Review of Live Free or Die Hard (2007) by Marie L — 05 Jan 2015

This is the film that changed my mind on giving a huge licensed property to an odd choice of director. Len Wiseman has done a great job with this sequel, with an interesting story and inventive action, Live Free or Die Hard is a very good sequel that has the same spirit of the previous films and proof that age rating doesn't matter.

One of the best things that this gets right is the character of John McClane and Bruce Willis is still brilliant. Even after all these years the character is still intact and he is still very human and relatable. The story of this film is very unique as its an analog cop going up against cyber terrorists and the inclusion of Justin Long's character fits in really well; by themselves they don't stand a chance but together they help one another out and work great together, both as characters and actors. The villain is also good, Timothy Olyphant is pretty great in anything he does but he was especially great here and he really made me hate his character, he is a memorable villain and lives up to the others in the series. To be honest, the cast for this film is pretty solid; Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great as the daughter, Maggie Q was downright awesome and Kevin Smith was a fun and nice, albeit weird, addition. Everyone else does a great job as well, Len Wiseman directs all of his actors well.

The action in this film is very inventive, every scene that had action was something different every time and it was interesting to watch. Sure, as the film goes on it increasingly gets more preposterous with a few slow mo scenes thrown in but some of those action scenes don't directly involve John McClane so it can slide; and even with the scenes that DO involve him, the film doesn't really treat him like a super hero and given the tension and how much we care for McClane, we buy it and it works, even if that plane stunt was crazy. Given all the action, there is a lot of time looking at computer screens and it never gets in the way, like one might expect at first, it's works and it's all balanced well. The film had a brilliant pace and the film sped by really quickly, the script also didn't forget the humor and they make quite a lot of references to the old films, Willis and Long share witty jokes and overall it's just really funny and all without a reference to Christmas!

The age rating doesn't really bother me as I still think the film is great either way but there are a few parts where it causes slight issue. John McClane, thankfully, still gets bloodied up like in all the other films but as for everyone else but it does seem kind of odd to have someone fall in a turbine and not have any blood go anywhere, especially because of McClane's reaction to that death. Besides that, there are some points where the audio isn't matching up with the way things are going on screen and it is really noticeable. It's almost like this film was made to be like the rest and then altered right at the last minute. Still though, they manage to work in the catchphrase in really well but, even with the censor but I'm pretty sure you're allowed to get away with one f bomb, oh well.

This honesty would have been a fantastic final hurrah for the character of John McClane and with the lower age rating it would have made sense to try to get as much money as you can for one final film but oh wait, they made... THAT sequel. Regardless, Live Free or Die Hard is a really well made sequel that still has the John McClane we love with great modern action stunts, it's a solid summer movie and a long awaited sequel done in the best way possible.