Live Free or Die Hard is a Blast
Bruce Willis Embraces the Regular Guy Aspects of John McClane Again
Jun 28, 2007
In 1988, Bruce Willis redefined the traditional cinematic hero during the explosive action thriller "Die Hard." Willis played John McClane, a police officer and regular guy who kept questioning why he was waging a one-man war on the terrorists holding his wife and her co-workers hostage in an office building. McClane, of course, is tough-as-nails, but it always seemed like he rather be at home having a beer than saving the free world.
Willis kept the integrity of this popular character intact for "Die Hard 2: Die Harder," another adventure in which McClane found himself in the middle of yet another terrorist plot, this one involving a scheme to take over the air traffic control system. The film even poked fun at itself when Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), McClane's long-suffering wife, asked why these things kept happening to their family.
Though the third film in the series, "Die Hard: With a Vengeance," contained a bitter and burned out John McClane, Willis embraces the regular guy aspects of the character once again in "Live Free or Die Hard," a highly satisfying popcorn movie.
Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), a former government computer expert, comes up with a plot to bring the entire country to its knees. He hires a team of computer hackers to help him acquire access codes to important computer systems, including the FBI mainframes. Gabriel wants to cause what he calls a "fire sale," a doomsday scenario in which all electronic communications, financial transactions and utilities are shut down, effectively sending this country back to the Stone Age.
After seeing a few examples of Gabriel's power, the FBI goes to their list of known hackers and wants a senior police detective to bring one of them to FBI Headquarters for questioning. Unfortunately, to tie up any loose ends, Gabriel wants all the computer experts who helped him killed.
As the other hackers are being wiped out, McClane's bosses assign him to bring in Matt Farrell (Justin Long), the one computer nerd who is still breathing. Staying alive becomes more of a challenge, though, with panic in the streets and killer assassins chasing the cop and the hacker throughout Washington, DC.
Though it's been more than a decade since he last played this role, Willis easily transforms himself back into John McClane. This version of the character has less hair and a few more miles on him than before, but he's still an old-fashioned cop at heart.
Justin Long, best known as the kid from the Apple Computer ads and the comedy "Accepted," makes a surprising effective partner for Willis. Long's character is more than just dead weight here and gets to show up the computer-illiterate McClane on more than one occasion.
Ranking a close second to the original "Die Hard," this installment gives the franchise a new lease on life.
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