Review of A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) by Walter M — 25 Dec 2014

When Jack(Jai Courtney) gets arrested on drug charges in Moscow, of course his father, no matter how much he hates flying, will travel all that way to visit him. When said father is NYPD Detective John McClane(Bruce Willis), you know it's not going to be that simple. But he couldn't have expected the part about his son actually being a CIA agent breaking out Komarov(Sebastian Koch), a political dissident, out of prison. So of course, John does what every parent should do, and impedes and then assists his son who then returns the favor by rescuing his father. All of which occurs with huge amounts of property damage, of course.

First off, a couple of things you need to know about "A Good Day to Die Hard." One, it's not as bad as you heard, nor is Bruce Willis sleepwalking through the movie.(And Jai Courtney is not bad either.) However, the movie could have worked best as a silent movie for its first two acts, as there is a lot of wooden dialogue to work through. But at the same time, you have to remember that this is a family who needs to be literally under fire, especially if it involves Eurotrash, before they can deal with their various issues and this is no different. Plus, the McClanes are not the only family with issues in this movie. That all leads up to a thrilling, if typically improbable, climax that sadly does not involve John McClane either overthrowing Putin or attending a Pussy Riot concert.