LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007)

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007)

Out of all the DIE HARD movies so far, this one for me was the craziest, but the tagline sucked, so I am not even putting that in this review. 

In this one the United States experiences its first real-life fire sale, something hackers have only theorized about until now. The FBI in Washington DC, is at a loss to figure out who is controlling their transmissions, streetlights, stock market and more. One by one hackers are being killed off by this ominous group of cyber terrorists and it’s up to John “come up to the coast, we’ll have a few laughs” McClane (played by Bruce Willis) to get to the hacker who might be the possible next target (played by Justin Long) before he ends up on a milk cartoon or worse. This one also introduces John McClane’s daughter Lucy Gennaro McClane (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead probably best known for SCOTT PILGRIM) who is just as much of a bit of trouble for the cyber terrorists, as John is. 

There are some awesome villains in this movie and the stakes are pretty high. Thomas Gabriel (played by Timothy Olyphant) wants to take down the entire US infrastructure just because the FBI wouldn’t listen to his plans on security protocol for the nation. His partner in crime is Mai Linh (played by Maggie Q, who is awesome in everything she is in) and she will break your legs like toothpicks with her arms tied behind her back. There are more than a few rad things about this movie, but the stunts and action sequences are by far the best in the entire series. Yes, I said that, settle down. Take a deep breath and keep reading. 

Reasons this movie is freakin amazing - 

1) Not only is Thomas Gabriel a great villain he’s backed by a team of hackers that have far more power than Hans Gruber in the original movie. I will say that Hans is still the best “single” villain in the series however. 

2)The dialog is not only intriguing it’s a commentary on just how fragile our “real” systems might be. Justin Long’s character also gives a really haunting bit of dialog on big media and news outlets control of our brains. It’s almost prophetic is a way and it’s even more scary how in 2020 everything in his dialog has come to life for millions. 

3) it’s one of the few movies that has a Christian band for even a brief moment. “Flyleaf” was in their prime when this thing came out. 

4) Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a great Lucy McClane. She will kick your freakin teeth in. 

5) Last but not least, John destroys a helicopter with a flying car in this thing. Nothing in the series even comes close to the action sequences we get in this movie. It’s outstanding. I know I kind of said that already but it needed to be reiterated. 

I probably watch this movie once every few years, but it still sticks the landing at a 7 out of 7 for me. It’s also got more than enough of the John McClane we loved from the first movie. Thanks God it doesn’t have any of the terrible one we got in A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless. Until next time.