Die Hard 4: same action, different McClane

Some decade and a half ago, I watched Die Hard and the moment McClane muttered back "yippie-ki-aye mother****er," I couldn't turn away. In one line, he becomes the non-cliche hero, the underpaid cop saving his ex-wife and sleeze of a friend, not even hiding his dirty mouth and complaints. There's no special training or superpowers, but just trying and dying hard.

Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0) brings McClane into another against all odds situation. When cyber-terrorists take down just about every computer system in the country, chaos breaks out and John McClane (Bruce Willis) just so happens to be at the "wrong place at the wrong time," beside computer hacker Matthew (Accepted's Justin Long) who knows the steps to beating the bad guys. Things get personal when villian Thomas Gabriel (Timmy Olyphant) kidnaps McClane's daughter (Final Destination 3 and Grindhouse's Mary Elizabeth Winstead). McClane must fight through everything, including helicopters, power plant explosions, and fighter jets, while Matthew tries to keep up so he can provide the smart comments for McClane's smart remarks.

In this installment, given the PG-13 rating, McClane is watered-down. The trademarked "yippie-ki-aye" is said only once, and while delivered beautifully, the obscenity is muted by a gunshot. The fighting of one over-the-top obstictal after another isn't necessarily unbelievable for this series, but what is unbelievable in McClane's silence. Repetitively, I found myself waiting for McClane to yell about how he dispises being in this adventure yet again. Instead, he gives Matthew the traditional talk of "cause no one else can" reason for why he is a hero. McClane was less selfless in the previous films, getting a thrill out of yelling "welcome to the party pal" when he throws the bad guy out of the building in Die Hard. Willis tones it down for the PG-13 rating, where in any DH film, he would go into a series of cussing after each scene of wakes of destruction.

However, the movie is still great action in spite of its lesser McClane. It keeps to Die Hard where the action is more than just picking off bad guys one-by-one, but an actually interesting plot on how the bad guys took over, their motives, and what needs to be done to stop them. It starts with a shoot-out and builds from there. Next is the helicopter, then entire buildings explode, and McClane's daughter in a hostage situation. It has a climax and excells in all expectations as an action film.

The real joy of the film is not Willis, but instead Long and Winstead. Long's comments remind us how far McClane is going and provides a brave wimp for contrast. Winstead's character leaves no doubt she's McClane's daughter, where she gets the best lines, one-uping even Willis on one-liners. (Stopping there, her lines are surprises, so you'll have to see to find out.)

A minor downfall in the film is Tommy Olyphant fulfills his character, but his character isn't that much of a bad guy. Yes, he's the one that takes the hostages, but only towards the end does he point the gun. He was written to be obviously afraid of McClane, which hurts his evil factor. Of course, he's in the shadow of Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber and Jeremy Irons as Simon Gruber, the evil brothers of DH1 and DH3. But the writer's kept him to a tough computer nerd at best, who does have a sadistic side, he just doesn't show it.

Overall, the PG-13 makes sure this movie will have a larger opening than most action films, putting the old and new fans of Willis together. Market-wise, it will be successful.

Entertaining, it keeps your attention and is well-paced. The action isn't repetitive shooting, but mixes nicely done car chases and extreme practicality. McClane shows he's aware of his age when he uses cars instead fists, making smart remarks in place of machoism. Running over the bad guys is always easier than beating the crap out of them at the age of 50 (?).

Memorability is something less. This isn't a great addition to the series, but still beats out Die Hard 2, which was as cheesy as its title: Die Harder. It pokes fun at the previous films. If it didn't have these references, such as the advertised "yippie-ki-aye" and McClane stuck alone due to burueaucratic messes (another Agent Johnson), it would fall flat. It's not an action-hero's daughter, but McClane's, which gives Winstead's character all her color. This reliance on the previous films instead of complaints to them is downfall for the movie, which changes your opinion of it a few hours after the adrenaline dies off.

Great action film, but when Transformers comes out next week in its CGI action, not even Die Hard one-liners can revive this series to its previous success as THE action movie of the summer.