Die Hard 4.0

We went to see Die Hard 4.0 last night. Here's a brief introduction to the plot. Although, thin as it is, I don't want to give too much away…

When the FBI command centre's computer systems are interrupted, Deputy Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis) orders a round up of known hackers capable of perpretrating the intrusion. Trouble is, someone else is already killing them off one by one.

When Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is tasked with picking one of them up and delivering him to the FBI in Washington D.C., he interrupts the assassination squad just as they attempt to kill the hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long). Of course our hero foils the plot, kills a few bad guys and gets his man to D.C. but that's only the beginning. A group of well organized terrorists are instigating what is known as a "Fire Sale"; the systematic disruption of the computer systems that control the transportation networks, financial systems and utilities like power, water and gas across the U.S.

When Bowman says "Thanks for delivering the boy John, we'll take it from here!" you just know he won't leave it alone and, when the terrorists try again to kill Matt, things start to get really hot and McClane goes into overdrive.

The Americans are calling this "Live Free or Die Hard"'; what a crap title for a movie! Anyway, that aside, you just know when a movie's going to be a good one. We'd just been for a curry and were feeling a bit overfed and bloated so were worried we'd doze off in the warm and dark cinema. Not a chance! Die hard 4.0 action gets going almost from the beginning and just doesn't stop for breath long enough.


Willis is on pretty good form and handles the violence and one-liners much as you'd expect. Justin Long is excellent as the poor little unsuspecting hacker, dropped into a scenario where people can actually get killed for real and not virtually. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also puts in a good show as his daughter Lucy.

The special effects are pretty good as well. How do you take out a helicopter with a car or get an F-35 fighter to take out a huge section of freeway? As ever the bad guys are crap shots and McClane systematically goes through the lot of them while getting ever nearer to Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), the arch villain of the piece.

Okay, as stated already, the plot is a bit thin and some of the things in it just wouldn't be possible. I mean how can a trained fighter pilot miss a huge truck more than twice with guided missiles and since when did a secure facility guard open the gate before asking what the bad guys were doing there. So, don't concentrate too much on the detail and just enjoy the romp. Popcorn movies don't come much better than this.

If you're a fan of action movies, then this is definitely worth checking out.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
My Rating: 8/10