A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD - Review

A Good Day to Die Hard

Action, 2013
1 hour 40 minutes
Written by Skip Woods
Directed by John Moore

Starring
Bruce Willis
Jai Courtney
Sebastian Koch
Yuliya Snigir

"I kinda thought we would just wing it. You know, running in, guns blazing. Make it up as we go."

One thing that's so fantastic about the original Die Hard is how an ordinary NY cop takes on a bunch of terrorists and wins. With NO SHOES. That was back in '88. It's 2013. We're in that phase where Hollywood wants to make remakes, sequels, and turn old heroes into, well, old heroes.
A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest in the franchise, is, frankly, the worst day to die hard. It isn't necessarily a bad movie, but the writing isn't very strong, some of the dialogue is a little cliche, and hell, it just feels like a rehashed Hollywood action flick sequel. It doesn't really feel like there's anything at stake until the 3rd act of the film. Aside from Bruce Willis and "yippie kay-yay," it just feels pretty standard.
The action itself is very rocky. There are a few cool moments, a few absurd moments, and one of the worst car chase scenes you'll ever see. It happens a few minutes into the movie, but it suffers from shaky camera syndrome and just looks so badly edited that you can hardly tell what the fuck is going on. There are plenty of gunfights to be had, although there's only one that really stands out as being totally awesome. And for some reason a bunch of helicopters blow up. Seriously, there are like maybe two helicopters that belong to the two big set-piece battles.
That being said, Bruce Willis is still the good ol wise cracking John McClaine that we know and love. It isn't his finest performance as McClaine, but at least it's strong. New to the fray is McClaine's son, Jack, who turns out to be a bit more like his old man than you'd expect. The two have a strained relationship, but it feels a bit forced since we've never really seen his son that much in any of the other films. At least the actors have decent chemistry. Other characters, mainly the villains, just seem useless other than to accelerate the plot, coming across as being quirky but then just don't do anything beyond that. Plot points feel pushed a bit thin, sometimes to the point of stupidity. At least there are a couple of decent twists.
All in all, it's another bad day for John McClaine, even if it isn't the most entertaining of the bunch. It feels very much like a typical Hollywood action flick, which sucks, because at least the original trilogy had a lot more heart than this. But if you're a Die Hard fan, then it's probably worth seeing at least once. If you're not a Die Hard fan, save your money.

5/10