Very minor spoilers ahead!
Aw man. It's just sad, guys. You know those days when you really wish for something? I mean, really, really hope for something good? I felt like that about the new Die Hard movie. Mind you, I had no great expectations for it - but hopes, yes I had those. It could have been so nice. I thought perhaps they'd have learned from the just-decent 4th one, bring back the swearing, the jokes, the confined spaces, the hide-and-seek. You know, perhaps even a peek of Holly McClane, or TV reporter Dick Thornberg? That would have been so awesome. Instead, "A Good Day to Die Hard" is a weakly written, blue-tinted shaky-cam action flick that takes itself too seriously. Got nothing better to do on a Tuesday night? Yeah, stay home anyway.
Okay, fine. So the swearing is back. Yay, I thought for a moment somewhere in the first third. But then I remembered the ridiculous twenty-ish minutes I'd just sat through. Here's a rough summary of the beginning:
John McClane learns his son is in jail in Russia. He travels there to, I don't know, I guess help him out or talk some sense into him. It's not really explained. But before he goes, his daughter tells him not to make a mess. OOooOOOoo foreshadowing.
We learn the son is actually involved in a plot to help out a political prisoner at a court hearing. I think.
Next thing we know, the whole courtroom explodes. Because a mean politician wants the prisoner dead. Son drags prisoner from the rubble into a van outside but as they're about to take off, McClane jumps out: HE WANTS TO TALK TO HIS SON.
Son shoves gun up father's nose, tells him he's busy and to back off. Consequently, father joins never-ending, ridiculous car chase across Moscow involving explosions, wanton destruction, countless car wrecks and people driving off bridges. You know, BECAUSE HE WANTS TO TALK TO HIS SON.
What the heck did I just walk into?!
No seriously, it doesn't get much better. First, apart from a few well- delivered lines by Willis, there's little to no humour in this movie. It's all straight-faced and serious. McClane's son is a random CIA dude, no special character traits. Their relationship is badly introduced and expanded upon. "I hate you" - bullets bullets bullets bullets - "Okay you know what, I love you. Let's go kill more people."
Secondly, it doesn't look or feel like a "Die Hard" movie in any way. There was an article on Cracked a while ago outlining what it would take, and "Good Day" has none of it. For instance, no confined spaces. No hide-and-seek. No sabotage, no cat-and- mouse. Numerous locations instead: we go from America to Moscow to Chernobyl, and believe me, when they reached the last location, I really really hoped it'd turn into a Die-Hard-1-esque guerilla warfare tour de force. Nope, didn't happen. No kick-ass black guys like in Die Hard 1, 2 and 3 either.
The direction and cinematography are your typical early 21st century mediocre action flick fare. Except for a beautifully designed scene in an empty ballroom, it's desaturated and tinted blue, and not even in a cool "Payback" kind of way. The plethora of action scenes? Mostly nauseating shaky-cam. Oh, and the boobs Willis smiles at in the trailer? Not in the movie. Granted, I didn't miss them either. What I did miss was the excerpt from Beethoven's 9th, 4th movement, "Freude schöner Götterfunken": again, present in the trailer, absent from the movie.
Refreshingly enough, there are some other references to the 1988 classic. We have a deception scene reminiscent of the first encounter between McClane and Hans Gruber. We get a falling-off-a-roof scene, too, served with a little twist. Now, if you think those are lame attempts to copy something that used to be good, well then I guess then you're right. But hey, it's better than nothing.
So, anything redeeming about "A Good Day to Die Hard"? A few things. There were some nicely done plot twists I didn't see coming, and I enjoyed them. Sadly enough, they stick out from the otherwise mediocre writing like Bruce Willis from the rubble around Nakatomi Plaza. Shaky- cam aside, the action scenes were quite well done and if they used CGI, they did it tastefully enough: a lot of that stuff looked gritty and real. I also liked the sound mix. Yeah, the movie sounded really good. But you guessed right: none of that saves it. "A Good Day to Die Hard" didn't make me angry like "Prometheus" did, but it made me sad. Sad like the sad old eyes of Bruce Willis we get to look at for 2 hours. Spare yourselves the trouble, stay home and watch any of the first 3. Or the 4th if you're so inclined. That was decent enough.
