The Greatest Trick

Back in 1988, before Bruce Willis was a household name, he landed the starring role in Die Hard, which went on to become a much loved and much imitated action classic. It redefined the genre with its wisecracking (if foul-mouthed) hero John McClane, as he played cat and mouse in a skyscraper with terrorist thieves, all in bare feet, for over two hugely suspenseful action-packed hours. Yet amid the mayhem and spectacular stunts, there was a sense of plausibility and suspension of disbelief that carried the film. McClane was clearly not Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one truly had the impression that he could go under any minute, which kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

Inevitable sequels followed in the shape of Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and now twelve years on from the last instalment, Die Hard 4.0 (or its even sillier title Live Free or Die Hard in the US). And with each sequel the stunts have got more ludicrous, McClane has become more indomitable, and the suspense has gradually evaporated. Die Hard 4.0 is a cynical throwback to the 80’s action movie era combined with a typically creepy modern post 9/11 terrorist plot. Like oil and water, they don’t mix.

That’s not to say Die Hard 4.0 isn’t without its pleasures. The ludicrous plot is enjoyable nonsense about a disgruntled, psychotic ex-Pentagon employee who is fed up that no-one in the intelligence agencies listened to his apocalyptic warnings about terrorism, He decides to teach the country a lesson by hacking into and messing with, well, just about everything: weapons systems, satellites, power grids, phone networks, television and so on. Then, later on, like all good Die Hard villains, he just wants to rob the bank.

Needless to say, McClane manages to get dragged into this mess, along with computer nerd hacker Matt Farrell. Together they use the crisis as an excuse to blow up as many things as possible. These obligatory spectacular stunts, staged with flair by director Len Wiseman, include taking a helicopter out with a speeding car, a hilarious scene with a car in a lift shaft, and a monumentally daft moment involving a fighter plane, a freeway, and a truck.

Bruce Willis is as likeable as ever in the lead, and Justin Long’s Farrell is a good value sidekick. Unfortunately, the villains are fairly unremarkable. Timothy Olyphant’s mastermind Thomas Gabriel is a pale shadow of Alan Rickman’s memorably frightening original terrorist leader, and Maggie Q’s Mai Lihn is just plain silly. On the plus side, there is an amusing Kevin Smith cameo, plus some fun references to the original film, such as an FBI agent who is called agent Johnson.

Yet despite this, the feeling of déjà vu is unavoidable. The original Die Hard remains a classic, but since then action cinema has moved on. The ante has been upped by the Jason Bourne films, The Matrix, and others. Even James Bond largely dispensed with wisecracks in the excellent Casino Royale, and here the quality of McClane’s quips fails to match their hilarious counterparts in the original film. And it isn’t just cinema that has made the Die Hard franchise seem old-fashioned. Nerve shredding television thrillers like 24 with its hairpin twists and post 9/11 sophistication have created a new breed of action hero, making John McClane seem comparatively tame and predictable.

In short, this is enjoyably brainless fare, but don’t expect to remember anything about it afterwards.

Simon Dillon, July 2007.