Live Free or Die Hard Movie Review

Tonight I went and saw Live Free or Die Hard, or as everyone calls it, Die Hard 4, and I loved it. Being a fan of the Die Hard franchise, I was excited when I heard about it, but I didn't expect it to be this good. It had a classic Die Hard plot, classic (if not better) Die Hard action, and of course, classic John McClane. Bruce Willis knows this character. I'm not convinced he isn't actually this character pretending to be some guy named Bruce Willis, because he really owns John McClane. Never in the whole Die Hard foursome have I thought, "oh, that's right, that's just Bruce Willis acting." He's great. Plus, the humor that he adds is great, and it wasn't lacking in this one. Justin Long also surprised me. The character fit him very well, but he sold it. The other thing that surprised me was the plot "thickening agent" McClane's daughter. I was convinced after the trailer that this was just some cliche trick that would ultimately take away from the movie, but it didn't. Whoever wrote he into the script knew what they were getting into, and her character was awesome. Other than those 3, and maybe Timothy Olyphant, who played the (weak) bad guy, oh, and Kevin Smith, the rest of the acting was atrocious. All small parts though, so no big deal. Some of that blame may be on Len Wiseman, the director, who I was skeptical about, but he didn't do that bad of a job. Pretty good actually.

Acting aside, the biggest draw of this movie is its action scenes. They were amazing! I think a lot of it was actually done too, instead of CGI, and I think that helped. I won't ruin anything, but they were so awesome, and definitely all in the Die Hard character. By that, what I guess I mean is really badass and really over the top. And a lot of explosions.

While the premis was a little weak, the bad guy a little weaker, and the plot had some holes in it, the action was awesome, the supporting cast was surprisingly good, and Bruce Willis as John McClane was as "Die Hard" as ever. I loved it.

On the Reganometer, I give Live Free or Die Hard an 8 out of 10.