Live Free or Die Hard | C+

director: Len Wiseman
starring: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q

Well, I’d like to say they knocked this one out of the park, but I think the first impressions I had when first seeing the trailer for this some months ago were just about right. Live Free or Die Hard is a Die Hard movie in name only. The trailers I saw certainly featured the bloodied cop we all know and love, but they also featured a whiny computer nerd, a relative lightweight actor in the villain’s role, and a whole heap of special effects shots that relied more on spectacle than character.

Now, I’m not saying the Die Hard movies are deep studies in character development, on the contrary–they’re meant to be loud, enjoyable popcorn flicks with an R-rated edge. But it’s always been the wisecracking John McClane as the plot’s driving force, not flying cars and fighter jets. And don’t get me started on the now overuse of “hackers” in movies, who can press five keys and shut down power grids, reroute traffic, and wipe out the country’s finances.

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