Hard man Bruce Willis returns in an exciting thriller, writes Michael Dwyer
In the 12 years since hard- boiled detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) last saved the world in Die Hard with a Vengeance, he has passed 50 and lost the last remnants of his hair. McClane's ungrateful wife has divorced him, even though he risked his life so often to save hers in the earlier movies. His daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a sassy student who shows him no respect, although we suspect she's introduced merely for hostage purposes when push comes to shove.
After 30 years with the NYPD, McClane feels disillusioned and unappreciated after all his unstinting valour and resourcefulness in the line of duty. No wonder he's more cynical than ever. Surprisingly, he's not foul-mouthed any more, although that has less to do with a shift in character than to ensure a PG-13 rating in the US. And his trademark white vest, which got progressively dirtier during the first three movies in the franchise, has been swapped for a green top.
Refreshingly, what has not changed is that Die Hard the series continues to be propelled by vigorous action sequences and superlative stunt work at a time when so many movies are in thrall to see-though CG effects. This is ironic given that the scenario of Die Hard 4.0 (released in the US as Live Free or Die Hard) deals with a dastardly scheme involving no less than shutting down the entire computer infrastructure of the United States.
Having tackled heavily accented Euro villains played by Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons, McClane now takes on an American nemesis for the first post-9/11 film in the series. Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), a smug but disgruntled former government computer expert, is in cahoots with his glacially efficient, elastic-limbed lover (Maggie Q) who, despite her deceptively slight frame, easily manages to fling McClane across the length of a room.
Earlier, parkour maestro Cyril Raffaelli (from the exhilarating District 13) gets the series back to basics in a dazzling cameo as one of Gabriel's lackeys, leaping over a building, landing on an air conditioning unit and swinging across and down three fire escapes - all in a single take.
His purpose is to kill ace computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long, resembling a younger, scruffier Keanu Reeves). As it happens, McClane, who is proudly computer- illiterate, has just been assigned to escort Farrell from his New Jersey apartment to Washington, DC for questioning. Quizzically eyeing one of Farrell's action figures, McClane barks, "Do you play with dolls?" Our hero, it transpires, has lost none of his penchant for sardonic wise- cracks, especially when the going gets tough, as invariably it does.
The visceral action kicks in and continues relentlessly for two hours as McClane guides the terrified hacker through a series of breathlessly paced races and chases, one a duel with a helicopter, another with a fighter plane. On his third feature after the Underworld movies, director Len Wiseman - who was 15 when the first Die Hard was released - stages the extravagant mayhem with dynamic flair.
There is no detour for romantic subplots, and the only relationship that is formed is the tentative cross-generational bonding between McClane and Farrell. Nor is there any over- plotting in this flab-free thriller, unlike the other recent summer sequels. Die Hard 4.0 is more entertaining than all of them combined.
