Live Free or Die Hard [Blu-ray]

Product Details

Twelve years after Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third and previous film in the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard finds John McClane (Bruce Willis) a few years older, not any happier, and just as kick-ass as ever. Right after he has a fight with his college-age daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a call comes in to pick up a hacker (Justin Long, a.k.a. the "Apple guy") who might help the FBI learn something about a brief security blip in their systems. Now any Die Hard fan knows that this is when the assassins with foreign accents and high-powered weaponry show up, telling McClane that once again he's stumbled into an assignment that's anything but routine. Once that wreckage has cleared, it is revealed that the hacker is only one of many hackers who are being targeted for extermination after they helped set up a "fire sale," a three-pronged cyberattack designed to bring down the entire country by crippling its transportation, finances, and utilities. That plan is now being put into action by a mysterious team (Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood, and Maggie Q, Mission: Impossible 3) that seems to be operating under the government's noses.

Live Free or Die Hard uses some of the cat-and-mouse elements of Die Hard with a Vengeance along with some of the pick-'em-off-one-by-one elements of the now-classic original movie. And it's the most consistently enjoyable installment of the franchise since the original, with eye-popping stunts (directed by Len Wiseman of the Underworld franchise), good humor, and Willis's ability to toss off a quip while barely alive. There was some controversy over the film's PG-13 rating--there might be less blood than usual, and McClane's famous tag line is somewhat obscured--but there's still has plenty of action and a high body count. Yippee-ki-ay! --David Horiuchi

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Product Reviews

(5 stars) - Stunts Galore and Willis Still in Character
Nothing much to add to the trunk-full of reviews except that the stunts alone are worth the price of admission. Add to that a script that gives Willis the wherewithal to keep the character vital and you have a picture worth seeing. Of course, it is not the type of violence that seems real which makes it entertaining not frightening.

(5 stars) - Almost the best "Die Hard" sequel yet--close to the original
When I heard that there was going to a 4th "Die Hard" installment to the franchise--my heart sank!! Why? Because the last 2 sequels were pale repeats of the original premise with slight modifications in the plot like the hi-jacking of a plane or the threat of bombs blowing up in NYC. The franchise seemed burned out and of course Willis himself was getting long in the tooth for these shenanigans!! But lo and behold we get a re-boot in a plausible story line of how a disavowed or disgrunted government worker creates a "fire sale" by hacking in on the main computers in the nation. How's that for originality which was lacking in the sequels? Also for once Willis is not such a super-hero like he was in the sequels and gets help from computer hacker Justin Long (that "Apple guy" in the commercials)--they are a perfect pair. Though the villain, Timothy Olliyphant isn't engaging as Alan Rickman was in the original, there's plenty of knock-out action to compensate. Also the Blu-ray transfer is excellent so definitely get this one for sure.

(5 stars) - A die hard fire sale
Now, this is a *very* unrealistic movie, don't you think?

Bruce Willis is back (fully clothed this time), and yes, he is impossible to kill. Neither choppers nor fighter planes can take him out. As usual, his adversaries are some kind of German-Russian terrorists. Naturally, a stereotyped nerdie hacker is part of the show, too.

The top bandits lack personality, however. No scarred faces, no foreign accents, very little sociopathology, etc. The Asiatic woman looks like a stale computer animation. A hacker job, perhaps?

This is a fan movie. If you actually liked "Die Hard", where Bruce was running around half-naked in a skyscraper for most of the time, or "Die Hard 2", with that fabulous plane crash, or "Die Hard and Zeus meets Simon Says" when you were 14 years old, you will *love* this one.

If not, you will just say what me and my father said when we watched it the other day on Swedish cabel: "Now, this is a *very* unrealistic movie, don't you think?".

:D

Where's that fire sale, by the way?

(5 stars) - Full five star-cannot give it four point seven
Ongoing action, no cheesy sentimental mid point, excellent story, worth seeing again for the unique stunts. Awesome! Oh, if you work in IT and you are security inclined, arrrgh, step up pounding the drum, this movie makes a point.

(4 stars) - Gives the series a modern facelift!
Probably the most rereplayable of the Die Hards, the latest effort in the long running series delivers on exactly what everyone expects: A typical guy movie that contains lots of explosions, lots of action, and a certain trademarked cowboy euphamism. I wouldn't necessarily consider this the best Die Hard movie (Die Hard 3 clearly takes that title) but Live Free Die Hard delivers a modern twist that allows plot lines to become more... explosive and believable. Granted believability really isn't the goal in a Die Hard movie. There is certainly ample occurances where you will have to be quite forgiving in how the movie bends the laws of physics. However, it brings about a decent (and most applicable) plot line, decent acting and lots, and lots of amazing action sequences that leaves you pining for the next step up in your surround system, and only hoping that you can fly a car into a helicopter, and destroy a plane with your bare hands when you are passing into your 50's.

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