Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 87

O Masterpiece (95-100)
X Excellent (75-94)
O Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / June 30, 2007

Just when I thought I had outgrown action movies, “Live Free or Die Hard” saved the day. I find it surprising — even ironic — that action movies can actually be boring. But it took me about three decades to realize that.

Here’s a story, an optional, barely relevant, personal digression:

Years ago, I used to rent those old, 1970s martial arts movies featuring the buff Bolo Yeung (you’d know him if you saw him because he looks like a Chinese Arnold Schwarzenegger) from a place called Stone Church Video. (That is, until whoever framed Roger Rabbit also got me in trouble for taking a Genuine Risk. … Long story.) But you’ve seen these movies that are 90 minutes of karate action and 30 seconds of broken-English dialogue. And most, if not all, of the lines are overdubbed, of course. Examples: “The Fists, the Kicks and the Evil” (1979), “Black Belt Jones 2” (1978), etc.

Anyway, “Live Free or Die Hard” is the fourth installment of the “Die Hard” franchise, returning after a 12-year hiatus. Apparently, that’s what was needed: The third movie in 1995 wasn’t that great; whereas, this new movie is the best action vehicle I’ve seen since Optimus Prime. And unless “Transformers” is truly exceptional, “Live Free or Die Hard” will probably go down as the best action flick of 2007.

Of course, the movie requires a hefty suspension of disbelief. I mean, it’s no “Last Action Hero” (1993), but we have 52-year-old John McClane (Bruce Willis) vs. a helicopter. Then we have 52-year-old McClane vs. an F-35 fighter jet. Like most action movies, “Die Hard 4” is far-fetched, indeed. But so what.

Here’s the gist: A terrorist group plans a crippling assault on the United States by taking over all of its computer systems. McClane, a New York City police detective, is commissioned to escort (and protect) a brilliant computer-hacker kid, Matt Farrell (Justin Long). Together, the two might just be the U.S.A.’s only hope. Just maybe — but you’ll have to see for yourself.

My wife, Natalie, calls these kinds of movies “Boy Movies.” Well, “Live Free or Die Hard” is a Boy Movie for men, real men who like Bolo Yeung.

Note: This is the first “Die Hard” movie that isn’t rated R; it’s rated PG-13 and has a good bit of profanity.

Another note: “Live Free or Die Hard” is a must-see for action movie lovers.

Directed by Len Wiseman
Bruce Willis / Justin Long / Timothy Olyphant
130 min. Action
MPAA: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation)

Copyright 2007.
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