A Good Day to Die Hard – Mini Movie Review

The “Die Hard” franchise was never the one to make much sense or really be grounded in reality, but its protagonist, John McClane, redeemed it: he was relatable, reliable, undefeated but ultimately mortal. Don’t expect any of that in “A Good Day to Die Hard.”

Director John Moore has elevated McClane to the status of immortal butt kicker / superhero but, in the process, he also robbed him of all personality, all humanity, all chances for us to like him.

This is a film that deadens the senses, hoping you won’t notice how shameless it is and, because of it, a major blot on a franchise that goes back decades.

What I Liked

Bruce Willis as John McClane. Jai Courtney as his son Jack McClane. Bruce and Jai together.

“A Good Day to Die Hard” is funny in places and entertaining in even fewer. Bruce Willis can still carry a movie on his own, and could have done even better had he been given a proper script. Jai could easily take the franchise from him in future installments – and you just know they’re coming.

What I Didn’t Like

Because producers didn’t want modern audiences to think they were serving an old movie franchise (though they were), they packed into this one more explosions, crashes and shootouts than you could ever imagine. No joke, I have seen more than a fair share of action flicks and I wasn’t expecting this.

I was almost surprised they still remembered to have McClane and his “Yippee kai-yay” in it, what with being so busy tearing down half of Mother Russia.

The CGI is bad. The story is ridiculous. The camera work is wobbly and distracting: Moore might have thought this was a good idea, but all it did was give me a headache, not get me in the action or distract me from the flawed VFX.

Conclusion

The Players

Director: John Moore Writers: Skip Woods, Roderick Thorp Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch Rated R