Friday, December 6, 2013

Die Hard 5 Review

Well, at least it's rated R
The Die Hard franchise is probably one of most consistent action series in terms of commercial and critical success. The thing that has made this series so successful is the appeal of John McClane, played by Bruce Willis. McClane is a wisecracking New York cop who is always thrown into dangerous situations. The man basically attracts terrorists, but always emerges victorious in the end thanks to his instinct, luck, and determination. I have enjoyed all of the films in the series despite the last installment, Live Free or Die Hard, being bombarded with CGI effects. The latest film in the franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard is a huge step down from the previous Die Hard movies.

This time, John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to Russia to help out his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney), only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist. Now McClane and his son must team up against underworld forces.

It is great to see Willis as John McClane again, but writer Skip Woods and director John Moore clearly miss the whole point of the character’s essence and likeability. In this movie, John McClane is an invulnerable super cop. The problem is that McClane is a vulnerable human being. He is a reluctant hero in the first four films and can get seriously wounded, as he is up against worthy adversaries that are cool, calculative and almost one step ahead of him. Here, McClane immediately causes mass vehicular damage just to stop thugs from attacking his son, and has no qualms about killing the bad guys wherever they pop up here. His son Jack tries to fill in for a sidekick, but Willis and Courtney have no chemistry at all. There are times when the film shows a few glimpses of character development in the relationship between McClane and his son, but it is cut short by the merciless and absurd action sequences.

A good action movie has to have a good villain, and this movie has none. The first Die Hard had Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), the second one had Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), and the third one had Gruber’s brother (Jeremy Irons) as the main villain. Even the villain in “Live Free and Die Hard” is more memorable, which is pretty sad. This film has three primary villains who are all forgettable. They are not intelligent, menacing, or memorable in any way.

John Moore is a passable director, but for some reason he feels the need to place smash cuts in every scene, which gets tiring after a while. The movie relies heavily on CGI for most of the action sequences. Some of them look very good, but If you think the action scenes in the previous movie are too over-the-top, then wait until you see this movie. It is full of them.

The action scenes are satisfying even if it is borders on the absurd side sometimes. Nevertheless, thanks to a weak script, lack of worthy villains, and incoherent direction, the fifth installment in the beloved Die Hard saga ends up as the worst of the series so far. 


A Good Day to Die Hard - 2/5

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