"LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD" (2007) (Bruce Willis, Justin Long) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Minor Heavy Extreme *Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Minor Extreme *None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy None Mild Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure: A veteran cop must safely transport a computer hacker as they try to avoid deadly attacks by cyber terrorists who are also intent on disrupting computer systems and spreading panic across the country, all in the name of revenge and the desire to make money. PLOT: After a band of cyber terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (TIMOTHY OLYPHANT) disrupts government computer systems around the country, FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman (CLIFF CURTIS) orders that his agents as well as local law enforcement officers pick up all known hackers for questioning in the cyber attack. Accordingly, and since he's already in New Jersey checking up on his estranged, young adult daughter Lucy (MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD), NYC detective John McClane (BRUCE WILLIS) is assigned to escort renegade computer expert Matt Farrell (JUSTIN LONG) back to Washington, DC. It's not long, however, before the two realize that Gabriel's team, including his apparent lover Mai Lihn (MAGGIE Q), plan on killing all of the hackers they employed to help jumpstart their nationwide, computer takeover plan. Surviving the initial attack, McClane and Matt go on the run, all while trying to avoid Gabriel's goons, figure out the motive behind the cyber attack, and come up with a way to stop it. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of the original "Die Hard" pictures, action films in general, or anyone new to the cast, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: BRUCE WILLIS plays a NYC detective assigned to bring Matt to Washington, DC for questioning, and must then contend with Gabriel's forces repeatedly trying to kill both of them. Resourceful and old-fashioned in terms of technology and brute force, he battles and kills many of the villains, all while trying to stop Gabriel and his plan, and save Lucy from him. He uses profanity. TIMOTHY OLYPHANT plays the head villain, a former government worker who's figured out how to tap into most every government and other technology systems to disrupt everyday life, spread panic, and then steal and/or blackmail the government out of lots of money. He's responsible for various deaths and uses profanity. JUSTIN LONG plays a computer hacker who knows he's doing wrong by writing some code for Mai, but doesn't realize the extent until John arrives and then various people repeatedly try to kill both of them. Nervous and a bit of nagging complainer, he eventually assists John in defeating the bad guys. He uses profanity. MAGGIE Q plays Gabriel's right-hand assistant and apparent lover who eventually goes out into the field to try to finish his plans. Proficient at martial arts, she attacks others (including John), including killing some. CLIFF CURTIS plays the deputy director of the FBI who tries to figure out what's going on and stop the cyber attack, all from the government side. MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD plays John's daughter, a young woman who's estranged from him, but is happy to see to him when he arrives to rescue her. That said, she's mostly able to hold her own against the terrorists, occasionally fighting with them. She briefly makes out with a date in a car, and uses profanity. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD Gabriel PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this action film that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of a few partial or barely incomplete "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Some brief, sexually related dialogue is present, while a young couple makes out in a car, with the guy repeatedly groping the young woman's clothed breast. Violence consists of people being killed or wounded by various means (gunfire, explosions, falls, other physical contact), attempts on others' lives via all sorts of weapons, and plenty of fighting (martial arts and more traditional punches, etc.). All sorts of property damage occurs in some of those scenes, while some of that violence has bloody results. Those scenes and other moments of real and potential peril might be fairly unsettling and/or suspenseful to some viewers, while all of the action, fighting, stunts, and more may be enticing for some kids to try to imitate. All of the villains and others obviously have bad attitudes, there's a brief, joking comment about a wounded person being on morphine, and some tense family material is present (a father and young adult daughter being estranged, and then him worrying about her after she's kidnapped). Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, some of that briefly occurs in the film. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, all sorts of handheld camerawork (sometimes a lot, with bouncy results) is present at various times in the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE McClane asks Matt how it feels to have been shot, with Matt saying it feels great, thanks to the morphine he's just been given by medical personnel. BLOOD/GORE John becomes progressively bloodier (face, neck, arms and hands, etc.) as the mayhem continues throughout the film, while Matt occasionally has some blood on him. A villain has some blood on his face. We briefly see what looks like a little blood when a person is shot through their shoe. Mai has some blood on her head during a fight with McClane. A villain has blood on his face. A goon falls into a large set of spinning blades that kill him (with just brief blood and gore). Gabriel shoots Matt in the leg (with briefly seen bloody results on the latter's pants). We see a little bit of blood on McClane's shirt from a bullet hole wound there. