Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD: PERHAPS ONE OF THE BEST "DIE HARD" MOVIES YET!


I attended a showing of Live Free or Die Hard this last Friday night. Of all the Die Hards there have been, this one is by far the most recent. Here are some points of interest about the movie:

• Previews: One movie worth mentioning stars The Rock as a pro-football QB. Following a surprise visit from the young daughter he never knew he had, he needs to adapt his lifestyle to accommodate the kid. Hijinks ensues. There is one particular fact about this preview that struck me as peculiar: Rock's little girl's name is Peyton (I don't know if it's spelled that way but it should be). Will there be a scene where "Peyton" misbehaves and Bill Belichick happens to show up to bend "Peyton" over his knee and administer a spanking? We will have to wait and see, but in a movie about pro football and quarterbacks, "Peyton" is an interesting choice of name for a bratty little girl.

• Commercials: There is a great anti-drug commercial running before the previews in theatres lately. Please follow the link and watch it - I think you will really like it.
  
  
• Villain-to-Hero Drastic Disparity in Marksmanship: A phenomenon commonly found in movies of this genre is present again in Live Free or Die Hard. McClane rolls a fire extinguisher down a hallway and shoots at it to deter some villains with the explosion. He nails a hostile aircraft with a disruptive jet of water by breaking a fire hydrant at just the right moment, and finishes the chopper off later by catapulting his car into it. He even fires a weapon held in someone else's hand, through his own shoulder backward, survives and gets the kill behind him. The villains, for their part, have no luck. At one point, they are firing a heavy-duty machine gun at McClane's stationary car from about 15 feet away. McClane survives by ducking. "Duck", he instructs his sidekick, who takes heed and survives.
  
  
• Prolonged Scene Depicting Bruce Willis Beating Up a Woman 1/2 His Size: What the villains lack in accuracy, they make up with resiliency. There is a long scene in the movie where McClane fights a small woman in fierce, furniture-throwing, glass-breaking, bar-room-brawl, Ultimate-Backyard-Fighting-style combat. It seems absurd already to see Bruce Willis throw a brutal array of haymakers at a Lucy Liu-sized woman, but then the movie forces us to accept that she is able to sustain this attack and keep fighting for something like 10 minutes. She just keeps getting up and coming back for more - even after McClane assaults her with an SUV. I'm not sure what to think about the whole thing.
  
  
  Also worth mentioning, the personification of a Macintosh computer co-stars with Bruce Willis in this movie. I don't care for the guy's work. Never have. His characters annoy me. I've always used PC's and have no real complaints. So, going in I was afraid that he would drag this movie down, but he doesn't. He was a nice fit for his role in Live Free or Die Hard. Unlike the Mac commercials, the movie never condoned his annoying little attitude, rather his whole personality seemed meant to contrast and accentuate Bruce Willis' tough guy shtick. Much to my disappointment though, the PC never makes an appearance.

Live Free or Die Hard will probably insult your intellect: The action sequences are impossible, the villain is a ridiculously evil jerk, the script is just silly, and all law enforcement other than John McClane is slow and/or incompetent. But we should expect these things in a mindless action movie, and appreciated as such, Live Free or Die Hard is worth watching. If you're bored.

** 1/2