A Good Day To Die Hard
The infamous John McClane (Bruce Willis) returns for his fifth time on the silver screen some six years after his last outing in his white vest, and though I didn’t think a lot of that film I still thought I’d give it a shot.
Plot
The biggest failing of this movie I think was its plot, or perhaps relative lack thereof.
The entire story starts with some serious deus ex machina, just how exactly does a regular policeman manage to track down someone who is supposedly an under cover CIA agent? It doesn’t really get any better either as there isn’t really any characterisation, some of the motivations for the characters are pretty flimsy and from talking to friends even this is not entirely obvious either.
There is a particular scene where Bruce is unloading an entire ammunition belt into a group of bad guys (that’s not really a spoiler is it?) but they are all running in from the same place like a line of ducks at a fair. Seriously? Especially considering their entrance into that scene paints them as slightly less than idiotic it did stick in my mind as poor direction. Oh and if you’re not a fan of Mercedes be warned they seem to have the product placement in the first half of this film.
Then again I think most people might just be expecting a Die Hard film to be one where Bruce Willis wears a white vest, shoots lots of guns, explosions and smashed glass everywhere…
Cast
I have to say that the interplay between Jai and Bruce really didn’t work all that well for me, there could have been something a bit more there but it was a little rigid. Also it felt like Willis was quite tired of playing McClane, even though he has talked about doing another to finish the series, and if the critical reviews of this outing are anything to go by then I expect that we won’t see another really. He was still recognisably John even though somewhat aged and “just on vacation” as he keeps reminding us throughout the film.
The “scumbags” of the film were also quite dull, even predictable at points. Yuliya Snigir and Sebastian Koch’s parts could have been far better than just a mad russian terrorist. Radivoje Bukvic seems a little out of place as well, perhaps because he was putting his own spin on it but I just couldn’t tell to be honest.
Visuals & Effects
The sets were nice enough and it was good to see a film set in Russia which didn’t have the stereotypical snow everywhere, they do get other weather sometimes! That and the special effects weren’t necessarily over done meant it was easy enough to watch. However nothing was particularly impressive, set pieces were just run of the mill and none of the chase or fight scenes were actually all that engaging really.
Soundtrack
I was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed by the audio on this film, it was crisp when needed and some nice use of muffling here and there added a little to the edits. The sound scape as a whole, particularly musical score, was pretty bland though and whilst it didn’t spoil anything it didn’t really stand out. Much like the rest of this run of the mill film.
Conclusion
I would give this a 2.5 but I can’t be bothered to create a new graphic for it, really not worth watching at the cinema and only one for the TV when you want some simple gun toting Bruce Willis action. The Die Hard series has slumped quite a bit from its original which is still enjoyable despite being a little dated now, this latest in the series is only one to throw on for a marathon if you ask me.
Have you seen A Good Day To Die Hard? Are you a fan of the series? Disagree with what I have said? Share your thoughts in the comments! Just try to avoid spoilers if possible please…
