Die Hard 4.0

Thanks to that recognisable quality of heart and humour, the Die Hard franchise has become perhaps one of the most well-respected amongst the action genre today. In Die Hard 4.0, as in the movie’s predecessors, loveable trademarks are yet again present. The movie has once more captured Bruce Willis’ pleasingly believable flinching, his endearing mid-violence commentary, and a sense of the ridiculous mixed with the gritty. In a distinctly post-9/11 ‘virtual terrorist’ landscape, this time McClane (Willis) battles against an enemy he can’t see; a group working to bring down the American infrastructure from within its computer networks, by systematically shutting down everything that the nation has come to rely on (electricity, connectivity, economy and all emergency services). In other words, they are initiating a “fire sale,“ where “everything must go.”

Along the way, the villains call upon every ignorant computer geek they can find, positioning them as pawns or distractions within the grand plan. This is how McClane finds himself accompanied by the computer-savvy Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) – a talkative nerd almost as endearing as McClane himself. Together, they are an odd pairing but have a strangely appealing chemistry that propels the movie and provides relief from the occasionally excessive action sequences (watch out for car/plane and fighter jet/truck face-offs). Though, then again, to complain of Die Hard being excessive is to entirely miss its point. While this movie may at times be so ridiculous it will cause you to laugh rather than to flinch, this has always been the case with the series. In a way, this outrageousness (sprinkled with heart, humour and grittiness) has always been one of the features responsible for rendering the series so distinctly accessible. And we should all be relieved by the fact that these familiar qualities remain just as fresh, exciting and enjoyable as they were four films ago.

Rating: 7.9