Movie Review: Yippee-ki-yay
Category: Movies...
Posted Friday, June 29, 2007 at 09:35 PM [GMT-6]

Note: This review contains spoilers. If you want to skip the details and just get the rating, I'm going with 4 ants out of 5.

Of all the "action adventure" movie franchises, the Die Hard series is our favorite for its combination of logic-defying stunts and plot-lines and comic relief. There's never any suspense about the outcome; you're concerned only with how much punishment John McClane can take before he exacts justice on the bad guys.

The latest installment, Live Free or Die Hard, is a worthy fourth member of the franchise, and features Bruce Willis playing his age (unlike, say, Harrison Ford in the disappointing Firewall [Gazette review here]). The fact that he's apparently even more resilient and indestructible than ever is in keeping with the most ludicrous plot thus far: the hacking into the secret government system that stores the details of every financial transaction in the American economy – strictly for backup purposes, you know.

McClane's unwilling sidekick in this installment is Matt Farrell, a 20-something cracker/slacker who unwittingly provided some of the coding for the Big Hack, and has been targeted for elimination by the bad guys. McClane is sent to bring Farrell in for FBI questioning and, of course, all hell breaks loose from the moment they meet. Farrell is played by sloe-eyed Justin Long (the Apple in the "I'm an Apple/I'm a PC" commercials). He's the requisite new and hotness yin to McClane's old and busted yang, but he brings the same likable, earnest geekitude that we first saw in Galaxy Quest.

Together, McClane and Farrell survive more shock and awe than Rasputin, and reveal some innovative touches for the dispatching of bad guys. (One scene, however, takes an obvious cue from a similar setup in Jurassic Park 2.)

The movie also relies on the goodwill and perceptiveness of its fans, with occasional inside jokes like a reference to "Special Agent Johnson" (think back to the first movie in the series).

The plot has holes big enough to fly an F-35B through, including one scene featuring that airplane. But you really don't care, because it's fun – it's a cartoon with human characters – and you're willing to suspend belief and logic to play along.

If you're a fan of the Die Hard series, put this one down as "must see." It's a worthy addition and you won't be disappointed.

Technorati tag: Live Free or Die Hard