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE All of the villains have bad attitudes as they disrupt computer and other technology systems across the country, kill various people, and plot to steal a great deal of money and/or blackmail the U.S. government for huge sums. Matt writes some code for Gabriel's operation, knowing it's illegal, but unaware of its full use and/or the ramifications. We see Lucy making out with some guy in a parked car at night, with him then groping her clothed breast. She stops him and he keeps trying until John arrives and forcibly removes the young man from the car. The terms "Dump truck," "Big Boy" and "Fat bastard" are used for an overweight male hacker who's not being cooperative. Terms such as "Dead Asian hooker bitch," "Chicks," "Asian chick," "Skinny little ninja chick" and "This bitch is a handful," are used about women, while various men strike various women. Matt makes fun of John and his tastes (including his music) being archaic (and that it "sucks"). When Bowman asks why he wasn't told of a crucial top-secret government facility, a man from another government agency snidely says it's because such information is above Bowman's pay scale. A person uses the term "religious nut job" (referring to terrorists who act in the name of religion - but some might not like the term). FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" and/or "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling or suspenseful to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Having already seen someone already die from hitting a trigger key on their keyboard, we see Matt nearly hit that same key on his, but John's knock at the door prevents that from occurring. The villains hack into a government building and set off a false alarm about an anthrax scare (but the employees don't know it's fake). A man in a helicopter opens fire on a government vehicle carrying John and Matt. Their driver is hit and presumably killed, while other agents return fire at the chopper that fires upon them. Another agent is hit, while various vehicles are riddled with gunfire. John drives over a fire hydrant and the resultant blast of water knocks the gunmen from the chopper (he lands hard). John then drives off and tries to elude the pursuing chopper (that continues to fire at them -- via another shooter -- until they go into a tunnel). Gabriel then has his man open lanes and send traffic from both directions into the tunnel, all while turning off the tunnel lights. During this, John is flipped up on his car, and both he and Matt are nearly hit by passing cars, those that have crashed into others and flip above them, as well as a large truck that slams into a massive concrete pillar (with John and Matt just on the other side of it). John then takes his car, avoids the machine gun fire aimed at him, and then jumps out of the moving car. It hits a column of some sort, goes airborne, and crashes into the chopper, causing it to explode and crash to the ground (at least one person is killed, while another bails out just in time, but lands hard). As Mai aims a gun to the back of Matt's head, McClane drives an SUV up onto an upper floor of a power plant, smashing into Mai and driving her backwards (on the hood) through various walls and office furniture. They end up smashing through the wall of an empty elevator shaft and hard into the far wall, ending up stuck at a downward angle. The SUV then shifts and falls into the shaft where it becomes entangled in the cables and she dangles from the vehicle. The SUV then slips some in those cables, but she climbs up, takes on McClane inside the vehicle, and knocks him out of it, causing him to be the one who now dangles from it. They continue their battle in this precarious position, including him managing to twist some of those cables around her neck and then punching her. As he climbs up through the SUV, a man above them shoots at McClane, but Matt hits that man on the back with something, causing him to fall into the shaft, hit the SUV, and then fall from that to his presumed death at the bottom of the shaft (no impact). Mai then reaches for that man's gun that fell into the SUV, but the vehicle then slips down the shaft (with McClane holding onto a cable, thus clearing it) and explodes upon impact at the bottom. Gabriel has his programmer reroute all natural gas lines to the power plant where McClane and Matt are located. We then see a series of huge explosions going off, all progressively getting closer to the plant. The two then scramble to get out, and manage to get into a van just as much of the plant explodes, blasting their van into and through a wall and then into another (they're dazed, but otherwise okay). McClane watches and listens as Gabriel pretends to be an elevator rescue person talking to Lucy over the emergency phone while she's stuck in such a place (all to show McClane he has the will and ability to harm her). Matt sneaks around a government facility, only to be captured by a goon who points a machine gun at him. McClane battles a very acrobatic goon on and around a catwalk in part of a government facility. Some gunfire is exchanged, and the goon seems to be getting the better of McClane by repeatedly striking him (and with