The Bon Vivant of Brooklyn

The first true Summer blockbuster is here!  Forget the pirates and the superheroes, it's all about John McClane, the unstoppable one-man terrorist-destroying-machine.  This time the creators pulled out all the stops; Director Len Wiseman has brought forth a worthy successor to the dynasty 19 years after the original film, recovering from the disappointing Die Hard with a Vengeance (which I think only slightly redeems itself with its judicious usage of Samuel L. Jackson).

There were at least as many thrills here as there are in the seminal film in the series (which I happened to catch clips of on television earlier today - young Bruce Willis!  With hair!!), and perhaps there are more; though Timothy Olyphant's dry-mouthed, even-tempered, wide eyed and baby faced villian does no justice to Alan Rickman's villainous Hans Gruber (HAAAANNNNS!!!).  Tim really could have used some sinister facial hair!  Honestly, the role really could have been done much better by Sam Rockwell, Christian Bale, or Ed Norton - someone who could have injected the right amount of rabid ultra-patriotism, overinflated ego, and self-righteousness into the black hat hacker who breaks things just to prove he's right.

Still, this is all besides the point, as the film still delivers a solid ride.  Just when you think it can't get any more over the top, WHAM you get a shot right to the chin, and McClane pulls off another incredible stunt.  You definitely will get the full experience of the film if you take a date who doesn't mind grabbing you or being grabbed at all the high adrenaline moments.  Also, fans of La Parkour (the French acrobatic art of urban/rooftop running) will get an extra thrill from Cyril Raffaelli of District B13 fame.

Ultimately, the story is a sort of passing of the torch and feels like the closing chapter of the saga, as McClane takes a young hacker (Justin Long, who is a Mac, not a PC) under his wing as a reluctant partner; it is a new age of digital terrorism, where McClane supposedly can't cope - but who can?  The answer is no one, certainly not even an enormous, all-powerful government that supposedly trains to handle these disasters.  The "Live Free or Die" part of the title does touch a little bit on the theme of fighting for freedom from fear and oppression, but in the end you see that everyone is really just running around not knowing what to do, and the fate of the whole country rests solely in the hands of our favorite NYPD detective.  They may as well have called this one "John McClane versus God" as the bad guys are seemingly omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent through the use of technology.

The film also claims to be based in part on a Wired article from May of 1997 which is probably one of the first works to openly discuss "cyber-war."  And I do have to say, they did a very decent job of making the technology believeable; they didn't misuse any terminology or make any blatant technical errors.

All told, I would totally go see this movie again with friends.  It's a real crowd-pleaser, and it's going to be huge this Fourth of July.