By Kit Bowen
Story
The story, too, is just as out-there as only a good
Die Hard installment can be. Seems the enemy this time is a slick computer hacker, Thomas Gabriel (
Timothy Olyphant), who holds the U.S. hostage by systematically breaking down its digital infrastructure. First, he takes down the transportation grids, then creates panic on the financial market and finally, he shuts off all utilities—gas, electricity, et al. The hackers call it a “firesale" (as in everything must go), but it isn’t as far-fetched as one might think. Of course, what Gabriel doesn’t figure on is one NYPD cop named John McClane (
Willis), who inadvertently gets involved when he’s called to pick up Matt Farrell (
Justin Long), a young hacker being targeted by Gabriel. Ah yes, the old wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time adage, which follows McClane wherever he goes. Now, with Farrell in tow explaining to the fossilized cop exactly what the hell is going on, McClane has to become “that guy” once again to save the country—and his daughter (
Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who Gabriel tries to use to bring McClane down. Big mistake.
Acting
Come on, did we really doubt
Bruce Willis could pull off one more
Die Hard adventure? Look how long
Harrison Ford did the action hero thing—and
Willis looks to be in way better shape. The other thing
Willis does to bring us in again and again is give his alter-ego humility. His McClane is one of the best Everyman heroes to grace the big screen, and
Willis makes sure we know that no matter what dire situation McClane finds himself in, he's never going to stop doing his job—even if he gets the crap beat out of him along the way. Nobody—save for maybe
Harrison Ford—plays hurt better than
Willis. Of course, he gets hurt plenty in
Live Free or Die Hard, but the quieter moments between McClane and Farrell—played by the scruffy sweet-natured
Long (the guy in the Apple/IBM commercials)—are quite humorous and enlightening as well. McClane knows he’s almost too old-school but is willing to learn a few new tricks—just so long as he can still do it his way.
Olyphant (HBO's
Deadwood) also does a fine job as the hacker villain whose uber-geekiness has given him the upper hand. He doesn’t just think he’s smarter than everyone else, he IS smarter than everyone else—except, he isn’t very handy with a gun or a car or a helicopter or a semi-truck. That’s McClane’s department.
Direction
Wow, where to begin. Be it a car flying up a tollbooth and slamming into a hovering helicopter or a semi-truck outrunning a jet armed with close-range missiles or McClane hanging precariously from a boxcar in an elevator shaft while kung-fu fighting a key henchwoman, director
Len Wiseman (of the
Underworlds fame) knows exactly where the
Live Free or Die Hard bread is buttered: the action. It’s all we really want from our
Die Hard movies. That, and maybe
Bruce Willis’ sexy bald head. And it doesn’t really matter to us if the stunts were accomplished the old-fashioned way or with special effects. No, we just want to laugh at McClane muttering to himself just as he’s about to engage in a car chase, “Sure, just go pick up the kid and bring him to Washington, D.C. No problem, piece of cake!” Then we want to sit through one implausible way the grizzled cop escapes death after another, grab our seats and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Now, the wincing might start again if they decide to do a
fifth one...