Guest Review: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

By ScottDS
I watch Live Free or Die Hard and I can't help but feel disappointed afterwards. It’s an action film that just happens to have Die Hard in the title. It’s better than it has a right to be but it doesn’t make for a satisfying experience. The goodwill garnered from the first three films can only help so much.

John McClane (Bruce Willis) is ordered to escort young hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to Washington D.C. for questioning after the FBI’s system briefly shuts down. It turns out that the shut-down was the fault of Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), an ex-government security expert who was fired after warning his superiors about America’s cyber-security vulnerabilities. He’s after the country’s financial information, which is stored in a secure NSA location. McClane quickly becomes a thorn in Gabriel’s side but Gabriel eventually gets the upper hand, kidnapping McClane’s college-age daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, a.k.a. the ex-Mrs. ScottDS). McClane makes it to the NSA facility where Gabriel attacks him from behind, which allows McClane to shoot himself in the shoulder which kills Gabriel.

[sigh] As I said, it’s better than it should be, but not good enough. Director Len Wiseman (best known for Underworld and the Total Recall remake) knows how to make a stylish movie… but it’s almost too stylish. There’s a gloss to this film. It doesn’t take place in our universe. It takes place in Michael Bay’s universe where everything is shiny and the action (as good as it is) is perfectly choreographed. The PG-13 rating doesn’t help. Not every film needs an R but robbing McClane of his ability to curse is a huge mistake. For better or worse, it’s part of his character. The DVD (but strangely, not the Blu-Ray) includes an “unrated” version with some CGI blood and a few alternate takes with more profanity. But even then, some of it sounds like it was looped in after the fact. The other films had a gritty, down-to-Earth quality that this film sorely lacks. Just like Indiana Jones in his fourth film, McClane takes a licking and keeps on ticking. In the other films, we saw him bruised and beaten – here he manages to last almost 72 hours yet we never see him take a break!

Willis does what he does best though he’s kind of on autopilot and if it weren’t for the name, I’m wondering if he’d be recognizable as McClane. I also have to point out an interesting comment I once read. An action film scholar and author named Eric Lichtenfeld (who contributed extras to the DVD of the first Die Hard) was once asked about this film. He said he knew it would be disappointing when he saw that McClane had a shaved head. His reasoning was that the bald look might work for Bruce Willis but it’s not something McClane would do. Interesting…

Justin Long actually isn’t bad as Farrell. He represents the audience, witnessing McClane’s exploits with utter disbelief. There’s a scene where he asks McClane why he’s doing what he’s doing and McClane replies: “Because there's nobody else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it, but there's not. So we're doing it.” That’s what makes McClane “that guy.” It’s a nice sentiment and I wish the film explored it further. Winstead is a chip off the old block as Lucy McClane. Despite not getting along at the beginning, she respects her father and has learned a few tricks herself. Cliff Curtis plays FBI Deputy Director Bowman and I guess he’s okay but he doesn’t have much of a personality. Same goes for the other supporting actors, with one exception and that’s filmmaker Kevin Smith as a hacker known as the “Warlock.” Despite what you may think of his other work, Smith is a fun presence, though I imagine playing a rotund Star Wars geek isn’t much of a stretch for him!

As good as he is in other things, Timothy Olyphant doesn’t make for a good villain. He isn’t nearly as threatening as he should be, he spends most of the film scowling, and he dresses like a hip bartender. His henchwoman Mai Linh is played by Maggie Q and she actually gets some good fight scenes. It’s too bad the filmmakers killed her off when they did; she might’ve come in handy at the end. This film was released in 2007 and even by then, computer hacking had become a cliché. We had seen The Matrix films and The Net and at this point we saw this sort of thing every other week on the various CSI shows. There is nothing exciting about watching people type and it takes a skilled filmmaker to make it even remotely interesting. Not to mention all the usual problems with computers in films, from unrealistic interfaces to incorrect jargon.

Like most movies made today, the tech stuff is near perfect. Oddly, they still haven’t figured out effects for driving scenes. The aforementioned “That guy” scene takes place in a car that was obviously shot in front of a green screen – millions of dollars and they still couldn’t make it look realistic?! The cinematography and art direction are pretty damn good, but as I said, there’s a sheen to this film that doesn’t belong. Everything just looks too perfect. In the Die Hard 2 commentary, Renny Harlin talked about action movie clichés circa 1990 and this film still managed to include many of them 17 years later! Composer Marco Beltrami picks up where Michael Kamen left off (Kamen passed away in 2003) and his score is serviceable but forgettable though I noticed a couple of Kamen flourishes. No classical music this time. Instead, we get “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. But I guess that can work, too. [smile]

As of this writing, a fifth film, titled A Good Day to Die Hard is slated for a February release. (Tomorrow, actually.) I’m sure it’ll be fun but ultimately forgettable. In this one, it’s McClane and his son… in Russia. It’s directed by John Moore whose credits include Behind Enemy Lines, the Max Payne adaptation, and the remakes of Flight of the Phoenix and The Omen.

As for this film, it looks pretty and I confess it’s fun to see Bruce Willis kill bad guys but it’s all rather generic. A Die Hard film shouldn’t be just another action film, just like a Star Trek film shouldn’t be just another sci-fi film. But if you want a good fourth film in a franchise with lots of action, check out Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol instead!

“You're a Timex watch in a digital age.”