Live Free or Die Hard: Movie Review (2007)

Armed with its gung-ho American title and released just as the country is set to celebrate its independence is Len Wiseman's "Live Free or Die Hard," which turns out to be that odd sequel that works more often than it doesn't

This fourth film in the "Die Hard" franchise offers exactly what you expect, only with more outlandish stunts, a bigger budget, and an older Bruce Willis returning as John McClane, the New York City cop who this time out finds himself up against his most formidable foe yet--computers--which McClane admits he knows nothing about.

Working from Mark Bomback's script, it's here that the film offers its wink and its twist. Co-starring opposite Willis is Justin Long, the dude from those hip Apple Computer commercials, who goes a long way in making "Live Free or Die Hard" as enjoyable as it is. Here, the actor is Matt Farrell, a New Jersey-based computer hack who has run afoul of the law and who McClane is ordered to bring to Washington, D.C., for questioning.

Trouble is, Farrell also is wanted by some seriously stylish thugs who are out to destroy the U.S. defense system because of issues surrounding 9/11. Led by Timothy Olyphant's Thomas Gabriel and Maggie Q as his vicious girlfriend, the group--mostly French, thus kicking to the curb any goodwill built up in "Ratatouille"--are a merciless, acrobatic bunch who will stop at nothing to snuff Farrell and anyone else who gets in their way.

Since that means McClane and, by extension, his estranged daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Whitehead), each of whom is tougher than these terrorists think, the wheels come off the plot as the computer-generated mayhem begins.

Though some of the stunts are well-conceived, working against the movie is that too many feel tweaked and rehashed--not that that's a surprise. If Hollywood's old creed was to give audiences what they want, now it's to give audiences what they know.

Offering more of the same isn't just this season's most depressing trend--the sheer number of sequels, for instance, is as wearying as the attention paid to Ann Coulter's mouth or Paris Hilton's life--it's come to the point where some might be longing for an extended stretch of something new.

Finding that will prove difficult in "Live Free or Die Hard," so it's good that Willis remains so solid in the role, and that the chemistry he shares with Long--not to mention with Kevin Smith in a key subplot--is as appealing as it is distracting.

Grade: B-

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