McClane is back and this time it's technological! (Die Hard 4.0 (DVD))

Member Name: Weis83j

Product:	Die Hard 4.0 (DVD)
Date:	11/11/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good premise, lively action, good pace

Disadvantages: Characters and dialogue a bit lacking

I have to admit I liked all the previous Die Hard films and I have to say I like this one as well. It's wothwhile value for money if anything with action sequences aplenty. Perhaps the odd cliche appears but it's still a good movie.

PLOT

The storyline seems to have a lot in common with the third installment as the heroes of the film try to work out what the evil master plot is and move around east coast of America trying to locate the villain. I don't want to give too much away but it is quite convincing even if it is done in a grand scale, but hey that's Hollywood. The drive of the film makes large use of the new information technologies available and their manipulation, this provides the main premise for most of what happens. This DVD was based on a 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin.

To summarise what happens without giving too much away, McClane is protecting a computer hacker who inadvertently got involved in some high grade espionage. The two then set about putting things right in a large ransom and robbery caper of the electronic kind. I liked both the action sequences, of which there a few big ones, and the hacker narrative. I would recommend this flick on those aspects alone as they give a different slant on the formula of this franchise. I enjoyed it for these reasons mainly. The suspense doesn't really bite in my view and maybe the action is a bit far fetched. I will say this much, the picture gets off a great explosive start with some nice nuances of the older Die Hards but becomes kind of tired towards the middle and end.


CHARACTERS

In my opinion the characters aren't the best realised and even McClane seems to show some weariness in this release. Bruce Willis does a good enough job but I felt it wasn't the same gung ho wise cracking McClane of the first film. All the other parts seem stereotypical, these include the hackers, the FBI goons, the villians and McClane's "damsel in distress" daughter. The acting isn't outstanding but passes muster.


DIALOGUE

I didn't think much of the story telling in this case, there were times I wondered what or why things were happening as if lacked a bit of clarity. The dialogue seemed to set up the next action sequence and there wasn't a "Yippee ki-ay" moment. Maybe John McC has matured.


CONCLUSION

Despite some of the criticisms I have picked out, in my honest opinion this is still a better than average film, and I think the whole is better than the sum of its parts (no pun intended). It's definitely worth seeing and isn't the end of the franchise by any means.

Summary: Kept my interest with a new slant on an existing formula