Aw man. It's just sad, guys. You know those days when you really wish for something? I mean, really, really hope for something good? I felt like that about the new Die Hard movie. Mind you, I had no great expectations for it - but hopes, yes I had those. It could have been so nice. I thought perhaps they'd have learned from the just-decent 4th one, bring back the swearing, the jokes, the confined spaces, the hide-and-seek. You know, perhaps even a peek of Holly McClane, or TV reporter Dick Thornberg? That would have been so awesome. Instead, "A Good Day to Die Hard" is a weakly written, blue-tinted shaky-cam action flick that takes itself too seriously. Got nothing better to do on a Tuesday night? Yeah, stay home anyway.
Okay, fine. So the swearing is back. Yay, I thought for a moment somewhere in the first third. But then I remembered the ridiculous twenty-ish minutes I'd just sat through. Here's a rough summary of the beginning:
John McClane learns his son is in jail in Russia. He travels there to, I don't know, I guess help him out or talk some sense into him. It's not really explained. But before he goes, his daughter tells him not to make a mess. OOooOOOoo foreshadowing.
We learn the son is actually involved in a plot to help out a political prisoner at a court hearing. I think.
Next thing we know, the whole courtroom explodes. Because a mean politician wants the prisoner dead. Son drags prisoner from the rubble into a van outside but as they're about to take off, McClane jumps out: HE WANTS TO TALK TO HIS SON.
Son shoves gun up father's nose, tells him he's busy and to back off. Consequently, father joins never-ending, ridiculous car chase across Moscow involving explosions, wanton destruction, countless car wrecks and people driving off bridges. You know, BECAUSE HE WANTS TO TALK TO HIS SON.
What the heck did I just walk into?!
No seriously, it doesn't get much better. First, apart from a few well- delivered lines by Willis, there's little to no humour in this movie. It's all straight-faced and serious. McClane's son is a random CIA dude, no special character traits. Their relationship is badly introduced and expanded upon. "I hate you" - bullets bullets bullets bullets - "Okay you know what, I love you. Let's go kill more people."
Secondly, it doesn't look or feel like a "Die Hard" movie in any way. There was an article on Cracked a while ago outlining what it would take, and "Good Day" has none of it. For instance, no confined spaces. No hide-and-seek. No sabotage, no cat-and- mouse. Numerous locations instead: we go from America to Moscow to Chernobyl, and believe me, when they reached the last location, I really really hoped it'd turn into a Die-Hard-1-esque guerilla warfare tour de force. Nope, didn't happen. No kick-ass black guys like in Die Hard 1, 2 and 3 either.
The direction and cinematography are your typical early 21st century mediocre action flick fare. Except for a beautifully designed scene in an empty ballroom, it's desaturated and tinted blue, and not even in a cool "Payback" kind of way. The plethora of action scenes? Mostly nauseating shaky-cam. Oh, and the boobs Willis smiles at in the trailer? Not in the movie. Granted, I didn't miss them either. What I did miss was the excerpt from Beethoven's 9th, 4th movement, "Freude schöner Götterfunken": again, present in the trailer, absent from the movie.
Refreshingly enough, there are some other references to the 1988 classic. We have a deception scene reminiscent of the first encounter between McClane and Hans Gruber. We get a falling-off-a-roof scene, too, served with a little twist. Now, if you think those are lame attempts to copy something that used to be good, well then I guess then you're right. But hey, it's better than nothing.
So, anything redeeming about "A Good Day to Die Hard"? A few things. There were some nicely done plot twists I didn't see coming, and I enjoyed them. Sadly enough, they stick out from the otherwise mediocre writing like Bruce Willis from the rubble around Nakatomi Plaza. Shaky- cam aside, the action scenes were quite well done and if they used CGI, they did it tastefully enough: a lot of that stuff looked gritty and real. I also liked the sound mix. Yeah, the movie sounded really good. But you guessed right: none of that saves it. "A Good Day to Die Hard" didn't make me angry like "Prometheus" did, but it made me sad. Sad like the sad old eyes of Bruce Willis we get to look at for 2 hours. Spare yourselves the trouble, stay home and watch any of the first 3. Or the 4th if you're so inclined. That was decent enough.