Die Hard 4 Movie Reviews

It has been almost 20 years since we first saw Officer McClane stuck in a building in a hostage crisis. Bruce Willis played a rugged, old-fashioned, no-nonsense Cop then, and even today, he retains the muscle power of an American truck, smirks at his own one-liners, beats up villians in WWE style, drives like a maniac and endures in the end with his famous catchphrase. Live Free Or Die Hard in two words is NON-STOP ACTION.

Beginning with an ageing McClane spying on his daughter who has issues with him, the film then quickly shifts focus to Thomas Gabriel(Timothy Olyphant) who launches a three-stage' Fire-sale', a virtual attack on America's transportation system, finanical hubs and utility services.

Thus, crippling the nation with its entire infrastructure shut down. He threatens to send the nation back to the Stone Age using his team of expert hackers.

McClane is entrusted with the responsibility to safely bring a hacker named Farrell, linked to the'fire sale' to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC for his security after Gabriel murdered the other hackers of the same kind. Thereafter, the film moves with great velocity, relentlessly blasting its way through with action-packed entertainment.

The plot, of master hackers disrupting all the systems in the country, controlling traffic, diverting pipelines and spying on almost any and everybody is quite frankly, absurd to the extent of the impossible. But it still manages to grip you along with all the kick-ass action packed into the two hours.

The special effects with the F35 Fighter Jet shooting at McClane, the blasts at the power station, the city traffic from an aerial view and many of the other thrilling visuals are a benchmark for action films now. Every action scene is well crafted and creative.

The director, Len Wiseman, of the Underworld movies fame, has worked hard to depict some never-before-seen action sequences. He does take the liberty to extend the film unnecessarily by about 15 minutes but because of all the mind blowing action, nobody will complain.

Farrell plays the brain while Mcclain plays the brawn. Bruce Willis takes hits and bullets but he beats them hard in his old fashioned style when he has to.

Justin Long as Farrell is a freaked out kid who is just uncomfortable with McClane's outright methods of dealing with bad guys but his knowledge of the program is useful for McClane to help him nab the techno-villian, Gabriel. Bruce Willis' performance simply screams'I'm Here to stay!' and he only looks older while Justin Long holds up very well in his situational comedy and freaked out scenes. Timothy Olyphant is competent in the villian's role. The comedy arising out of the dialogues entertains while the audience engages in the action.

Thus, Live Free or Die Hard accomplishes what it set out to do and proves to be a thorough entertainer for those seeking an action-packed summer blockbuster. If you are expecting something other than that, you will have to wait for something else.

• 8.811 on a scale of 1-10.

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Hitherto, we have all witnessed larger-than-life films depicting an utterly binary world wherein even a human DNA can be cloned. For that matter, real-world films where transplantation of  bone-marrow becomes a child’s play. You have also seen films demoing hydrogen-powered personal air-crafts moving at ultrasonic speeds in the troposphere. Yet, did you ever realise that rarely comes a film showcasing the inconceivable extremities of cybernation? Or did you realise, rarely comes a film which proves to you, scientifically, that a computerised tongue-cleaner is plausible? Atleast, did you realise, rarely comes a film which depicts a human-craving device that controls your gastric trouble real time?

Die Hard 4.0 doesn’t feature any of these. Yet, it’s a rare film.

Balding Bruce Willis (a NYPD cop/detective) has been told to pick up a young hacker (Justin Long) for breaching an FBI system. Timothy Olyphant (villain) buys complex algorithms from the tender-moustached-budding-hackers and pays them money before killing them (for the same reason as Shah Jahan’s slaying of all the masons engaged in Taj Mahal construction) One such fly-the-coop victim is Justin Long. Timothy maintains a team of geeky programming experts to control and thoroughly screw the US public utilities and data administration systems. His technological reach is so advanced that he makes sure all the hackers who he bought stuff from are killed using pre-implanted C-4s, detonating at the press of their own keyboard. Justin survives the blast due to a technical error in implantation.

