Die Hard was Awesome!

So I’ve seen Die Hard 4.0 this weekend. That’s what they call it here in Europe, instead of Live Free or Die Hard. I don’t know why, it seems The Rundown shouldn’t have to be renamed to Welcome to the Jungle and Leon could simply be called Leon everywhere and not The professional in some part.

As I said in the title, Die Hard 4.0 was awesome. It was the best action movie I’ve seen in theater since The Matrix. Yeah, I thought it was that good, or maybe I can’t remember others at this point. Better than three, way better than 2. You can’t compare it to the original. It wouldn’t be fair. Die Hard was revolutionary in it’s time and as such it made an impact on how action films will be shot from that point on. It was the first action movie with a script that had more to say than just being a red line through some action sequences.

I really liked the fast pace the movie had. The action scenes were fast and plenty, and that’s why you would pay to see this movie. I loved the way how the terminator made a cameo to kill a few bad guys with the press of a button. And as you expect from a die hard movie, the script was well written. In every die hard script there is something happening to keep everybody busy while the terrorists (yeah, the movie industry uses that word again) has a second agenda to get away with a boatload of money. Somehow John McClane ends up in the middle of it and start being a pain in the villains ass. The thing that bugged me about Die hard with a Vengeance was that the terrorists knew McClane was there, they even put them there on purpose. Of course it worked well in that script, but I was happy to know that they went back to the familiar formula of the first two movies, by getting John McClane to the right place at the wrong time.

During the movie I kept wondering what the expenses were of such an operation and what could be worth the hassle. To pull the chaos spread in the movie off they needed a pretty good bankroll and you can’t be 100% sure to get away with the prize. But I started to think about the damage done to get where they were going and I’m sure there are some countries willing to fund this endeavor, since the chaos was inevitable.

The one scene that did slightly bug me was the chase scene in which the harrier tried to shoot down the truck. There is no way that a pilot whose only been given the option to stop the truck would risk his billion dollar aircraft just to take out the truck that wasn’t going anywhere after he took out the road below. I even doubt that a pilot would miss a slow moving large vehicle like that, in the first place. But for all that it’s worth it was still eye candy to look at.

The acting was of high level. Timothy Olyphant played his role as brain smart villain really well, I liked the way he lacked to social skills to go with the smarts. There is a great scene where he hands the phone to the wrong person that shows this shortcoming. Justin Long played the role of computer hacker without knowledge of the implication of his actions just as good. After he sees what his actions have brought him, you feel heartfelt sorry for him. The small part of Kevin Smith was fun to watch too. Read below how I thing everything the man touches turns to gold, it holds true in this film. And finally the star of the movie: Bruce Willis. You can’t comment negatively on how he portrayed John McClane, he IS John McClane. I love the way they let him age in this movie. He has a teenage daughter now, and he, of course, lost contact with her. He’s the same grumpy cop with a hard of gold as in the first 3 movies. Who is muttering the injustice done to him while he takes out a helicopter. Fun fact: Did you know the original scene in Die Hard where John is removing the glass from his feet was one without any text? The muttering of how he came to the east coast, “have a few laughs, it’ll be fun”, was improvised. They stuck with it, and is now one of the defining John McClane characteristics.

All in all a great movie. I won’t hesitate to buy this one on DVD when it’s finally released, but I don’t think I can wait that long. I might just download it to see it again in the mean time.

For closing a list of the 5 best action movies of all time. At least the ones I’ve seen. I’m 27 so it won’t feature any movies before 1980. Just the list, no explanations.

- Die Hard
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The Matrix
- The Terminator 2
- Spiderman 2

(2 sequels in one list, and they say sequels are always worse than the first, not in these cases, though you could say Terminator 1 and 2 are on par with eachother)