The first "Die Hard" Movie was refreshing, innovative and groundbreaking in every way. The next two fell short, but at least retained the freshness. The waiting for the fourth Movie in the series was very long - remember, the third was made in 1995!
So what did we have here?
Cyber terrorism? See the third Movie, and see also ______________
A genius who feels he was underpaid and underappreciated for his work of genius and therefore he simply must take over the world (sorry, did only the United States suffer from his antics?) Been there, done that, and see also _____________
McClane finally managed to resolve the issues with his wife, and now the problems with his teenage daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) begin, and she is a tougher nut to crack than any terrorist. Oh, another empty headed and helpless teenager? That's nothing new (well, at least she wises up at that right moment). While in the previous Movies McClane's children were small, in Die Hard 5 he may a have grandchildren ...
Pitting a Low-Tech cop against a High Tech criminal? Hmmm, what an innovative idea. Let's see if it will work.
Intercepting a helicopter with a car? Well, what can you do if you run out of bullets ...
The only real refreshing innovation is the that the FBI agent working with McClane is a smart and honest character who on the one hand does not waste valuable time on "pissing contests", and on the other hand is not afraid to confront members of other agencies who are allegedly supposed to cooperate with him but are actually withholding critical information from him for political reasons (perhaps because he is played a New Zealander actor of Maori descent, Cliff Curtis) .
So why did they ever make the fourth Movie? Why did Bruce Willis need it? I tried, I desperately tried to find a single original idea in this Movie, to no avail ...
And why, why do we never see in any Movie of this kind even a single ordinary innocent citizen compensated for his car being commandeered or his shop destroyed or his home leveled?
And speaking of empty headed and helpless teenage girls, we can also mention Arnold Schwarzenegger's teenage daughter in "Commando" (the lovely Alyssa Milano), Schwarzen's teenage daughter in "the Last Action Hero" (Bridgette Wilson), and another daughter of Schwarzenegger's in "True Lies" (Eliza Dushku, who went on to star in "Tru Calling"), Harrison Ford's teenage daughter in "Firewall" (Carly Schroeder), Steven Seagal's teenage niece in "Under Siege 2" (Katherine Heigl), Bruce Willis's teenage daughter in "the Last Boy scout" (Danielle Harris), and last but not least, Natalie Portman in "Leon". We'll see what happens when cutsie pie Dakota Fanning reaches that age.
|