INSTEP Magzine

With Live Free or Die Hard, Bruce Willis returns to the big screen and thankfully he still has the charm to pull his fans back to watch the sequel. The movie, which is an action packed adventure, will definitely leave Bruce Willis fans delighted.

It takes place some 19 years after the first of the series and sees John McClane fighting a virtual terrorist attack, based on an article, 'Farewell to arms' for Wire magazine.

The film begins with a terrorist violating FBI's computer system and computer hackers getting assassinated by terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) instead of being paid for their collaboration.
The FBI sends John McClane to hunt down a known hacker Mathew Farrell (Justin Long) as per investigation. Both these guys escape Gabriel's assassination attempt and what follows is high impact action with special effects. The fast paced story line (though overdone) and visually gripping scenes leaves no room for losing interest.

What leaves one feeling a little uneasy about the story was John McClane's escape from every attack, making it clear that Bruce Willis is the same courageous John McClane that we have seen in the last three flicks. Although John McClane is not shown as a technology savvy person, yet he manages to keep the viewer glued to the screen with his phenomenal stunts.

Even though Bruce Willis has been around but other than Sin City, he hasn't managed to retain his fan following and the biggest reason has been lack of decent films. Before Die Hard, Bruce was last seen in Perfect Stranger, which didn't really give this huge star the required attention, as he appeared to be actress Hally Barry's sidekick. Coupled with the fact that the film was a convoluted, psychological drama gone awry was an even bigger disappointment.

With this film, it is incredible to see the aging actor, who is 52 years old, pull off an action hero. He is still in shape enough for doing most of the stunts on his own. Another reason to like Bruce Willis in the movie is his aggressive and bizarre attitude of wanting to punch just about anyone that messes with him. Part of the credit goes to the director for still having faith in the fading actor and obviously, Bruce Willis who's worked really hard to make the comeback. But really, no one could have done the role better. Besides the whole idea of Die Hard series would have died if there were a different McClane.

The fabulous stunts and overwhelming action, done old fashion way is something to look forward to in the flick which comes as a breath of fresh air in the on going techno generated stunts era over shadowing the minor loopholes and repetitiveness of the story line. On the other hand, the techno- terrorist formula flicks have come and gone, this one however, has nail biting action, which takes care of the done to death story line leaving one wanting to watch yet another flick (preferably with a new storyline) with Willis as the saviour.

Die hard fans will surely want a Die Hard 5 especially after the video game for Xbox 360 that followed soon after Die Hard 4's release. This film has certainly left the audience wanting for more creative and entertaining fights by their much-loved John McClane. With John McClane's return, it is clear that viewers are not over and done with their action hero and wouldn't want to see anyone else in his place.
--Ayecha Ahmed

*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME