Yippy Kai Aye ...
a martial artist, Movie Reviewer, a Bruce Willis fan since Moonlighting
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JUN
30
2007
My husband and I have seen all the Die Hard movies, and even though it's been nearly twenty years since the first one, and surely Bruce Willis and his character John McClane have slowed down a little, so have we. The latest installment, Live Free or Die Hard has all we have come to expect from a Die Hard film, yet it has a little different pace, and McLane shares his heroism with another. Then again, they're fighting a completely different enemy.
Plot
John McClane is called to pick up a suspect and bring him to the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington, D.C. The suspect, Matt Farrell (Justin Long), was a known computer hacker, and after he F.B.I. had been hacked into, they wanted all the top hackers brought in. The problem here is that Farrell is the only one left. A secret operation had hired hackers across the country to help them hack into the F.B.I. among other things, then rigged it so that once the hackers would return to their computers and hit the Delete key, it would blow up.
Farrell is the only one left, and despite the efforts of those that hired him, he is interrupted from hitting the delete key when McClane appears on his doorstep. The enemies storm his apartment, but he and McClane escape and proceed to Washington, D.C. By the time they get there, the country is going to Hell in a handbag as large systems such as transportation, anthrax control, and the stock market begin to fall. Farrell is the first to suggest a "fire sale," a three step systematic attack of transportation, telecommunications, and utilities. No one wants to listen to him, but the longer it goes on, the more they have to, as the whole east coast becomes paralyzed and shut down.
Heroes
Of course, McClane is as much of a hero as he always was. And he is just as clever as he was before, creating his own arsenal of environmental weapons like a fire extinguisher and unmanned police car, and also outwitting the bad guys as they pretend to be police dispatchers. He asks if they are busy with all the 587s, and when they reply they have sent all their extra squads out for it, he says that's interesting that they dispatched all units for naked people walking around.
Yet, we also have a new hero in Farrell. He's the one to figure out what the enemies are doing and comes up with plenty of oneliners on his own. After he'd already lied to McLane and told him he wasn't Farrell, his neighbor comes out and addresses him as "Farrell," prompting him to tell the neighbor, "Good luck at the bad timing awards." When McClane cranks the Credence Clearwater Revival in the car, he tells him listening to that type of music feels like he's having a pine cone shoved up his ass.
Villains
We have a whole new set of villains with this film. Largely they are led by Thomas Gabriel and Mai Lihn (Timothy Olyphant and Maggie Q). I have no big beefs with the Gabriel character, and actually he's pretty clever on his own, rivaling the F.B.I., McClane, and Farrell, but it's the Mai Lihn character I have a problem with. She's asian and is of course supposed to be a martial arts expert. As black belt in tae kwon do, I can tell you the she has no skills whatsoever, probably learning a few moves a week before filming. I have orange belt students that are 9 years old that have much better technique. It's quite interesting that they show one quick really easy combination, then later, you never really see any more martial arts, just "implied" martial arts with extreme closeups of blurred shots and movement. That type of thing always makes me wonder why they couldn't have just gone out and gotten a martial artist that could act.
Conclusion
Even though John McClane isn't the lone hero, there's something to be said about him becoming just a little more humble. Besides, he still kicks ass. Mai Lihn doesn't, but if that's the worst Live Free or Die Hard has to offer, I'll take it.
Last edited on Dec 17, 2007
Live Free or Die Hard is recommended by LauraBelle
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