an innovative act of technological terrorism, only one cop can insure that the integrity of the system stays intact.
And for an action movie with 'die hard' in the title, I'd say that was the point.It was awesome watching this film with so many people because it was like riding a gigantic roller coaster, with everybody having a shared, hair raising experience.
When a criminal plot is in place to take down the entire computer and technological structure that supports the economy of the United States (and the world), it's up to a decidedly "old school" hero, police detective John McClane, to take down the conspiracy, aided by a young hacker.Well, I can't believe I'm saying this but the newest edition to the Die Hard series may rank with the first.
When a criminal plot is in place to take down the entire computer and technological structure that supports the economy of the United States (and the world), it's up to a decidedly "old school" hero, police detective John McClane, to take down the conspiracy, aided by a young hacker.Well, I can't believe I'm saying this but the newest edition to the Die Hard series may rank with the first.
With its silly title, smart-alleck lead character (Bruce Willis as Bruce Willis doing John McClane), and loads of old fashioned stunts involving cars, SUV's, elevator shafts, big rigs, helicopters, fighter jets, and collapsing highway bridges, this flick is a great piece of shattered-glass entertainment--a throwback to the late 1980's and early 1990's when movies like the original "Die Hard" changed the face of movie action.There is some frustration to be had when you start to realize how much they toned down to achieve the friendly PG-13 rating.
Still, die hard "Die Hard" action fans should rest assured knowing there will be plenty of funny one-liners, hot chicks (a wonderful Maggie Q as the bad-ass female villain and the scorchingly feisty and cute Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McClane), super smart bad guys (a very good Timothy Olyphant), and jaw-dropping death-defying stunts.
The excellent pacing and preposterousness of the stunts (especially the climax involving the fighter jet and the big rig) certainly put a smile on my face.There's a whole lot of computer hacking related mumbo-jumbo involved in the story, and there's a lot of downtime for male bonding and "explanation" of the finer plot points that slows the film down some but is actually nice to see in a world now ruled by Michael Bay-style non-stop action.
Have you done that kinda stuff before?' The direction is astonishingly controlled and confident from the man that bought the world 'Underworld' (He may be one to watch after all.) and, for my money, offers the best spectacle of any film this summer.There is a weight and an impact to the stunts and the fight scenes that comes from using actual stunt-work; so often eschewed these days in favor of scenes built entirely on disk.As mentioned, the tone is slightly subdued for a summer actioner (despite a good number of amusing lines and a healthy amount of self-awareness) which differentiates it from the others in the series.
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)*** (out of 4)The fourth film in the franchise has John McClane (Bruce Willis) asked to pick up a hacker (Justin Long) for questioning by the two of them are soon under attack from an unknown group of men.
Live Free Or Die Hard is a great action movie that even thou it may not rank with the original nor the third installments, i would definitely say its better than the second.
Willis continues to prove that he is one of the biggest badasses in movie history by delivering another incredibly strong performance in Live Free or Die Hard, directed by Len Wiseman(director of the Underworld movies).The series is now fully accessible to any audience with this modernizing chapter of the epic set of movies.
Add in McClane's daughter being kidnapped by Gabriel to keep John in line, and the conflict gets much more personal.The movie may come as a bit tamer with the PG-13 rating, but make no mistake-this is a Die Hard movie through and through, and in my opinion, it's the best one yet.
Why he acts this way in this scene is beyond me, but we're supposed to think it's cool, so unfortunately, this sort of forceful way that he acts in this one scene cannot be relievedly written off as the reason his daughter hates him so much.Then, suddenly, when she's in trouble---and you know she's going to be in trouble because this is made clear in the movie's trailer, so don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything---she suddenly starts calling herself Lucy McClaine and telling her dad she loves him and showing him affection and things like that.
Sometimes you wonder if the director was thinking, "and then here it would be nice with another explosion, maybe John bleeding a bit more".Live Free or Die Hard goes a long way with the template and the pedigree, but because of it's eager to give a little bit more of everything, it stops short of giving the same cool feel as the John McTiernans.As an action flick though, it's exciting and keeps you entertained most of the time.
About 40 minutes into Live Free or Die Hard (the fourth film in the popular Die Hard series), Bruce Willis stops playing tough cop John McClane and becomes his indestructible character from M.
