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Latest Die Hard is crude action flop
Undated Film Still Handout from A Good Day To Die Hard. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.
Halfway through this outlandish fifth instalment of the Die Hard franchise, a gun-toting Russian henchman (Radivoje Bukvic) scolds John McClane (Bruce Willis) for recklessness in the face of certain death.
“So arrogant,” sneers the East European underling, “it’s not 1986, you know!”
It’s certainly not, despite the Cold War stereotypes that perpetuate Skip Woods’ shambolic script, and Willis and his collaborators should remember that before they plough ahead with a proposed sixth film.
A Good Day To Die Hard is a high-speed tour down Memory McClane that cynically exploits our nostalgia for one of modern cinema’s most tenacious action heroes.
It’s been 25 years since Willis’ wisecracking cop stormed the Nakatomi Plaza to rescue his wife from German terrorist Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) in the original Die Hard.
Since then, McClane has demolished an airport, played deadly games with Gruber’s psychotic brother and hacked down a gang of cyber terrorists in the company of his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
For this latest assignment, estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney) enters the cinematic fray, joining the old man on a testosterone-fuelled romp through Moscow.
There’s no art, creativity or invention in John Moore’s overblown sequel; no subtlety or emotion, even with the strained father-son relationship at the heart of Woods’s screenplay.
Just outrageous set pieces which defy the laws of physics, deafening explosions that shake the entire cinema and Willis delivering his Yippee-ki-yay catchphrase with a weariness we share by the end credits.
A Good Day To Die Hard is a soulless money-machine exercise.
The plot is crudely bolted together, sandwiching pyrotechnics between fractious father-son bonding.
There’s no palpable screen chemistry between Willis and Courtney, which undermines the inevitable reconciliation of their two characters.
Pithy one-liners are noticeably thin on the ground and while stunts are undoubtedly bigger than previous films, they are certainly not better. This is not a good day for Die Hard.
Damon Smith
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Thursday 20 June 2013
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