It was a painful and sad experience. This movie finally made me understand what the Star Wars fans meant by Lucas having raped their childhood.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD

First, I watched this film during the Die Hard marathon that took place in my area. Loved Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Die Hard with a Vengeance I had not seen in full for many years but Sam Jackson is great. I think it should have ended with them getting away or being beaten before the scene where they got away. It was a long and over the top with that final ending. I liked Live Free and Die Hard but by this time I was quite tired and shutting my eyes at times. I still enjoy it though.

Finally, we get to A Good Day to Die Hard and I thought it was just okay. Definitely not as entertaining as #4 or maybe even #3. We do get to see his daughter again for a moment and then introduced to his son who's this CIA spy. I like Jai Courtney. I just hope he doesn't end up like Statham and get stuck doing action films. Go the Channing Tatum route instead if he can is my suggestion. I thought John McClane in this film was quite senior citizeny even though when a gun was in his hands he was Rambo. They really pushed the emotional family disconnect between the father and son which got old for me after a bit. I did enjoy most of the action sequences in the film, however, the couple times they showcased the helicopter shooting it's cannon were over the top in the ugh variety. There really wasn't a good villain in this film even with the turn at the end. It just felt a bit routine and average on that front.

A note that before the film started there was some weird clip of The Heat. Not as a trailer but some weird "we're trying to be hip showing you behind the scenes stuff" thing. It was a scene of Bullock and McCarthy interrogating someone. I didn't dislike it. It was funny but strange.

Grade - B

I don't understand the hate this movie is getting. It may not be the best Die Hard, but it is still a lot of fun and Bruce Willis is hilarious and awesome throughout.

Yeah, its certainly not Die Hard 2 bad, but it is close. I think the thing that is most frustrating is that there is a good film in there, edited down to just one liners and action scenes that a lot of it doesn't make sense. I kept wanting to smack Willis for saying he's on vacation when he was clearly there to see his son not go on death row. It needed more to it. Willis is solid as is his son, I dug the relationship between the two and the action is there, and most importantly I really like the Call of Duty style the director was going for, but it just never resonates more than just ok. It needed a imposable reason that the series always had. Either someone close to McClane was in danger or it was high stakes. It's just not there here. Nor is an awesome Fist fight the series is known for. Especially after the awesome Maggie Q vs. Bruce fight in the last one. The second I saw a shirtless guy I though ok this is going to be great and Willis will have a great fight, but it never happened and I was disappointed. I really hope for the 6th and final we get to really do more than just the action, this series needs a director like Mission Impossible 4, it needs high end, not below tier director that will make everything rise above what it is, the concept is just never realized fully enough. But I had a good time while watching it.

B+ for the first viewing. I think I liked Bullet to the Head and Last Stand more though.

So...is it A Good Die to Day Hard?

I don't mind either way, except that it is difficult to copy/paste this to Google
and achieve my normal degree of empowerment*.


*For archive purposes only.

Nonstop action but no reason ever given to care about any of it. Jai Courtney is a terrible, terrible actor. Does the guy even have more than two facial expressions? Poor Bruce is almost relegated to a supporting role in his movie/franchise. And whose bright idea was it to cut the Yuliya Snigir bike scene that was actually longer in the trailer/TV spots?

Yeah, it's bad, but not really any worse than Die Hard 2, for instance. Its biggest fault is turning McClane into a superhero instead of a regular guy, a trend that already began in the previous one with the ridiculous jetplane scene. And it's terribly shot and edited, of course, but that comes with John Moore as director.

More than anything, it's just boring.

Even with all the negativity I'm still looking forward to seeing this on Saturday. It might be the worst in the series, but as long as I'm entertained I'll be pleased. Besides, I really need to use this $10.00 AMC card I got like 2 months ago.

What struck me when I saw the filom was that, while Die Hard 4 was maybe not a great "Die Hard" movie, it was still a great action flick. I maintain that Wiseman is pretty good and shooting action scenes whereas Moore just isn't.

The one thing that did make me laugh out loud was the play on the Hans Gruber death scene.

Oh, definitely. The sense of fluidity and spatial awareness in Live Free or Die Hard is masterful compared to this.

The original Die Hard is, in my opinion, the best action movie of all time. A Good Day to Die Hard takes just about everything that was good about the original (and even the subsequent films) and does the opposite. This is a soulless, mechnical crapfest. The human element of John McClane is essentially gone here, as he becomes an invincible superman instead. Bruce Willis just looks like he's counting the dollar signs. Jai Courtney is about as interesting as a block of wood as the son, and the "estranged child" element is really just a retread of the last film anyway. A miserable experience all around. D

I liked this review from Aisle Seat:



and this one from 7M Pictures:

I wouldn't go that far. As 5th films in a franchise go, it's clearly leading the pack in terms of quality. Rocky V, Jason Lives, Halloween 5, Attack of the Clones. It's in the league of say The Dead Pool and You Only Live Twice, some people really enjoy them, others down right despise it because of the drop in quality from the rest of the series.

Pretty much my thoughts.

I'm still excited to see it.

I'd say Fast Five is leading there.

True that. And Attack of the Clones is better than this.

This is Rocky V quality right there.

So basically, what you're saying, is that, in this film, John McClane, he jumps a shark, in a nuked fridge?

A major action franchise represented in four decades, from the hedonistic height of the eighties to our anxious post-September 11th environment, Die Hard goes soft in an unadventurous and mediocre fifth entry which never tops, equals, or even rivals the first and third films and even pales in comparison to Live Free or Die Hard, despite a much anticipated return to the R rating. As renegade, but always noble American policeman John McClane, a cultural icon two parts Clint Eastwood and one part John Wayne (with a salt-of-the-earth stand-up twist), Bruce Willis lands a few comic punches and proves he still has a potent masculine charm unique among living film stars, but it is clear he is no longer excited nor inspired by his signature role. It is unfortunate he has let Die Hard become a glorified contractual obligation, exhibiting none of the complicated love his friend and Expendables co-star Sylvester Stallone has for his two most famous creations, let alone the level of authorial vision he utilized to give them both rousing conclusions. The film's failure, however, belongs first and foremost to director John Moore, a proficient technician without soul, and the dreadful writers, who leave our once glorious bullet-headed hero adrift in a convoluted, dim plot masterminded by devious, outmoded Soviets unburdened by personality and fail to infuse the extreme level of motion and volume, including a haphazard citywide car chase which comprises almost a quarter of the film's brief length, with a lasting sense of either joy or tension, let alone the almost mythic dimension this franchise features at its best.

C

In regard to John junior, I do not mind Jai Courtney's performance in and of itself. He is a cool, handsome dude. The role is not very interesting, though. I wish he were just an enthusiastic and loving son instead of staying in the atonal key of, "Damn it, John! I hate you, McClane! I do not have a father!" for most of the film.

Courtney has shown in Jack Reacher that he has got he chops to be a solid action star, but he is terrible/wasted in this.

I love that part, but it's a shame as I intend to enjoy the hell out of this movie.