I honestly don't know what inspired me to see this film. The trailer didn't really do much for me. Other than the fact that it was another "Die Hard" movie and it immediately had me recollecting the greatness of the first two in the series. Or maybe it was because I wanted to see how Bruce Willis would hold up doing yet another action flick at 57-years-old. Whatever the case may be, I found myself too impatient to wait for it at Redbox so to the matinee I went.
"A Good Day to Die Hard" is now the fifth installment in the "Die Hard" series. In this latest one, John McClane (Willis) travels to Russia to help out his son, Jack (Jai Courtney) who he thinks has gone astray. However, John arrives only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working undercover to preven ta nuclear weapons heist. It's not long before father and son team up against more bad guys so John can thwart yet another diabolical scheme.
It was just a matter of time before McClane's kids were brought into the franchise. We first learned about them way back in the original "Die Hard". They had to grow up sometime. So of course the son would take after the dad. Maybe even the daughter. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they decided to make here the focus of the next movie. Because you KNOW there will be a next movie. And if they knew any better, they would stop after this one.
From the very beginning, McClane's character didn't look comfortable. It was more than just the fact that he was in Russia and didn't want to be there. It was more like Willis didn't want to be in the movie at all. He didn't look like his heart was in it. Like he was just sleepwalking through the role. He even physically looked like that. I expected him to be at least a little cut up for something so phyiscally demanding. It really did seem like Willis was just in this as a money grab.
This one just did not have enough bite in it to be any distinguishable from the other flicks. Definitely not enough for it to be just as entertaining. The action sequences came across as WAY too over the top. A gunner helicopter is going to open fire on a building where John and Jack are and not a SINGLE bullet hits them? Not to mention that they jump thru a window several stories and just happen to get lucky enough to have something safely break their fall? Now don't get me wrong, the "Die Hard" movies have been filled with such exaggerations, but they took it to a ridiculous level in this one.
It also didn't help that the main bad guy had no charisma. Either one (since they tried to trick us as to who the bad guy really was). I don't think there was anything they could do in that regard. I'm not sure there will ever be another villain as awesome as Hans (Alan Rickman) from the first one. There's really no point in even trying to match him. But at least they could have had one that was somewhat interesting. If there was ever a movie that I should have fell asleep on, this was the one. I was better off just enjoying the trailers and waiting for its debut on cable.
My rating: D
