Die Hard and Bruce Willis go hand in hand. The film series wouldn’t be as much fun if John McClane was just a generic hero who didn’t give his family a headache, didn’t get banged up and couldn’t come up with a witty one liner to put a funny capper on big, exciting scenes.
When he first landed the role in the 1988 original, Willis might have seemed like an odd choice – getting this TV actor who shills wine coolers as the lead….that’s crazy. However, the filmmakers and audience knew instantly he was an ideal choice and Willis’ film career was off and running.
Two sequels followed and after a decade with cinemas being….Die Hard-less, Willis returned to his most famous role in a hacker happy, computers-run-wild adventure. McClane got teamed with Justin Long and was determined to stop an internet terrorist from sending the U.S. into chaos and saving his kidnapped daughter. It isn’t the most believable story, but it does result in some entertaining action scenes and Willis continuing to be great fun to watch as McClane.
While the film does offer a welcomed, more traditional throwback to the action films of the 80’s, it does suffer from some out of place CGI (most notably with the jet climax) and the escalation of destruction and the believability of McClane actually being able to survive all of it pushes things way too far….even for a Die Hard film. Plus, this entry offers the most forgettable villain McClane does battle with.
Although it’s not the best Die Hard film, it’s still a relatively fun one. Willis is said to be returning in 2013 in A Good Day To Die Hard (I guess they just completely disregarded numbering them a long time ago). I’ll be interested in seeing what the results will be.
Hey HaphazardStuff, Live Free or Die Hard was the best sequel but a fine movie and not at all a Die Hard.