In 1988, Bruce Willis launched his career as an action movie star with the very entertaining Die Hard. He followed that movie up with several other successful movies, including the two sequels, Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Die Hard With a Vengeance. I have seen all three several times and still enjoy them. I really like the main character, so I have been wanting to see Live Free or Die Hard.

John McClane was sent to pick up Matt Farrell, a hacker, and take him to the FBI. Unfortunately for them, someone else wanted Matt dead because of something he knew and John ended up in a shootout. Thomas Gabriel was a new age terrorist who used computers and technology to his advantage. He and his team used their computer knowledge to shut down major systems which basically shut down the country.

John felt like it was his responsibility to keep Matt safe, so he was once again pulled into a huge mess dealing with terrorists. John hadn’t embraced the wonders of modern technology and he didn’t fully understand what Thomas was doing. Matt was able to provide help for certain things. Thomas wasn’t happy that John was interfering, so he decided to try to get John out of the equation by going after his daughter Lucy.

Live Free or Die Hard is the fourth movie to feature the character of John McClane. Very little from the previous movies was mentioned, so the movie can stand on its own. John was really the only connection to the previous movies. I do think it would be better to see the other three movies first. If that is done, John will be more developed and some of his actions will make more sense.

Enough time had passed since the end of Die Hard With a Vengeance for John to have been able to turn some aspects of his life around. When the last movie started, he had one foot in the gutter and the other on a banana peel. He had let things spiral so far out of control that he was even in danger of being kicked off the police force permanently. When Live Free or Die Hard started, it did seem like John had stopped the self-destructive behavior and was doing better for the most part even though he hadn’t been able to salvage his personal life. He and Holly had divorced at some point and John didn’t have a good relationship with his children. Lucy had even resorted to using her mother’s maiden name. At one point, John talked about the consequences of heroic acts and how they had changed his life. It was nice to have him share some about that since those things generally aren’t addressed in movies. Even with everything he’d gone through in the past and the fact that he didn’t want to be involved, he still kept working to protect Matt and stop Thomas because it had to be done and he was the only one that could do it.

I thought that the movie had a strong plot. Computers control just about everything in today’s world, from financial information to the defense of the country. It made sense for a new breed of terrorist to emerge that would find a way to exploit those computer systems. I really don’t know if everything related to the technology stuff was completely accurate or even possible. It did seem believable to me and I think it raises some questions about just how smart it is to be so dependent on computers and technology. A few things that happened, like John having to deal with terrorists basically on his own again and Lucy ending up in danger, weren’t the most original since similar things have happened in the previous movies. Those same elements are what have helped to make the Die Hard movies strong action movies and I think they worked very well in this one as well. I wasn’t bothered by the fact that some of what happened was predictable because the movie was still very entertaining.

Live Free or Die Hard was an action packed movie. John and even Matt were involved in most of the action sequences in some way. There were several explosions, some car chases, and fights throughout the movie which kept things interesting. I never felt like the pace was rushed or too slow. I recently read that most of the action sequences were created with very little CGI. They did look realistic even though what was happening was very extreme and not exactly believable. One amazing stunt involving a car and helicopter was actually filmed and CGI was only used to add in the people involved in the sequence. I also read that Willis did much of his own stunt work again which also helped to add to the realism.

Before seeing this movie, I read online how many fans of the previous movies were very upset by the fact that this movie was rated PG-13 instead of R. I really wasn’t surprised by the rating because movie studios do seem to really push for that rating now because they think it will mean more money at the box office. The movie was still very violent with John fighting with terrorists and getting all sorts of injuries. I really don’t think this movie had less violence than the previous ones so it could be too violent for some viewers. The only thing that was really missing was how John would let the word that rhymes with luck fly constantly. He did mostly say his well know phrase, though the last word was sort of covered by a loud sound in the movie. It was kind of disappointing that the line was handled that way since it is so connected to John.

John McClane was still a police officer on the New York City police force. He wasn’t pleased about being sent to pick up Matt, but he went. Once things started going wrong, John didn’t hesitate to jump into action to keep Matt alive. He wasn’t happy about the situation he ended up in yet again but did what had to be done because no one else was there. John did say a lot of things that were funny which did help to lighten the tension. At one point he was talking to himself, ranting a bit about what he got into like he had in the first two movies. I thought he was more like the John from those two movies in this one. I think part of what has made him such a liked character is that he’s a normal guy with flaws who got hurt. I love Bruce Willis as John.

Lucy McClane had actually been briefly shown in the first movie as a young child. She was all grown up and a college student in this movie. She had a lot of anger with her dad when the movie began. Even with those feelings, she still knew that she could count on him. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was really good in the part. I’d only seen her in Sky High before this movie. Matt Farrell did work with computers and was considered a possible hacker by the FBI. Matt didn’t deal well with what was going on at first, but he managed to help John more than once. I thought that Justin Long did really well with the part. Matt was a bit older than the other characters I’ve seen him play in movies like Accepted, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Galaxy Quest, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Kevin Smith was in a few short scenes as Warlock, a hacker friend of Matt’s.

Thomas Gabriel had a very specific plan that he implemented for very specific reasons. He was using computers and technology to get what he wanted but he didn’t have a problem using force when needed. He was very determined and didn’t care how many innocent people got hurt. Timothy Olyphant was believable in the part. Mai Lihn seemed to be second in command to Thomas. She was very involved in what was going on and just as deadly. Maggie Q was good in the part that was the complete opposite of the one she had in Mission: Impossible III. None of the other terrorists were that important and they did seem to be more interchangeable. Cliff Curtis handled his part as Bowman, an FBI agent trying to deal with the mess, well.

Main Cast

Cliff Curtis - Bowman
Justin Long - Matt Farrell
Timothy Olyphant - Thomas Gabriel
Maggie Q - Mai Lihn
Kevin Smith - Warlock
Bruce Willis - John McClane
Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Lucy McClane

Len Wiseman - Director

Live Free or Die Hard was one of the best action movies I’ve seen in a very long time. I thought it was just as good as the first two Die Hard movies. I heard that director Len Wiseman was a big fan of the movies and I think that helped him to make a movie that fit well with them and stayed true to the character of John. This was a very entertaining action movie that is worth seeing.

Die Hard Movies
Die Hard ~ Die Hard 2: Die Harder ~ Die Hard With a Vengeance ~ Live Free or Die Hard ~

Bruce Willis Movie Reviews
16 Blocks ~ Death Becomes Her ~ The Fifth Element ~ Hostage ~ Lucky Number Slevin ~ Perfect Stranger ~ The Whole Ten Yards ~


Recommended: Yes