Yippee-Ki-Yay, jerk

So, I saw Die Hard 4.0 today.


God damn. It was a good ass movie.

As I said, I had some reservations about the rating. And, as I expected, the violence was not as gratuitous as the previous installments. There were no squibs used, extreme violence was offscreen and it had the regulation shots of people getting up after something bad happens.

However, they did not dilute the experience. Only three off-screen "get ups" were shown, two of which were necessary (they show two of the main bad guys) with only one redundant one (the pilot near the end).

Also, he said his full catchphrase. Granted, it was the only instance in the film (or they would have gained an 18 (R in the states) rating and I would have been unable to see it if he had, and it also made it all the sweeter. Thankfully, they did not cut out all of John's swearing and insults in the film - just made them less explicit. However, I found this just fine - too many f-bombs and a film crosses a line into lazy writing.

Although I do think that the plot was, in the long run, a little predictable. In the end, they are just thieves (although they are far more fanatical than the thieves in the first or third films) and I disliked the Parkour-using henchman. James Bond did it already, don't jump on the bandwagon.

The characters were good as well - a little deeper than the usual action-movie cardboard cutouts. In particular I related somewhat with Jason Long's character. Also, McClane's appearance deteriorates admirably throughout, ending up not in a vest (unlike the previous films) but still in pretty beat up shape.

One thing I do wish to nitpick is the product placement. Nokia, Ford, BMW, Xbox, Alienware, more Ford. Thankfully, they didn't dwell on the products but showed them only as tools. However, I may only have noticed because of my inherent geekiness. They didn't seem to make any obtuse references (except for Gears of War, which was unnecessary after the first segment) and the Nokia smartphone thing.

As usual in films, they use a fake OS with fictional and cool ways of using them (lots and lots of typing and pretty graphics). Although for once there was a main character (McClane, obviously) who was completely clueless instead of a gang of people speaking gibberish technobabble.

However, I was close to laughing my ass off at the beginning. Jason Long is known for being the Mac guy in Apple's current ad campaign - and his character's main computer screen is an Apple Cinema Display.

...yes, I am a geek. Get over it.

The setpiece with the F35 was (despite some glorification over it's abilities and the fact it's not even in service yet [check wikipedia]) magnificent. Explosions, property damage, and then some insanely expensive military equipment blowing up (sorta reminds me of the first film with the FBI agents getting blown to Limbo while in a helicopter). One thing I know people will nitpick is the fact that using just guns it blew apart a large metal truck; I remind you that military planes carry cannons with explosive shells, so it is plausible.

Another hardware thing I thought was slightly odd was that, for the first time, McClane doesn't use his trademark Beretta and instead swaps it for something that looks like a Sig. Although this didn't piss me off too much, I would have liked to see him use one of his trademarks, a big ol' metal gun from decades ago instead of a modern weapon which blends in with the rest of the arms in the film.

Speaking of weapons, the main bad guy used a Jericho 941 (once known as the "Baby Eagle"), the same weapon that Spike uses in Cowboby Bebop.



So, that was my review of Die Hard 4.0. It's a great action film, and everything you expect from a film in the Die Hard franchise; also, since it's slightly toned down you can introduce youngsters who've not seen it to a full cinema experience and then hit them with the original.


Sraen out.


(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)