This is old school action and a hell of a lot of fun.
Photo copyright: 20th Century Fox (2007)

Live Free or Die Hard is a return to old school action movies. It is a rebirth of an old character. It is loud and fast. It is, most importantly, a return to what summer movies all about. This is one action packed, good time at the movies.

Willis has played in lots of different movies, like Rugrats Go Wild! and Pulp Fiction. That maybe fun for him, but he is, always has been, and always will be best when playing a tough ass cop. It worked for him in Sin City and 16 Blocks. He is to police movies what John Wayne was to the western. Willis's return as John McClane is very, very welcome.

Over the July 4th holiday, a terrorist organization hacks into all kinds of computers. They begin to shut down the entire nation. McClane is sent to pick up a hacker, Matt, who may be able to help. It turns out that he is a target of the baddies, but they didn't count on McClane being around. Whereas the hacker knows all about techno shit, McClane knows all about kicking ass. Together they face off with the army of villains.

The Die Hard films have all been successful for a reason. They are all action packed films that are able to walk that fine line between realistic tension and over-the-top action without ever falling too far in one direction. The scene where McClane destroys the helicopter is a bit much but he is all bloodied and hurt, and he has a great line when Matt says, "You just killed a helicopter with a car." McClane responds, "I was out of bullets." You find yourself cheering not jeering.

Speaking of great lines, Willis gets most of the good ones. "Mai? Asian chick, likes to kick people? Yeah, last time I saw her she was at the bottom of an elevator shaft with an SUV up her ass." Of course he gets to use his signature line when the bad guy suggests, "On your tombstone it will say always in the wrong place at the wrong time." And John suggests, "How about Yippie-ki-yay motherfucker." I do not want to spoil the scene, but you have to see it to fully appreciate that line.

Live Free or Die Hard is what summer movies are all about. Here's hoping this is not the last time I get to see Bruce Willis in a tore up bloodied T-shirt kicking some idiot's ass!

Did you enjoy Eric's review? +3 -0

"Yippie-ki-yay motherfucker!"
Photo copyright: 20th Century Fox (2007)

This is a fun movie, but perhaps Eric is a bit too free with his praise. The plot is completely implausible and some of the action (I'm thinking of McClane ending up on the wing of the fighter jet scene) does go over the top. However, this is a big budget summer action movie that provides plenty of popcorn moments.

There's never been a movie made that accurately portrays computer use and this one is no exception. The hackers in this movie are able to do absolutely anything they want simply by typing a few keys. No one uses Windows (or Unix or Linux or any other Operating System known to man) or a Mouse and apparently every computer in the world is freely available to hijack in a matter of seconds. And why the hell do the terrorists go to all the trouble of planting a bomb in computers, but then make the trigger a computer virus? And a computer virus that you don't have to download, but one that they can simply push to your computer.

I know, I know, you're not supposed to think about those things while watching this movie. The real purpose is to showcase John McClane kicking terrorist ass. And when the movie stays away from the techno-babble, it excels. Unlike so many movie heroes, McClane never walks away uninjured. By the end of each of his films, he's always battered, cut and bruised.

There's been a recent trend to resurrect '80s action movie icons, with Stallone redoing Rocky and Rambo and Harrison Ford donning the Fedora for one more go as Indiana Jones. I'll say this for Willis; he's certainly aged better than Stallone and Ford. Stallone still has the muscles, but in the previews to the next Rambo, he looks the corpse of Rambo, resurrected and pumped full of steroids. And Ford looks like he should be on the quest for the Holy Bottle of Geritol. Willis though, still manages to believably handle all of the action and looks as though he's still got some fight left in him.

Did you enjoy Scott's review? +1 -1