"LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD" (2007) (Bruce Willis, Justin Long) (PG-13)
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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.
OUR TAKE: 5 out of 10
After a 12-year absence, actor Bruce Willis resumes the role of John "Yippie-Ki-Yay" McClane, a now iconic movie cop character best associated with being in the wrong place at the wrong time who nevertheless manages to stymie the bad guys and their nefarious plans.
Significantly upping the ante in terms of impressive if progressively ridiculous action set-pieces (not to mention mayhem, bullets fired, etc.), this fourth installment of the "Die Hard" series isn't as brilliant as the original 1988 film, nor as fun as the third installment, "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" (both directed by John McTiernan).
Yet, it's better than the Renny Harlin helmed "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" from 1990. That's true even if it never shakes the feeling of being a combination of "16 Blocks" (the Bruce Willis film where his character must escort a criminal as others try to kill them), "True Lies" (and its fighter jet as well as father saves daughter material), "Terminator 3" (all of the impressively mounted action sequences, including with large rigs), and, of course, its direct predecessors.
As long as you don't mind that, the far too long running time (130-some minutes), the slight softening of material (to drop the rating from R to the more "family friendly" PG-13), Justin "I'm a Mac" Long as the obligatory, comic relief sidekick, and/or the constant need to turn off the higher functions of one's brain, you might enjoy - to some degree - this throwback to hard-hitting action films of yesteryear.
Even so, all of it ends up feeling like a hot day at some amusement park (which, I suppose, is appropriate, since this film is being released theatrically in the middle of the summer of '07). Accordingly, the roller coaster moments are well designed and fun to experience. Yet, the rest of the time is spent waiting around in a decidedly unoriginal queue line that snakes back and forth obviously headed toward the next thrill, but takes far too long to get there. "Live Free or Die Hard" rates as a 5 out of 10.
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