Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

I wasn't sure to expect with this one, because I had never seen any of the Die Hard movies from 20 years ago, and I don't plan on seeing them. I was 100th in line at the library, and miraculously it became available to me the same weekend that Courtney is staying out at camp. It's a movie I think she wouldn't mind missing.


It was actually pretty good. It is the first movie I've seen which is about terrorists taking over the computers of the nation. Even though the computer geeks are their main weapons, there are still plenty of guns in the movie. They take out the transportation systems and the financial markets, and the city/nation is in chaos. They have plans to wipe out basic utility services.

So our hero, Detective John McClane gets a call in the middle of the night to pick up a computer geek, who the terrorists are trying to kill. The computer programmer obviously will be useful to stop the terrorists. McClane helps to rescue the geek, as they are being attacked with guns and bombs. The geek happens to be played by the same person who is in some prominent Mac vs. PC commercials.

The screenplay suggests that government can't stop this attack.
McClane: So the government has a plan for this (expletive) , doesn't it?
Geek: Of course not. It took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome

So we get the strong suggestion that these two guys will thwart the plot all by themselves. Even Jack Bauer has CTU, but these guys will be it. You gotta love that kind of stuff. Plus, there's even a copy about the bad guys going after his daughter. there is the strange absence of any mention of the executive branch of our nation, it's all about the DoD and other branches of military and enforcement. The movie is also strange in that in mentions "the streets are gridlocked" several times, but whenever our hero needs to get anywhere, the roads are clear.

McClane is a likeable character. Quiet, funny, and has an attitude. The dialog was too crude at times.