McClane briefly dangling from the catwalk), but McClane causes some liquefied, high-pressure gas to spray in the man's face. That goon then falls into a large set of spinning blades, killing him (with just brief blood and gore). Gabriel taps into military communications, fakes being a commander, and orders a jet fighter to eliminate McClane and the large semi he's in. Accordingly, the pilot tries to do just that, firing a missile at the truck. It explodes and causes a great deal of damage to a bridge above McClane who continues driving as that bridge collapses down toward him. After firing his machine guns at McClane, the pilot fires a second missile that explodes beneath the road, nearly causing McClane's semi to overturn while making a sharp turn. The jet then riddles the truck with machine gun fire, destroying much of the cab and back section, but McClane ducks and then resumes driving. He ends up going up part of a collapsing ramp from which he then ends up dangling. Debris then falls down onto the jet, damaging it, with McClane then falling onto it as well as the jet goes out of control and the pilot ejects. As the jet spins around, McClane jumps off and slides down an angled piece of roadway, with the jet then crashing and exploding, and McClane barely avoids being hit by all of that and the fiery explosion. Gabriel shoots Matt in the leg (briefly bloody results on his pants) and then holds a gun to Lucy's face, threatening to shoot her (including counting down from ten) if Matt doesn't cooperate. Gabriel then fires two warning shots (off camera), but McClane enters the scene and shoots two villains dead. Another goon, however, shoots him in the shoulder, downing him. Lucy then hits a villain and struggles with him over his gun, causing it to fire downward into the man's shoe, but he gets control of her. Goons hold guns to both Lucy and McClane's heads, and one then pushes the end of his handgun into McClane's bullet hole wound in his shoulder (causing him pain). McClane then grabs that man's hand, purposefully shooting himself through that same hole so that the gunfire hits and kills the man holding that gun on him. Matt then shoots another goon repeatedly, killing him as well. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Machine guns/Missiles/Fighter jet/Explosives/ Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill others and/or cause property damage. See "Violence" for details. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: An incomplete "Yippie-Ki-Yay m*therf*cker" (with a sound overriding the last part of that), "Cool sh*t," "I don't give a sh*t," "(Cut the) Bullsh*t," "Holy sh*t," "Oh sh*t," "I can't do this sh*t," "That's enough of that Kung Fu sh*t," "We just got the sh*t kicked out of us," "Computer sh*t," *D*ck-head," "D*cking around," "Dead Asian hooker bitch," "Smoking hot," "Shut up," "Somebody out there thinks they can screw with us," "Shut your mouth," "Jerk-off" (noun), "You're damn right," "Chicks," "Jug head," "Good luck at the bad timing awards," "You're such a pain in the ass," "That's going to wake the neighbors," "Are you nuts?" "What the hell /was that/are you doing?" "What sucked back then still sucks now," "It's like having a pine cone shoved up my ass," "Got a big G*ddamn problem," "Hacker boy," "Idiots," "Waxworks," "That was creepy," "You're a Timex watch in a digital age," "Dude," "Asian chick," "With an SUV rammed up her ass," "I'm gonna come and kick your ass," "Are you out of your mind?" "How the hell are they getting past us?" "Dump truck," "Big Boy" and "Fat bastard," (for an overweight male hacker), "He just fell off the grid," "Skinny little ninja chick," "Bastard," "This bitch is a handful," "Why the hell wasn't I told about this?" "Religious nut-job," "I'm working my ass off," "Sit tight, asshole," "I've got a check for you," "Damn hamster," "Bigger set of balls" and "That would suck." All of the stunts, fighting, and other action (including some acrobatic maneuvers on the part of one villain scaling walls, etc.) may be enticing for some kids to try to imitate. Gabriel's crew taps into government computers to knock out and/or manipulate various government and private sector computer systems (all to create havoc). Various miscellaneous characters have tattoos. We briefly see some miscellaneous graffiti. McClane breaks a car window to gain entry into it and then tries to hot-wire it (to use for official police transport). Matt fakes an emergency call to an in-car, car help service (saying his grandfather is dying), so that the operator will remotely start the car that he and McClane are trying to commandeer. JUMP SCENES Air bags suddenly deploy when McClane tries to hot-wire a car. The sudden sound of gunfire (in various scenes) might startle some viewers. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of action-oriented, heavily dramatic, suspenseful, and some ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None that we heard, but a song did contain lyrics that we couldn't fully hear and/or understand. PROFANITY At least 1 incomplete "f" word (used with "mother") and another possible one, 31 "s" words, 3 slang terms using male genitals ("d*ck"), 10 asses (4 used with "hole"), 9 hells, 5 damns, 1 S.O.B., 10 uses of "G-damn," 7 each of "Jesus" and "Oh my God," 3 each of "Jesus Christ" and "Oh God," 2 of "Christ," and 1 use each of "Oh Jesus" and "Swear to God." SEX/NUDITY Having never met her except over the phone, Matt says that Mai has a sexy voice and then asks if there's anything "I can do for you...to you." We see Lucy making out with some guy in a parked car at night, with him then groping