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Of all the he-men actors who broke through on the big screen in the 1980s, Bruce Willis is really the only one who could make his alter-ego action figure seem like anything but a joke 20 years down the line. Think about it: “Lethal Anti-Semitic Weapon.” “Conan the Governator.
” “Under Siege at Starbucks.” “Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Double Bypass.” That’s the best we could hope for from Willis’ one-time rivals.
But Willis has remained viable as an actor and a tough guy. His tough-as-nails John McClane, last seen in 1995’s “Die Hard: With a Vengeance,” doesn’t come out of mothballs so much as he steps from the gym into the street in “Live Free or Die Hard.” In his fourth screen outing, McClane is older, if not wiser.
He’s proud to cling to his old-school ways, whether in his parenting techniques with daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) or in fighting off baddies with machine guns. John gets a late-night call to pick up a computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long), in New Jersey and transport him to Washington, D.C.
What seems like a task for which he is overqualified turns into something right up John’s alley when armed men try to take out Matt while John is trying to pick him up. John gets Matt to D.C.
, but by then FBI honcho Bowman (Cliff Curtis) has more important things to deal with than a hacker who may have been involved in briefly interrupting FBI systems. The entire nation is experiencing computer-network problems in transportation and emergency services. Technologically ignorant as he may be, John is able to see a link between Matt and the bigger picture.
He drags the young man along on a wild ride to get to the villain, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), behind the chaos. “Live Free or Die Hard” shifts the “Die Hard” series from the 20th to the 21st century matter-of-factly. Yes, John McClane is a dinosaur.
Yes, he needs a sarcastic youthful sidekick to clue him in to the way things are. Yes, he needs to face updated techniques in martial arts and parkour. And yes, when push comes to shove, nothing works better than one of McClane’s trademark gun moves or blunt-force wallops.
Mark Bomback’s screenplay captures McClane’s irreverent sense of humor, and director Len Wiseman stages the action sequences powerfully and never lets the pace flag. The supporting cast, which also includes Maggie Q, Kevin Smith, Zeljko Ivanek and Tim Russ, mixes traditional “Die Hard” types with updated action archetypes. Once again, Willis backs up McClane’s macho mouth with dynamic and creative action.
If he goes over the top — how many three-story falls can one man survive? — it’s only a reminder that moviegoers want “that guy” to be their hero. News Sentinel film critic Betsy Pickle may be reached at 865-342-6442 or pickle@knews.
com. _Enjoy The Pickle Dish at http://blogs.knox_news.
com/knx/pickle/.
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