Live Free or Die Hard

Bruce Willis is a badass, not matter what, and it all began with the original Die Hard. He was swearing, and taking off his shoes and walking across glass. Every other word the bad ass said was "FUCK" as he was going back and forth with the great dialouge written between him and Alan Rickman, the greatest action villian of all time, in what I still consider the best action movie of all time. This much time later, with a PG-13 rating can it still be as good? Can it still be as fresh and original as the first?

No. This movie, for the most part, does not feel as if it belongs in the DIE HARD franchise, and by showing all the best acting sequences (except for one) in the trailer, it sort of ruins the movie. Not to say that there aren't entertaining parts of the movie, but it just never reaches the excitement or originality of the first three movies (and when I say that, I do include With A Vengence). Not to say that this movie isn't fun at moments, just to say that it is a purely mediocre movie.

The basic plot is this: Bruce Willis is John McClane (DUH!) and he is estranged from his family. When somebody hacks into some high up security section of the Government, McClane is told to escort a hacker (Justin Long) who might just know what is going down. Guess what? HE DOES! It is something called a firesale, and the entire country is going to pretty much get toppled. It is up to McClane to take down the digital terrorists.

Willis will always be McClane, but sadly the McClane that we all know and love has matured, and that is not what I paid to see. While he played a very good jaded McClane well, and I could see how he got to the level, but the moments that are the best is when Willis is loving what he is doing and just faces daner head on, and seems to out right have fun (especially when he is laughing after he "killed a helicopter with a car.") Justin Long is here as sort of the buddy character, even though they never really become friends which is exactly how it should of been. He is funny here and is a good addition to the movie. I very much like how he attempted to get McClane to like him and understand, but McClane never gave enough of a shit to care. Timothy Olyphant plays the villian, and would have been good... if Alan Rickman wasn't the villian in the first. He just can't compare. Kevin Smith plays The Wizard and adds another good comical scene to what could have been a very boring predictable role.

The action though, is not that hindered by the PG-13 rating. It is big, explosive, and one scene, hardcore. The thing that hurts the action is that we have seen it all in the trailer, except for his fight with Maggy Q. Which is a great fight scene. McClane throwing insults at her and she kicking ass back, all ending in an elavator shaft, which is a classic Die Hard set piece and it is pure awesome. If you have seen the trailer on the big screen, you have seen all the big explosions and the big set piece of the airplane. There is no other big fight scene.

Now, for the famous line. It has been widely reported that it is "yippy ky yay mother f *GUN SHOT*!" But the way that this line is deliver is so incredibly badass that it doesn't matter. I mean... I don't want to spoil it for you, but it is totally McClane and totally awesome.

If you have seen all the big movies of the summer already (other than Harry Potter 5, cause I enjoyed that), I would recommend it. It isn't a bad movie, but nor is it a great movie. There are moments that I was having a great time with it, but in general I thought it was just okay.