her clothed breast. She stops him and he keeps trying until John arrives and forcibly removes the young man from the car. Lucy is upset about this invasion of privacy and says she's going home to go to bed, adding, "Alone," with John confirming that last part. Lucy shows some cleavage several times in the film (nothing explicit), while Mai shows a bit more (but not often). Gabriel and Mai briefly, but passionately kiss (clothed) as she sets off on a mission. We briefly see some miscellaneous cleavage. To gum up the works of Gabriel's plan, Matt inundates the computer system with junk Internet ads that flash by on the screen, including one about getting a bigger penis (just the wording, no images), while Matt mentions Viagra and "chat with our sexy singles." SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We see and hear that Lucy doesn't get along with her dad, is using her mom's last name, and told her date that John was dead. Her attitude changes once he comes to her rescue. John worries about Lucy once he realizes that Gabriel is holding her hostage and threatening to harm and/or kill her. Gabriel comments on John being divorced from his wife. TOPICS Gabriel TALK ABOUT Gabriel's crew taps into government computers to knock out and/or manipulate various government and private sector operating systems (all to create havoc - virtual terrorism). Computer hackers. CB radio being deemed a last resort form of communication should others (that rely on computers and such) go down or otherwise be compromised. The physical improbabilities of some of the action stunts that occur in the film. VIOLENCE We briefly see some first-person shooter, video game violence (where characters are riddled by gunfire). A house explodes (seen from the outside), presumably killing at least two people inside it. John forcibly removes a young man from a parked car (after catching him making out with Lucy). A villain fires a shot at Matt at a window, and then riddles the place with gunfire (from a distance). John returns fire, and then he and Matt try to escape. Hearing the villains approaching, John throws a fire extinguisher down the hallway and shoots it, resulting in an explosion that blows a villain out through a window (he falls to a car below, hard, and is presumably killed). More machine gun fire is directed toward John, who then punches one shooter and yanks his head through a wall. There's more gunfire from both sides, including John shooting and wounding one of the assailants. Something then falls on Matt's keyboard, setting off an explosion that rips through the apartment, blasting a villain into a wall. A villain runs up, breaks a car window, and grabs John around the neck. John then drives down an alley with that man hanging onto him until John smashes that man into a dumpster. Another villain then comes after them, and then ends on the hood (on a piece of fence John rammed) until John drives into something, throwing the man off (he survives). The villains hack into the traffic control system, causing all sorts of vehicles (cars, buses, etc.) to crash into each other. A man in a helicopter opens fire on a government vehicle carrying John and Matt. Their driver is hit and presumably killed, while other agents return fire at the chopper that fires upon them. Another agent is hit, while various vehicles are riddled with gunfire. John drives over a fire hydrant and the resultant blast of water knocks the gunmen from the chopper (he lands hard). John then drives off and tries to elude the pursuing chopper (that continues to fire at them -- via another shooter -- until they go into a tunnel). Gabriel then has his man open lanes and send traffic from both directions into the tunnel, all while turning off the tunnel lights. During this, John is flipped up on his car, and both he and Matt are nearly hit by passing cars, those that have crashed into others and flip above them, as well as a large truck that slams into a massive concrete pillar (with John and Matt just on the other side of it). John then takes his car, avoids the machine gun fire aimed at him, and then jumps out of the moving car. It hits a column of some sort, goes airborne, and crashes into the chopper, causing it to explode and crash to the ground (at least one person is killed, while another bails out just in time, but lands hard). Villains shoot a number of people with silencer-equipped handguns, wounding or killing them (but without bloody results). On TV, we see footage of the U.S. Capitol exploding and collapsing, but after John and Bowman separately run to get a look, they see that the building hasn't been damaged. McClane breaks a car window to gain entry into it. Mai Lihn hits one guard repeatedly and shoots another, while another villain shoots another guard (followed moments later by Mai Lihn shooting another guard dead). Two villains are sent out to intercept McClane and Matt, with McClane grabbing one. Both keep the other's gun just inches away from the other's head as both fire their weapons. That's followed by more struggling, hitting, and McClane managing to shoot the villain in the foot (through his shoe) and then into the body repeatedly. McClane holds his gun on Mai, but she easily disarms him with various martial arts blows, and then uses the same to knock him around, including through a window inside a power plant. He then rushes back and tackles her to the floor and proceeds to bash her about. He then hits her with a case of some sort that she partially blocks, followed by her striking him again, including blasting him through another window of sorts. That sends him crashing down onto a vent