Live Free or Die Hard

By: Andrew Moran

3 Stars out of 5 Stars

Starring (Alphabetical Order): Yorgo Constantine, Cliff Curtis, Andrew Friedman, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Kevin Smith & Bruce Willis

When a criminal plot is in place to take down the entire computer and technological structure that supports the economy of the United States (and the world), it's up to a decidedly "old school" hero, police detective John McClane, to take down the conspiracy, aided by a young hacker.

Haven’t been disappointed yet by a Die Hard picture yet.  Those were the first words that entered my mind as soon as the picture finished.  Live Free or Die Hard is an action packed picture with, yet again, a lot of explosions, car chases, shooting, etc.  Although, personally, Die Hard with a Vengeance was my favorite, this was really well done.  Len Wiseman (Underworld & Underworld: Evolution) really pulled a Michael Bay stint, meaning a lot of the explosions and action scenes that were in the picture was live-action.  Most directors nowadays use a lot of CGI to capture the explosions and what not but this picture it was all live-action.  Notably some live-action pictures have been the Bourne saga, Michael Bay films and Tony Scott pictures.

Although it seems that this picture’s characters have nothing from the original pictures except a character named John McClane, his daughter and his favorite saying, “Yippee Ki Yay Mo***” Which was the one main problem in this picture.

The films action sequences are very original and well done.  Even the fight scenes with Maggie Q (Mission Impossible 3 & Rush Hour 2) were fun to see, mainly because Bruce Willis fighting a woman is hard to picture not to mention when he is losing.

The score to this picture could have been a lot better.  Incidentally, when I got home the other night Die Hard with a Vengeance was on, it had more a theatrical score with a lot of trumpets.  Also the originals had classic tunes; first one had Beethoven’s 9^th, second one had a Christmas carol and the third one had When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.

Overall this picture was great to escape to and be entertained with a lot of action.  This action was extreme as well just like Transformers.  Even though Transformers had a little bit more.