Friday, February 15, 2013

A Good Day to Die Hard




Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: John Moore

Starring: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yuliua Snigir

From: 20th Century Fox

Unfortunately, the largely negative reaction this has gotten... it is true. I have talked about the other movies in the franchise the past few days, and now I close out with this. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just discuss why I think this is the worst out of the franchise with some general discussion.

You probably already know the plot by now: John McClane has to go to Moscow as his adult son Jack (John Jr.) has gotten himself into a fair bit of trouble. Things happen and the two (who have a fractured relationship, I'll put it that way) have to team up to try and take down the Russian bad guys. Things sometimes go in a direction that made me go, “Oh, come on now.” and “Really, you guys went there?”

I say that the crux of the story wasn't so bad, at least in theory. In execution, though... the way the story is fleshed out is not always great and like I just said, some parts of it I sighed or I shook my head. It is that ridiculous at times. Also, the movie seems to imply that Grenoble is in Switzerland when it's actually in France! Honest. Not only was a Winter Olympics held there in 1968, but it's where Andre the Giant was usually billed from, “Grenoble, in the French Alps”. Also, at least 6 times John yells out, “I'm on vacation!” Um, since when was this a vacation? You went there to see your son! You didn't go there on vacation to see Red Square, Saint Basil's Cathedral, and the Bolshoi Theatre! See what I mean about there being problems, and that's just of a non-spoiler nature. There are plenty of illogical things which happen that make no sense, especially in the final act.

The relationship between father and son... I quickly grew tired of it. The son was a total ass to his dad and I wanted dad to take him over his knee and spank him! That is what he needed. But, when a Die Hard movie has poorly shot, totally confused action where you often can't make heads or tails of it and you can't follow what is going on... a massive problem that is. I suppose that's what you get when you have a director with his track record directing an important property like this. I don't mean to be rude but I have to state that. There are a number of directors they should have chosen instead of this guy, rather it be a familiar name or an up and comer who could do something worthwhile with the big break. For example, John Hyams of the past two Universal Soldiers films. He certainly does not shoot and present action in an incompetent manner.

In short, it's disappointing there was an entry in this storied franchise that many should say is not a good film. It was nice while it lasted but I had a feeling that in this day and age with Hollywood and how they do business, something like this was bound to happen. It doesn't mean it doesn't suck. At least I saw the movie on the giant screen they have at Downtown Disney and because of that I got a cheap t-shirt which advertises the movie and the fancy Dolby soundsystem the giant screen has. Hey, at least it was free!

I'll be back tomorrow night.

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