Having known about his survival, Timothy sends his heavily-armed toughies to kill tender Justin. Bruce Willis saves him from the attacks of Timothy and in due course himself becomes an enemy to Timothy, only ending up in collateralization of his own horny daughter. Technically-illiterate-but-expletive-intensive Bruce Willis understands Timothy’s intentions through Justin’s hesitant articulation and then resolves to save America from the schema, termed ‘Fire Sale’ (as in ‘clearing off everything’) well contrived by Timothy. Timothy is the architect who designed a foolproof national security system for the US after the WTC blow out. Yet he keeps cribbing about his crucification and low pay package. Hence, takes the condemnable step to terrorize the entire nation through a planned shut-down of the transportation system, power systems and all other public utilities. His motive is to leverage his knowledge on the technical loopholes of the self-designed system for a commercial motive. He then progresses to sweep in monies from the nation’s social security database and the banking accounts of the public from a Business-continuity-cum-disaster-recovery centre. Bruce’s biceps come into play and Timothy’s plans go for a toss. Bruce is of the same vigor as usual and has not compromised on his muscularity.

Fast-paced, action-packed, will-keep-your-ass-sticked-to-the-seat kinda movie. You would never have a second to think nor would you be able to guess what’s gonna present itself before you. All you would do is just keep your mouth agape while Bruce and the little hacker keep running, bounding, eluding and driving all along from the nasty attacks of Timothy, right from the FBI office to the warehouse where Timothy and his accomplices get killed with a single bullet shot. High-production flick, realistic stunts and terrific sound effects. Sporadic Beethoven touches are a bonus.

Grand Scenes:

*- the speeding car before it ramps up an inclined concrete structure right into the chopper

• Bruce Willis’ combat with the sexy chinky, MaggieQ, till the time she gets killed in the elevator chasm

  
  




• Attack on Bruce-driven-18-wheeled truck-trailer by an F-35

  
  




• Justin’s conversation with the BMW interactive chauffeur

  
  




• Bruce Willis’ expletives and wits

  
  

We do cherish the cyber ontogenesis and the comfort and luxury resulting out of it. But just imagine a world when the same ontogeny shows its ugly face in the form of public utilities occlusion and a total black-out. You would simply realise the human mind is going crazy and would never dare to draw a bead on further expansion of the binary horizons. Watch the movie and you would come out with a dropped-down jaw.

A flat 4 out of 5.

p.s. Thanks to Flying Elephant aka "Born Messiah"

p.p.s. The review was earlier included in an inappropriate section and by the time the product Die Hard 4 was created, my fellow MSians have commented and rated my review. I don't want to lose them. Hence Ctrl+C Ctrl+V therefrom.

BR>*Comments

sudipto33 said:

7 hrs 3 mins ago

Lovely review.

Between an Olyphant in the beginning and an Elephant in the end, you have delivered a power packed performance. Wonderful ’break-feast’ early in the morning. :-)

Cheers

flyingelephant  said:

0 hrs 23 mins ago

I will never forgive the Raingods, as last sunday show was cancelled and I could not see this movie with advanced tickes in hand....:(

A 200BHP 4000cc 0-80 in 4 seconds kinda kickass-or-leave-the-hell-outta-here review. Am a die hard die hard fan and its a must see for me.

So happy to see, within the Awarapan with Apne Aap ka Surooooor some sanity prevails somewhere.

Don’t say thanks, am a born messiah and its my hobby to change the world….:)

Cheers!

~fe*~

manishnegi said:

5 hrs 37 mins ago

I was waiting for this movie to release , but now I don’t want to wait any more .Going to watch it today only.Where will you put this movie among 1st , 2nd and 3rd part.

Will watch Bruce in action today, Nice writing .

keep penning

-Mani

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Hi Friends,

After a long time back I am back with the review of the latest Hollywood flick ---- Die hard - 4

Saw this hyped movie last week and was truly satisfied with the product.

What happens in most Hollywood movies especially action movies? America is in problem and the only actor in the film has the grit or the courage or the sole responsibility to resolve the issue. And he does it in style. Again it is New York City which is in problems most of the time. The statue of Liberty is all set to fall down in all the films....... I am sick of seeing that statue coming down every time and may be the statue itself would also be tired of bearing this downfall with every flick....though this happens in films only.

