Live Free or Die Hard
We gathered up the posse and hit the town last night for dinner and a movie. We had a few choices, but we were all unanimous in wanting to see Live Free or Die Hard. I’ve always loved the Die Hard series. Bruce Willis was basically born for the part of John McClane. The role suits him so well, you wonder if the writers didn’t adapt the character to Bruce rather than have Bruce adapt to the character.
As is proper with any Die Hard, there’s a ton of action, great lines, lots of McClane getting his ass whooped (but certainly dealing more than he takes) and plenty of broken glass (”shoot…the glass”). Plenty of stuff is destroyed, either through car crashes, explosions or aircraft “malfunctions” (I’m not sure a flying car should necessarily be considered a malfunction, but I’ll give the pilot the benefit of the doubt).
Justin Long (aka “Mac” in the Apple commercials and “Justin” in Dodgeball) does a nice job sidekicking McClane as a computer nerd. He provides a nice comedic balance without seeming like he’s just there to be in the way. I liked him in Dodgeball too, so I’m not surprised that I liked him in this movie as well.
Timothy Olyphant (not to be confused with Oliphaunt from Lord of the Rings) played the arch villain Thomas Gabriel. I certainly can’t say that he’s the best Die Hard villain, but then again he’s up against the likes of Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber…one of the best villains ever) and Jeremy Irons (Simon). He just doesn’t quite seem ruthless enough after all the crap McClane’s put up with in the past movies. Sure he makes a good effort at killing McClane with henchmen and his l33t computer hacking skills, but I did expect a slightly stronger villain. McClane does, after all, kill Gabriels woman in rather spectacular fashion and then proceeds to smack talk Gabriel for a good bit of the movie about how he killed her. There really is nothing quite like having a kill rubbed in your face by John McClane.
Overall I really enjoyed the movie. I think it’s the best Die Hard since the first one, although I think Die Hard With A Vengeance is close behind, mostly on the merits of the surrounding cast (the previously mentioned Jeremy Irons and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson). Through some sort of tragedy, I don’t think I have any of the first three Die Hard movies on DVD. Maybe I was waiting for the fourth one to come out on DVD in a quad pack with the first three.
July 8th, 2007 at 6:34 am
I loved this Die Hard film, but I am not sure if it is second or third best in the series. Just having Jackson in Vengeance makes it one of the best ones around
Maggie Q was a very memorable hench(wo)man. She was more memorable to me than Olyphant.
What did you think of Kevin Smith?
July 8th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I think Vengeance is close behind Live Free. Maybe it’s just because Live Free is more fresh in my mind, but I think it’s also because there are some really great action sequences in this one. I like Jackson and all, but I think he’s more in his element when he’s the bad ass motherfucker, not when he’s sidekicking the bad ass motherfucker.
Aside from the fight scene she gets with Willis, Maggie Q isn’t all that memorable. I don’t even know who she is as an actress, so it’s funny that she gets billing before Justin Long on Yahoo! Movies
Kevin Smith was okay, but his character didn’t serve any terrific purpose in the movie. It was like, “hey, I’ve got a great idea for how McClane can poke fun at tubby nerds who still live with their mother when they’re in their late 30s!”