In the first Die Hard, McClane was vulnerable; in this one, he wouldn't look out of place wearing a fancy spandex costume with a fluttering cape.Part 4 sees our grizzled hero back in action after he is sent to pick up Matthew Farrell, a computer hacker who is suspected of being involved with a high-tech terrorist organisation (who are attempting to shut down the U.S.A. in order to get their grubby paws on it's entire wealth).
the characters that populate this film are equally ill-conceived: Luscious Maggie Q plays Mai Lihn, a kung fu fighting villainess who is almost as indestructible as Willis''s cop; Long's cyber-dork is one of those people that only seem to exist in modern day action/thrillersa twenty something with the ability to outsmart the government's top computer operatives; tasty Mary Elizabeth Winstead is John's ballsy daughter Lucy, who goes from hating her dad to loving him (when he rescues her from danger); and Timothy Olyphant is the supreme bad-guy, a miffed ex-government computer boffin who (inexplicably) manages to gather together a team of henchmen willing to do his bidding, whatever the risks.Live Free or Die Hard is glossy, popcorn entertainment for those who don't worry too much about logic.
It took some time (12 years to be exact) to create a good and relevant plot destined to make a good follow up to one of the most beloved action films and characters of all time, John McClane, greatly played by Bruce Willis.
As his sidekick McClane protects a young and rebel hacker (Justin Long) who might be of help in trying to figure what's going on with those attacks."Live Free or Die Hard" is very fun to watch.
Breathtaking as usual such as McClane taking down a helicopter by using a car; the chase with a military plane trying to hit a truck conducted by the hero; the shootout at the hacker's house; and the ending (oh that memorable ending!) among others.If compared with the others "Die Hard" this is a little weak; let alone it's an exciting and fun movie.
this was the very first Die hard film i ever saw, and the first non-animated to feature Willis, who really is awesome in the role of John McClane this is also undoubtedly timothy Olyphant's finest role.now, what every discusses with action movies: the action that scene where the car hits the helicopter is probably the most memorable, but my favorite is when McClane opens fire on the fire extinguisher, which explodes and shoots a terrorist out a window it is so funnyMcClane's cheesy American puns return, but this time, Timothy Olyphant references them with 'come on, john, say something funny,' which is actually very funny on its ownAll in all, the final verdict is that this movie is brilliant and a must-have for any action fan.
Being all this movie is, is a pathetic way attempt to fill movie seats with good ol John Mclane and the Die Hard franchise, while retaining nothing of which made the original movie or sequels appealing, outside of Bruce Willis (very) seldom charm.
More to the point, "Live Free or Die Hard" proves that even dinosaurs like the 52-year-old Bruce Willis, still have a punch or two left in them.The film is a technical marvel, to say the least.
However, when Gabriel is pushed into a corner, he's forced to take drastic measures and take McClane's feisty daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) hostage."Live Free or Die Hard" is really the first "Die Hard" film to take a slice of modern-day paranoia - cyber-terrorism - and work it into a feasible action film that at times is a little scary.
In a not-so-surprising cameo, filmmaker Kevin Smith also appears as an Armageddon-prepared hacker named "Warlock.""Live Free or Die Hard" is the best film the series has to offer since the original 1988 "Die Hard." It proves to us that the days of real action movie heroism are not yet gone, and that action-hero dinosaurs like Bruce Willis can still roll with the new.9/10.
If you happen to have watched more than two or three action movies before, you will most likely see some of the plot devices and story lines recycled for this one.Except from some outlandish action, and the hope of hearing a tired old action hero deliver his famous one-liner once again, your hopes for a good movie are better placed elsewhere.Add some seriously wooden acting, downright boring predictability and and a bevy of pre-made quotes that sometimes seem to have been made in total isolation, and you have, well; a nice set set of cardboard posters set in sequence.That said; blowing things up is always fun!
McClane chases Thomas with Matt, but when his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is kidnapped by the criminal, his pursuit becomes a personal issue."Die Hard 4.0" is an entertaining non-stop action movie.
Shut your brain off and enjoy the ride as we once again join John McClain (Bruce Willis) in a stunt-filled forth instalment, this time facing off against technoterrorists in another wrong place wrong time scenario.This was so much fun with tons of bullets, explosions, car chases and amazing stunts (hello leaping onto in flight jets and taking down helicopters by launching police cars at them) The entire cast is great too; Justin Long provides comic relief as 'Farrell' the hacker who Willis is entrusted with "bringing in" and I also enjoyed Maggie Q and Timothy Olyphant as the baddies.
Die Hard has always been a hardcore action series, it is a slap in the face and an insult to fans that this unnecessary fourth installment be aimed at an audience that was only 1-year old when the DHWAV was released and an audience that is STILL not old enough to see any of those movies in the first place.But asides from that, LFODH has it's own problems that not even an R-rating could fix.
Honestly, 12 years should have been more than enough time to come up with a better sequel than this.My biggest gripes with the movie, and things that would've made this feel like "Die Hard" if they were changed: * Weak villain, almost beats out the villain in DH2 in terms of lameness.
