Die Hard 4.0, released as Live Free or Die Hard in the US, sees the return of John McClane (Bruce Willis) and deal with Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) who is systemically shutting down the US with a computer program known as a “fire sale”, McClane’s only hope in stopping Gabriel lies in Matthew Farrell (Justin Long).
In my honest opinion, I thought Die Hard 4.0 wasn’t any good; one reason was that the stunts felt too much like a rehash of scenes from Mad Max 2, True Lies and Speed, being that they involve a Jet, a collapsing freeway and a truck, the stunts as well were also a little over the top and bordered on the ridiculous.
One other reason was the weak villain; the previous films had Alan Rickman, William Sadler and Jeremy Irons, all great actors on their own terms and could hold their own against McClane, here Olyphant talks big but doesn’t really hold a lot of menace in the way that Gruber did in the original film.
But if there was one thing that really left me crushed, it was the censoring of the infamous “Yippee-Ki-Yay” line, since appearing in the original film the line has become one of the most iconic quotes in movie history, despite its use of profanity, to me, this line was a must in this film and I was hugely disappointed that it was censored.
Another beef was the absence of the symphonic Ode to Joy, which is another icon of the series and was missing from this film entirely, which was another huge disappointment.
One highlight though was Bruce Willis, it was a blessing and a curse to see him play McClane once more, the blessing being that he completely makes the character his own, getting into his skin in a way that no one else could, but the curse is that Willis is starting to get a little too old to play the part.
Bottom line, see this film if you must, but if you’re anything like me and only enjoyed the original, save your money for when the film hits DVD and decide for yourselves.
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