Live Free or Die Hard: DVD, Blu-ray Review (2007)

Len Wiseman's "Live Free or Die Hard" 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--the computer--which McClane admits he knows nothing about.

It's here that the film offers its wink and a twist.

Co-starring opposite Willis is Justin Long, the dude from the Apple Computer commercials, who goes a long way in making "Live Free or Die Hard" as enjoyable as it is.

He's 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 is 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.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

Read a full review of the movie here.