Die Hard

M and I went to see Live Free or Die Hard on Sunday. A decent film with a lot of exactly what you are looking for in a Die Hard film. However, there were a few things that were annoying or a bit over the top.

First, the intro was too long. The entire scene with his daughter could have been summed up with one or two lines of dialogue; i.e., "Yeah, my daughter is in New York. She hates my guts these days, but I still look after her." Boom-- no six minutes of a stupid scene where he pulls a boyfriend of his car during a make-out session with the daughter and then an argument with the daughter.

Next, while I appreciated that a majority of the stunts were done "live" (i.e., without CGI or using minimal CGI), those that did use CGI were fairly obvious. M and I both felt pulled out of the movie seeing such obviously CGId scenes. As she put it, if you are going to spend money on the CGI, you should spend enough to make it look believable.

Further, M had a problem with the plot line (cyber-terrorist plots the overthrow of the entire country just to make a point that our computer policies need rethinking). I didn't have as much issue with it, but it took them forever to get to the point. I think we could have reached the conclusion much faster and moved the plot along better in this regard. Much of what they showed us happening and explained to the audience could have been summed up in a few lines of dialogue (as actually happens later in the film... maybe about halfway through it... when the hacker tells McClane what a "fire sale" is and how he would do it).

Also, the continuity was poor. I know this is a small thing, but the shear number of continuity errors was stunning and made it seemed like no one was working on that aspect of the film at all. I mean, in the big battle with the attractive Asian computer hacker/martial arts expert (a cliche that we're getting tired of, btw), she starts wearing an FBI vest and totally covered. Then, suddenly, she is without the vest and the first two buttons of her shirt are undone, exposing her ample breasts. Now, I'm in favor of that aspect, but it did seem strange that they weren't there, then suddenly were there, without any transition between. Also, during the same fight, her hair style and kempt/unkempt state changes a few times without any rhyme or reason. I guess she took a few seconds while the camera was on McClane to brush her hair?

Lastly, the "big" action shot involving a semi truck, a collapsing aerial roadway, a fighter get, and some missiles-- this scene could have been totally cut out. It was so over the top to reach the ridiculous and took both M and I out of the film yet again. It was too much, even knowing the genre of movie we were watching and expecting some pretty extreme stunts. They could have accomplished the same result with more believable means; i.e., have McClane drive the semi up to the facility to which the other vehicle is heading and have the guards the bad guys placed at that facility use their machine guns and a rocket launcher or SAM or similar to blow up the truck, with McClane narrowly escaping the explosion unseen and having to sneak in-- still a fun action shot, accomplishes the same thing, but more in keeping with the theme and rest of the film.

We were both expecting to dislike Justin Long as the "sidekick." However, we both enjoyed him. We felt his role was not overpowering or overshadowing, and that the character had decent and believable growth throughout the movie. Also, most of the stunts are live rather than CGI, which is nice.

My one comment after we left the theater was this: in the original, he saves a building. In number two, he saves an airport. In three, he saves New York City. In four, he saves all of America (on July 4th no less). All he has left is saving the entire planet... oh wait, he did that already-- it's called Armageddon, now known as Die Hard 5.

Overall, I was entertained, M less so. Not a great movie, but one that gives you nothing more or less than you have come to expect from the Die Hard franchise. It was nice seeing Willis as McClane again.