Live Free or Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard

PG-13 (2007)

Twentieth Century Fox

Director:

Len Wiseman

Cast:

Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q,

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cliff Curtis, Cyril Raffaelli.

After 12 years, Die Hard is back, grabbing your attention before the opening logo is
done. The threat is bigger than anything before, and it looks like the bad guys,
(headed by Timothy Olyphant) are going to pull the plug on the USA, but when all
systems fail, the bare-knuckled, wisecracking NYPD Cop John McClane (Bruce
Willis) is back on the job, blowing up the landscape and tracking down the bad
guys while getting shot at by everything from your normal everyday pistol to an F-15
fighter jet. This time he's got a tag-along again; Matt Farrell, (Justin Long), a geek
who was duped into writing some of the code that's wreaking havoc on the country.
(Cliff Curtis, of 10,000 B.C. plays one of the FBI detectives.) As the world shuts
down around them, the two have to fight their way to the source of the trouble and
rescue McClane's daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) before the last gate
falls. Lucy's no slouch, though, and the crooks have more than they bargained for
with these three in their clutches.

The action is as imaginative as ever, including a new use for an elevator shaft, and
what has to be the first-ever car-to-helicopter mid-air crash. In closer action there's
Maggie Q's kung fu, and Cyril Raffaelli shows off some incredible parkour moves,
for which he gets tagged as a “hamster” by McClane, who can't draw a bead on
him. (For more info about parkour and free-running, see the "Free-runner note" in
our review of Breaking and Entering .)

Fatherhood
Daddy's all here, rousting boyfriends, takin' out the bad guys and saving the
country, but he's still capable of a softer tone when trying to get his daughter to talk
to him. Life can be hard on a family when you're a cop, and Lucy has practically
disowned Dad at the beginning of the film. This proves to be a bit of family crust
though, and she's all McClane by the final credits: "My dad is my hero." Hey, so
what's not to like?

Female violence against men: Hmmm.... Given that it was seen as a fair fight
between combatants, no demerits either way.

Final Review
Live Free or Die Hard proves that Americans love a gritty, no-nonsense hero. Just
listen to the audience response during John's wisecracking. Dad friendly, guy-
positive, and a darn good time.

One last thing. Seattle was the first city to get shut down in the story. If you're gonna
shut down the country, don't start with Seattle next time. We're tryin' to write here.

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