Despite being produced by Twenieth Century Fox, 2007's Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free or Die Hard as it was known on the States)is a grand addition to the franchise. Unusually for Fox, or perhaps because franchise guardian Willis held his ground, the producers waited 12 years for a decent script to come along before embarking on this delayed sequel. Fortunately, it's a script which provides a fresh twist on the established Die Hard formula and adds some new sides to hero, John McClane.
Director Len Wiseman (of Underworld fame) gives the movie a cinematic feel and distinct visual signature (lit with grays, blues and harsh blacks). Given its naughties production values it's edited a little quicker than past instalments but never to the detriment of the inventive action sequences. The action set-pieces slowly grow in scale, from a frenzied gunfight in Justin Long's appartment (we dont get to see that much of that kind of thing in movies these days) to a lunatic-conceived sequence where McClane surfs a jet fighter! The best is a sustained sequence involving McClane in a police car versus the baddies in a helicopter. The climatic bit of this scene, as Willis takes ot said helicopter with said car, demonstrates why this movie series is still tops.
Castwise it's pure joy to see Willis back as John McClane; world weary, wise-cracking and relentlessly commited to doing the right thing. Although it's weird seeing McClane as a wrinklie baldie, it's his behaviour that we love to watch. Justin Long makes for a different kind of foil than McClane's has had in the past; one that highlights the characters age. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is smartly (and cutely) cast as Lucy, John's Daughter, giving her the spunk and vulnerability that screen mother Bonnie Bedelia possessed. Cliff Curtis is adequete in the chief authoritarian role while Timothy Olyphont in nearly unmemorable as the villain (a crime in this series). Fortunately some ultra sarcastic asides allow him to be retained in the cerebreal cortex for a bit.
The plot's the same basic structure as before...but at least McClane is doing his job as a cop in this one, rather than just happening across the terrorist while on holiday. It's also clever in the way it introduces the 'bad guys are really only in it for the money twist'...when it seemed that Olyphant and Co are doing the begrudged 'former government employee goes bad' routine from Under Siege 2 or The Rock.
As with many movies these days, the harder cut, DVD unrated version is the one to watch...containing more swearing and violence that you'd expect from an adult, hard-edged action thriller, that were all the othe films in this series.
Yes, after a 12 year wait and a shit studio producing it, this perhaps shouldn't have worked. It's the least successful of the franchise, but with such a high bar set by the previous enties, that's no great critisism. Question is...will Willis ever do a fifth movie and will the studio want to? Well, I want to...
