A Good Day to Die Hard

Can you believe that this franchise is 25 years old? Makes you feel kind of old, doesn't it? It all started with a summer fluff escapism film in 1988 called "Die Hard" with a much younger Bruce Willis. Well it made so much money for 20th Century Fox Pictures, that they decided to cash in on this fun again by producing "Die Hard 2" in 1990, and it did well at the box office as well. Then they figured that even though Willis is getting a bit older, they thought if they're going to produce another one, better do it now, hence the third installment, "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" in 1995. Audiences change, but than after a good many years have gone by, a new audience would appreciate this kind of film, so once again, "Live Free or Die Hard" was born in 2007. The bets were accurate, because a new audience was born from "Live Free or Die Hard", so after still a number of years, 20th Century Fox decided to produce yet another sequel still using those catchy names--this one being "A Good Day to Die Hard".

Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners NYC cop John McClane (Willis), for the first time, finds himself on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack (Jai Courtney)--unaware that Jack is really a highly trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist, with the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their very different methods make them unstoppable. The question is: Which Russian is really the bad guy?

Others to round out the cast are Sebastian Koch as Komarov, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy, Jack's sister, Yuliya Snigir as Irina, Komarov's daughter, Rasha Bukvic as Alik, Cole Hauser as Collins, Amaury Nolasco as Murphy, Sergey Kolesnikov as Chagarin, and Roman Luknar as Anton.

This was intensely and grippingly directed by John Moore ("Behind Enemy Lines" '01, "Flight of the Phoenix" '04, "The Omen" '06, "Max Payne" '08). It was surprisingly well written by Skip Woods ("Thursday" '98, "Swordfish" '01, "Hitman" '07, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" '09, "The A-Team" '10). I actually thought that after a 25 year stint for this franchise, that film number five would be trite and incredibly predictable, but with some predictability involved, it was still able to capture my attention.

If you're into Willis and action, adrenaline-packed films, you'll be wowed, but even if you're not, Willis as McClane and seeing this middle-aged guy still be able to keep up physically in a film you'd think he wouldn't be able to handle, Is even more enjoyable. Who knew?

Out of 4 Stars: 3                          Rated: R                        98mins.