But this time the directors realizing this fact and may be even they got bored of pulling statue down, they changed the city altogether.

Here comes the Die hard - 4 with a new city Washington DC. But don’t forget that America is still in problem and we have a good hero to resolve this and that too in style.

Bruce Willis acting as John - A Cop got a task of getting hold of some hacker. On this assignment he gets hold of a hacker who in turn was working for a highly terrible hackers group.

This hacker group consists of an ex policemen from FBI who actually challenged FBI that their site can be hacked easily and he also proved it in his presentations. But instead of supporting him and encouraging him to develop an anti hacking software they (FBI) screwed him up and slashed him out of the police team. So following a natural tendency of a talented human being he decided to take revenge against the Government and this time he would hack all the computer systems of the country.

He developed his team and came back strongly. He was all set to control all the activities that are controlled by using computers and hence created chaos in whole city.

They started controlling traffic signals, water supply, gas supply, electricity and power, financial market, television broadcasts, express ways, mobile phones etc etc almost everything that is connected to computers. Besides that being intelligent this group is well equipped with the latest gadgets,guns and even helicopters !!!

Bruce who got hold of one of the hacker tried to chase the group and he took over face to face with these deadly hackers.

The combat between the hackers and Bruce is all that what this movie is all about. The cinematography is outstanding, screenplay is good, and action scenes are superb. Just by watching these action scenes one can guess the rate of destruction they must have done for the film. Too much expenditure and too much destruction till the very end. Anyone who loves watching action movie, for them die hard 4 is the feast for the eye and mind.

Ok finally what happens? Bruce got hold of the hacker and saves America again.....for the next movie......

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Saw the 4th part of the action series Die Hard, Die Hard 4.0…starring the oh-so-intense Bruce Willis.

Story:

A team of cyber terrorists headed by Thomas Gabriel(Timothy Olyphant) attack the transportation systems, financial systems and infrastructure of the entire United States threatning to shut the entire nation and take the USA back to the Stone Age.Our old school NYPD cop John McClane(Bruce Willis) teams up with a whizkid hacker(Justin Long) who has aided the terrorists earlier and hopes to save the entire nation as well as his own daughter(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who is in the clutches of Thomas Gabriel.

Performances:

Bruce Willis proves yet another time why he is so apt to play John McClane all through the Die Hard series…he is wonderful as the hardened senior cop who believes in a bullet for a bullet principle.Justin Long as the whizkid hacker emotes well as the youngster who is scared out of his wits while witnessing all the blooshed and chaos around him.Timothy Olyphant tries his best to be a good villain but fails…he doesn’t have the inherent evil look about his persona which is so necessary for a villain.Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a very brief role but she makes her presence felt.Maggie Q and Clif Curtis are alright.

Pros:

1)Great action sequences.

2)Excellent cinematography, specially the sequence shot with chopper attack.

3)Bruce Willis…oh man he’s really good.

4)Edge-of-the seat thrill.

Cons:

1)Terrible screenplay for the climax scene when Willis is trying to evade a F-35 strike fighter plane from hitting his trailer……it is so bloody unbelievable.

2)The entire plot creates a make-belief that all computer hackers are necessarily people who are trained for combat and can use any weapon with utmost ease….so untrue.

3)The entire FBI and NSA and whatever else the Pentagon has for aid…does not have a single person who can think remotely what the hackers might plan to do…only Mr.Whizkid Hacker can.

Good Scenes:

1)The chopper attack on Willis and Long is shot really well.

2)The first action sequence at Long’s house is also executed brilliantly.

Poor Scenes:

1)The climax scene with the F-35 fighter jet chasing Willis’ trailer. It looks so very unreal that I felt that they probably borrowed from some ‘B’ Grade Indian film.

2)The first chat between McClane and Long in the car after they escape from Long’s house….too typically Hollywood scene…a cop who is a virtaul superman(in this case Willis)…his wife leaves him, daughter hates him, no one praises his job…still he is committed beyond belief….why do all cops in Hollywood need to have bad family lives?