shaft, off other things, and he then lands hard on the floor below. Back up top, Matt tries to punch her, but she avoids that, bends his arm behind him, and pins him down face-first onto a console. As Mai aims a gun to the back of Matt's head, McClane drives an SUV up onto an upper floor of a power plant, smashing into Mai and driving her backwards (on the hood) through various walls and office furniture. They end up smashing through the wall of an empty elevator shaft and hard into the far wall, ending up stuck at a downward angle. The SUV then shifts and falls into the shaft where it becomes entangled in the cables and she dangles from the vehicle. The SUV then slips some in those cables, but she climbs up, takes on McClane inside the vehicle, and knocks him out of it, causing him to be the one who now dangles from it. They continue their battle in this precarious position, including him managing to twist some of those cables around her neck and then punching her. As he climbs up through the SUV, a man above them shoots at McClane, but Matt hits that man on the back with something, causing him to fall into the shaft, hit the SUV, and then fall from that to his presumed death at the bottom of the shaft (no impact). Mai then reaches for that man's gun that fell into the SUV, but the vehicle then slips down the shaft (with McClane holding onto a cable, thus clearing it) and explodes upon impact at the bottom. Gabriel swipes a computer from his desk in anger. Gabriel has his programmer reroute all natural gas lines to the power plant where McClane and Matt are located. We then see a series of huge explosions going off, all progressively getting closer to the plant. The two then scramble to get out, and manage to get into a van just as much of the plant explodes, blasting their van into and through a wall and then into another (they're dazed, but otherwise okay). After being physically escorted into Gabriel's lair by one of his goons, Lucy punches that man who then grabs and strikes her back. As part of the plan, one villain shoots other villains dead, now that they're no longer needed for the operation (no blood). McClane grabs a goon and the two struggle, with the latter's gun wildly firing about. That causes Matt to fall a fairly long distance, bounce off some interior building parts, and land hard on the floor (he's dazed, but otherwise okay). McClane then ends up rolling a goon down a flight of steps in a chair, with the man flying out of that, and tumbling down them. The man is wounded but alive, and we hear the sound of gunfire that we believe is McClane shooting the goon, but he's just faked it to get Gabriel's attention. Gabriel slaps Lucy. McClane battles a very acrobatic goon on and around a catwalk in part of a government facility. Some gunfire is exchanged, and the goon seems to be getting the better of McClane by repeatedly striking him (and with McClane briefly dangling from the catwalk), but McClane causes some liquefied, high-pressure gas to spray in the man's face. That goon then falls into a large set of spinning blades, killing him (with just brief blood and gore). McClane jumps down onto the top of a large and moving semi truck, makes his way toward its cab, and then shoots the driver dead through the door (opening it and yanking the body out and down to the street below). He then purses the villains who are in a smaller vehicle ahead of him, with McClane smashing the huge truck into and through various parked vehicles that are in his path. Gabriel punches Matt to try to make him cooperate. Gabriel taps into military communications, fakes being a commander, and orders a jet fighter to eliminate McClane and the large semi he's in. Accordingly, the pilot tries to do just that, firing a missile at the truck. It explodes and causes a great deal of damage to a bridge above McClane who continues driving as that bridge collapses down toward him. After firing his machine guns at McClane, the pilot fires a second missile that explodes beneath the road, nearly causing McClane's semi to overturn while making a sharp turn. The jet then riddles the truck with machine gun fire, destroying much of the cab and back section, but McClane ducks and then resumes driving. He ends up going up part of a collapsing ramp from which he then ends up dangling. Debris then falls down onto the jet, damaging it, with McClane then falling onto it as well as the jet goes out of control and the pilot ejects. As the jet spins around, McClane jumps off and slides down an angled piece of roadway, with the jet then crashing and exploding, and McClane barely avoids being hit by all of that and the fiery explosion. Gabriel shoots Matt in the leg (briefly bloody results on his pants) and then holds a gun to Lucy's face, threatening to shoot her (including counting down from ten) if Matt doesn't cooperate. Gabriel then fires two warning shots (off camera), but McClane enters the scene and shoots two villains dead. Another goon, however, shoots him in the shoulder, downing him. Lucy then hits a villain and struggles with him over his gun, causing it to fire downward into the man's shoe, but he gets control of her. Goons hold guns to both Lucy and McClane's heads, and one then pushes the end of his handgun into McClane's bullet hole wound in his shoulder (causing him pain). McClane then grabs that man's hand, purposefully shooting himself through that same hole so that the gunfire hits and kills the man holding that gun on him. Matt then shoots another goon repeatedly, killing him as well. Reviewed June 26, 2007 / Posted June 27, 2007

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