Like many, I took my wife this evening to see the new Die Hard film followed by dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. And like many, I had high expectations for this film, because no Die Hard film has ever been a flop. Being a life long Die Hard fan (pun intended), I've come to expect certain things from these films; Explosions, story, lots of action, Bruce Willis killing people, John McClain's hysterical psychotic laughter, and the one like that makes every Die Hard film, "Yippy-Ki-Yay...!"
Where to begin. Yes A Good Day to Die Hard had plenty of explosions, action and Bruce Willis killing people, but it strongly lacked in other areas like the little engine that couldn't. What many don't know is that all previous Die Hard films weren't written with the intent to be a Die Hard film, however this one was and there in lies the mistake. Today definitely wasn't A Good Day to Die Hard, just a good day for the franchise to DIE.
Again we start with John McClain on vacation which becomes a running joke in the film, and the few lines that Bruce Willis had being "I'm suppose to be on vacation!" The movie mainly revolves around John's son, Jack who is portrayed as the "Action star" of the film while John seems more of a Burt Ward style Robin who doesn't really get many lines but seems to be smarter and have more common sense than Batman. In just about any given scene, we see John McClain standing in the background just looking around with a look on his face that many would mistake as needing to cut the cheese.
Most Die Hard films are broken up with scenes in between the action that helps to drive the main characters in their quest to stop the bad guy, however this one did not. Normally, when someone says a movie is non-stop action it's a good thing right? In this case, not so much. The only time the action scenes are broken up is during extremely out of place slow mo camera shots, which usually don't have a place in Die Hard films unless your last name is Gruber. But, even then they're very short slow motion shots.
About 15- 20 minutes into the film we see John drive what appears to be a Land Rover through the cement guard of an over pass and down onto several passing vehicles under him, continuing on for what seems like 5 minutes of him driving over other vehicles. During the ending where the villain dies after John saying his "Yippie Ki Yay..." line, normal Die Hard films end the bad guy's life almost right then and there and it's usually John McClain killing the main bad guy of the film afterward... unless it's in the first film then it's null and void. However, with this one that didn't happen because the writers knowing they were writing a Die Hard film rushed it and just through the Yippie ki yay line in there just to have it, and then he drives a truck out of the helicopter with a cable attached to keep them from firing at Jack. Eventually, this causes the helicopter to crash but not before Jack not John throws the main villain off the roof in a Hans Gruber style only in ultra slow motion and into the propeller of the helicopter. At the very end of the movie we receive 5 minutes of John and Jack getting off the plane and Jack's sister/ John's daughter running to greet them, in ULTRA slow motion... again.
As a stand alone film with no Die Hard title, this would have made for an excellent action movie. However, it is my sad duty to tell Die Hard fans everywhere that this is not one of the Die Hard movies we've come to love and cherish.
As an action movie, I give this film 5 stars. But as a Die Hard film it's barely worth 2 stars. Although, I will be purchasing this just to add to my collection and to give it a proper second look. But for all of you fans who haven't seen it yet but want to jump in your cars and speed to the nearest theater to see it, please just wait for the DVD. Bruce Willis can and has done so much better than this crap.