Bruce Willis has said ‘Hair loss is God’s way of telling me that I’m human’. Presumably, sequels are God’s way of telling the rest of us that we are sheep, but it’s no time to ponder as Bruce is back in ‘Die Hard 4.0’. Combined with the recent ‘Rocky Balboa’, and the forthcoming Rambo movie, it is clearly time to be reminded that important deeds can be still performed by aging, multi-millionaire owners of a novelty restaurant chain. At least Sly and Brucie haven’t gone into politics.
When Willis’ New York cop John McClane appeared in 1988, he described himself as, ‘The monkey in the wrench.’ After 19 years, much has changed, but we can take comfort from the fact that John ‘still has his moments’, although he’s less prone to promoting vest awareness.
This time, all he has to do, is pick up a kid and drop him off to the FBI. ‘How hard can that be, huh?’ The lad is Justin Long, an actor touching 30, but with a boyish face and thus in need of mentoring. He plays a hacker, and when his apartment is hit by serious looking chaps with rocket launchers, SMGs and leather jackets, we are fired into a plot based on cyber-terrorism.
Real life terrorist movements are often amorphous, dispersed into the community and lack handy, cackling protagonist types, but rather than tackle any of that difficult bollocks, ‘Die Hard 4.0’ simply puts Timothy Olyphant in a van, tucks in his shirt and scripts lines like, ‘You don’t know what I am capable of’. It’s pure Hollywood fundamentalism. He’s aided by some disturbed lackeys that appear to have swapped the joys of acrobatics for those of power inputting, and they type ’n tumble their way through the dastardly scheme.
Evil Tim’s love interest is provided by Maggie Q, who has said,
‘I'm just totally into being strong. There's something about wanting to get a jar out of a cupboard, or moving a sofa and not having to call for help. There's comfort in that’
so this time, Bruce is really up against it.
To criticise a Die Hard movie for lacking an intelligent plot is like attacking ‘Tom and Jerry’ for not tackling the plight of domestic cats. Director Len Wiseman, fresh from offering Kate Beckinsale his hand in marriage, proves capable of providing well choreographed action thrills, which, had the palette been more colourful, would not look out of place in The Simpson’s movie.
It’s silly and best seen in a packed cinema, full of enthusiastic drunkards, who are happy to indulge in ‘let’s kick some ass’ whooping. It’s insane, with the character development of a video game and the dialogue is instantly forgettable but, when the action is moving, it’s a riot. The tagline of the original was, ‘It will blow you out of theatre!’ Today, those words are as likely to be seen on a promotional poster as a ciggy in a snug, but we can still join Bruce for some passive smirking.
When Willis’ New York cop John McClane appeared in 1988, he described himself as, ‘The monkey in the wrench.’ After 19 years, much has changed, but we can take comfort from the fact that John ‘still has his moments’, although he’s less prone to promoting vest awareness.
This time, all he has to do, is pick up a kid and drop him off to the FBI. ‘How hard can that be, huh?’ The lad is Justin Long, an actor touching 30, but with a boyish face and thus in need of mentoring. He plays a hacker, and when his apartment is hit by serious looking chaps with rocket launchers, SMGs and leather jackets, we are fired into a plot based on cyber-terrorism.
Real life terrorist movements are often amorphous, dispersed into the community and lack handy, cackling protagonist types, but rather than tackle any of that difficult bollocks, ‘Die Hard 4.0’ simply puts Timothy Olyphant in a van, tucks in his shirt and scripts lines like, ‘You don’t know what I am capable of’. It’s pure Hollywood fundamentalism. He’s aided by some disturbed lackeys that appear to have swapped the joys of acrobatics for those of power inputting, and they type ’n tumble their way through the dastardly scheme.
Evil Tim’s love interest is provided by Maggie Q, who has said,
‘I'm just totally into being strong. There's something about wanting to get a jar out of a cupboard, or moving a sofa and not having to call for help. There's comfort in that’
so this time, Bruce is really up against it.
To criticise a Die Hard movie for lacking an intelligent plot is like attacking ‘Tom and Jerry’ for not tackling the plight of domestic cats. Director Len Wiseman, fresh from offering Kate Beckinsale his hand in marriage, proves capable of providing well choreographed action thrills, which, had the palette been more colourful, would not look out of place in The Simpson’s movie.
It’s silly and best seen in a packed cinema, full of enthusiastic drunkards, who are happy to indulge in ‘let’s kick some ass’ whooping. It’s insane, with the character development of a video game and the dialogue is instantly forgettable but, when the action is moving, it’s a riot. The tagline of the original was, ‘It will blow you out of theatre!’ Today, those words are as likely to be seen on a promotional poster as a ciggy in a snug, but we can still join Bruce for some passive smirking.
2 comments:
I just thought that this was a great, ott action movie. Very little was believeable and it made it all the better for it.
Hell, I am surprised that Bruce didn't look out of place in this. Glad I went to see it :D
Hey, you just like it because your missus thinks you look like Big Bad Bruce.
Glad to have you reading Simon, keep the comments coming.
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