Scene - Blogs - Review A Good Day to Die Hard

Review: "A Good Day to Die Hard"
Published: 2/14/2013 3:35 PM
Last Modified: 2/14/2013 3:55 PM

"A Good Day to Die Hard" will be a good time at the movies if you enter the theater with this in mind: This picture is the poster child for big, dumb action movies, but at least it has Bruce Willis as John McClane.

You must be ready to embrace that concept.

I'm not saying that adding John McClane to a "Transformers" movie would make that series watchable, but John McClane does make everything better.

You must be enthralled at the simple idea of reuniting with McClane, the New York cop who cracks wise and busts skulls, because you can't go in with expectations that "A Good Day to Die Hard" will have any value beyond massive property damage, or that it will necessarily make sense.

Scan the screen and you find that what is not shot to pieces is blown up. Seemingly everything explodes in this picture. Just don't think too much about the story — your head may explode.

It would be wrong for anyone to think the fifth entry in this series delivers anything near the caliber of 1988's "Die Hard," a classic of the action-movie genre that made Willis a star.

That template featured a charismatic leading man, an outstanding villain and superbly staged action set pieces. It combined a plot involving foreign interests buying American (the Japanese in that one) with McClane playing "fly in the ointment" inside a skyscraper and knocking off eurotrash bad guys.

"Die Hard" was fast-paced, funny and brought out our patriotic rah-rah rooting interests. Four movies since have duplicated that concept with varying degrees of success, with nuance falling by the wayside to be replaced by gunplay and lame villains.

The new film finds McClane has evolved from regular-Joe tough guy to worried-dad tough guy, afraid that his son Jack (Jai Courtney, formerly of cable TV's "Spartacus" and recently a villain in "Jack Reacher") isn't communicating with him because he's in some sort of trouble in Russia.

It turns out the pair are estranged because Dad always worked a lot (that's the depth of characterization to expect throughout the film), and Jack is actually a CIA operative in Moscow attempting to extract a Russian political prisoner.

Don't think too hard during the movie, or you will realize multiple plot points simply don't add up. Later double-crosses and triple-crosses among Russian thieves are laughable. If you turn off your brain, at least you won’t be laughing by the time the bad guys and good guys end up in a loud, crazy conclusion involving a nuclear-weapons threat.

"A Good Day" is the kind of movie you want to laugh with, rather than laugh at, but you may not be able to help yourself.

Laugh along instead while McClane and son (and oodles of stuntmen) wreck hundreds of cars in Moscow traffic, in a chase worthy of a James Bond movie opening.

Or as McClane repeatedly bellows "I'm on vacation!" while crashing a helicopter or while driving his vehicle off a bridge onto a car-carrier and then on top of people’s sedans ("Sorry, ma'am," he says while squishing her car's roof).

"I'm on vacation!" won't enter the catchphrase pantheon along with "Yippee-ki-yay, mother "you-know-what" (um, he's not on vacation).

But then nothing here stands up to the original.

Not that the picture isn't unapologetic fun, and not that Willis isn't having the time of his life while blood and sweat stream down his face. Not that the stunts aren't spectacular — they are.

Some will decide that "A Good Day to Die Hard" is a good time for McClane and the series to call it a day. But darned if Willis as McClane wasn't enough for me to enjoy his big, dumb movie.

Recent Blog Posts

There's a new dollar-movie theater in town

The best picture nominee you haven't seen arrives in Tulsa

Attend "Die Hard" marathon, see new movie Wednesday

Harris Poll: America's favorite actor is....

Reader Comments

2 Total

Show: Newest First

Learn About Our Comment Policy

News Addict (1 day ago)

I call these kinds of movies "popcorn movies." The only expectation is to have a good time.

Dee-Bo (1 day ago)

I am Die Hard. Top five movie of mine.

2 comments displayed

To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.

To sign in to your account, go to tulsaworld.com/signin.
To activate your print subscription for unlimited digital access and to post comments, go to tulsaworld.com/activate.
To purchase a subscription, go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe.

I See Movies for Free

“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

Follow Michael Smith on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog

2/16/2013		Broken Arrow movie theater moves to discount showings
2/15/2013		Review: 'Amour'
2/15/2013		Review: 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
2/15/2013		Review: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/14/2013		Review: 'Quartet'
2/14/2013		Shirley MacLaine to speak at Osage Casino
2/14/2013		Weekly rewind: February 14
2/14/2013		REVIEW: 'Beautiful Creatures'
2/12/2013		Belgian best picture hopeful 'Amour' opens in Tulsa on Friday
2/10/2013		'Die Hard' marathon at AMC Southroads on Wednesday ends with new film
2/9/2013		Review: 'Identity Thief' a stupid movie from stupid idea
2/8/2013		Oscar audit: Critics choices for best picture hold up over time

2/2013	1/2013	12/2012	11/2012	10/2012	9/2012
8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
8/2011	7/2011	6/2011	5/2011	4/2011	3/2011
2/2011	1/2011	12/2010	11/2010	10/2010	9/2010
8/2010	7/2010	6/2010	5/2010	4/2010	3/2010
2/2010	1/2010	12/2009	11/2009	10/2009	9/2009
8/2009	7/2009	6/2009	5/2009	4/2009	3/2009
2/2009	1/2009	12/2008	11/2008	10/2008	9/2008
8/2008	7/2008	6/2008	5/2008	4/2008	3/2008
2/2008	1/2008	12/2007	11/2007	10/2007	9/2007
8/2007	7/2007	6/2007

Your bookmark will appear on your Profile page. Please give it a title, and short description so that visitors to your page will understand where the bookmark leads.
Bookmark Title :

Bookmark Text :