I was not exactly disappointed by the movie and thought it was entertaining as expected - but this is by no means Top 250 material (and I expect it to drop out as soon as the rest of the voters catch up with the probably less critical Die Hard fans ...).Willis again is great in his role, and the clash of generations between him and his hacker buddy makes for a lot of funny dialogue.
Also, the action is fun to watch - however, there are too many letdowns to make this a real success.Overall, it had too much of a comic book character - granted, the characters are larger than life, but for me personally this only works to a certain degree.Firstly, it is so ridiculous when the hero is being shot at by professionals with automatic guns at fairly short distance and gets away - the car is perforated by bullet holes, but the people in the car remain unharmed ...Then, I really get annoyed by all the hacker and computer nonsense - there is so much cyder-crap in the movie that I won't even start listing it.Finally, the scene with the F-35 fighter just ruined it for me - this was so over the top that it was laughable ...To sum it up, I would say: funny, but forgettable ....
Detective John McClane is dragged into this plot when he's sent to pick up a computer hacker wanted by the police.One of the things I loved most about this film is the fact that it's just a straight action thriller and doesn't ever pretend to be anything that it isn't.
Taking Farrell into protective custody, McClane has to keep him alive as they avoid continued attempts on their lives and race against time to stop the terrorists from plunging the nation into a new stone age.I've loved the "Die Hard" movies since I was a kid, and I knew this one would not disappoint.
The ending was a let down (I will not spoil it but needless to say for a Die Hard film WTF?}It seems that Bruce Willis did not have his heart in the character of John Mclane.
Willis IS McClane, which makes up for a good part of mediocre things in this movie, but the "Die Hard" feeling has faded a lot since parts 1 & 2 (and 3 for that matter, which was not so great also).I give 6 out of 10..
One of the things that made the original Die Hard so great was, in addition to exceptionally intense action scenes, the character arc, John Mcclane was (as opposed to the typical action hero) a man with low self-regard, he feels emasculated by his wife's career, his kids now live three thousand miles away.He finds himself trapped in a situation way beyond what he feels he can handle alone, but in being forced to deal with it he redeems himself in his own eyes and matures to the point where he no longer feels threatened by his wife's independence.
This doesn't really need another comment, but I have to do my bit to balance all those 9 and 10 ratings on the first couple of pages.This film is cast-iron proof that Gollywood really thinks that if you throw enough guns and explosions at the screen, you can forget about putting any other sort of content in it.This is not in any way a "Die Hard" story, I believe the main character was changed to John McClane, because they had to make another Die Hard before Bruce gets too old.I suspect there might be a secret "Cliché Action Movie for Dummies" book out there somewhere.
Then we have an action sequence straight out of True Lies, and a bridge collapsing that looked far better in War of the Worlds.LFODH just feels like a typical sub-par popcorn flick (think Fantastic Four, the later X-Men movies), and definitely not even close to as good as the first 3, which I loved.And Justin Long was great.
It's a second rate Bruce Willis action movie that they gave the "Die Hard" title in order to cash in on the fan base.
Checklist...* PG13.....(More money) * Plot about computers......(Kids and teens love that stuff) * Justin Long as sidekick......(Teens can relate) * Hot girl playing McClanes daughter......(For the teenage boys) * Silent Bob cameo.......(Bring in the stoner comedy crowd)To sum up, this is a movie which should not have been made and is a Die Hard film by name only.
lets be realistic here.this is not a die hard film.this film contains no story and is sold to us on the good nature of the previous 3 films.the tag line for this film should of been Bruce Willis in an action film.there is nothing in this film that familiarises us with the other films other than his name is john mc clane.
Stars: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olymphant, Maggie Q, Mary Elizibeth Winstead, Kevin Smith.After a 12 year wait, we are finally treated to another Die Hard film, only this sequel is actually good.
"Live Free or Die Hard" is nonstop action and the most fun you can have at the movies this summer.
But die-hard fans (pun not intended) needn't worry: the franchise's immortal catchphrase is included, and once Willis delivers it it's confirmed beyond any doubt that John McClane is the best action hero of all time, and it was worth waiting twelve years for his return.Yippee-ki-yay indeed!.
With problems on work John has also problems with his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead ) because there isn't any real communication between them.Action movies, like "Die Hard" series, all have basically same plot.
The Previous 3 films looked and felt like Die Hard movies.
this practically was "Firewall" 2.0 with added scenes from "Speed" and "True Lies", using McClane as a connection to the previous "Die Hard" movies, and rehashing plot elements from other recent Bruce Willis films, like "Hostage"...