My Verdict:

Die Hard 4.0 is a must watch for 2 kinds of people….one who love mindless action with edge-of-the-seat thrill OR for people who love Bruce Willis.It has its loose moments…but on the whole you do not get bored or feel like taking your eyes off the screen. A sure recommendation.

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PG-13, nothing sends shivers down my spine the way this rating does. When I learned that this movie had this curse upon it, I had to reduce my expectations, in the "year of the sequels" good movies are hard to come by and **there was no-way a PG-13 rated action movie was going to be up-to the mark right?!.

*WRONG.

This movie was awesome, I'm a fan of the big summer blockbuster and firmly believe that movies like independence day and especially Jurassic Park deserve a mention in the Top 250 as they will be remembered and enjoyed much more than most movies on the list, honestly which of us have seen Citzen Kane, I did and thought it was OK.

This movie has just upped the bar for PG-13 rated movies, I would like to go out on a limb and say it has nearly matched the levels of classics like JP and Ind. Day.(although they had less action) especially if you consider it is a sequel.

The stunts were real, CG was at a minimum(Except for the F-35 track where some scenes were quite fake), the action was as brutal as can befor the rating(you can shoot as many time as you want just no blood the MPAA just fell another 2 notches in my respect list).

The movie was long but it never felt like it, there were actually characters that were not stereotyped(no blacks, Asians, or Hispanics that seems misplaced), it was FUNNY, it was EXCITING, maybe even THOUGHT PROVOKING, all this even though it was a sequel.

Len Wiseman has earned back all the respect he lost for the disappointing underworld evolution. For making a technically superb film.(editing was suspect because of what it think will be the unrated directors cut which will surely be on DVD).

*Some of the memorable albeit over the top scenes are the F-35 track, the subway, and the power factory.

Logic has been compromised and any attempts to justify event, action sequences will only lead trouble, **going along with the ride will only lead to happiness.

So why am I whining?.

*Can you imagine what this movie would be like if it were R rated?.

John Mclane is sanitised form of his former self, from a chain smoking, wise-ass, foul mouthed cop he has become a divorced struggling father who I don't even think says bullshit.

There's no Yippy Kay Motherf#$er when the villain dies in this movie.

The villain did a good job but was no Hans Gruber, no cold blooded killing, maiming, no abusing, he actually looked like a poster boy more than anything else.

And villains cant be totally bad nowadays can they, they have to have a heart and some justification for what they're doing, disgusting.

Another complain I have is the graphic intensive computers and Hacking shown, come-on any engineer knows that no aspects of computers looks so pleasing, all these graphics actually make the move seem less real, they makers have to see movies of yesteryear's like Alien, The Thing or Sphere to see how scary and real a simple Dot Matrix screen can be.

*Despite the shedding of many stereotypes the rebellious teen and the geeky hacker rear their ugly head.

*The fact is even though this movie maxes out as a PG-13 movie and a sequel an R-rating would have easily justified its place in the Top 250 movies of all time.

Or maybe at 24 I'm already to old for the new breed of big-budget action movies and the days of the simple action movie are truly behind us.

Watch this movie especially if your a fan of blockbuster cinema my cousin who liked his Die Hard when it was harder was quite disappointed with the over the top action sequences and teeny bopper humour.

*ITS A MUST WATCH WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS EVEN IS THERE IS MERELY TOLERANCE TO BLOCKBUSTER CINEMA(EVEN DRAMA HUNGRY CRITICS WILL LIKE THIS FILM).

Expect and you will still receive.

-s purists(like me) will find many reasons to whine, PG-13, lacklustre villain, sanitised John Mclane, Plot holes.

+/-s good family viewing, suitable to large audiences.

+s lots of over the top and real action sequences, **as good as can get PG-13 action, a great sequel, actually meets/exceeds expectations despite the rating.

total 8-8.5/10(My original rating of this movie was an 8.(considering its the best PG-13 action movie I remember seeing), but I have purposefully given it a rating of 7 in the hope of pulling down the already inflated ratings this movie is ahead of even the original die-hard on the Top 250 wtf.I assume that this is a combination of the fact this is not only the best movie of this summer but also the best sequel in a long time, the rat movie breaking into the top 100 shows that thanks to the ordinary movies this year people mistake even very good for the best).

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