By Curt Schleier

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD was last summer’s best action film.  Turns out it’s a pretty good DVD, too. 

My definition of a good summer action flick is simple: mindless, adrenalin-inducing and reality-challenged.  And I mean all that in the best possible way.  LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD fits the bill completely. 

First the plot.  Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is a former Defense Department consultant who tried to warn officials that the nation’s computer structure is subject to cyber attack.  Did they listen?  Of course not.  They forced him to resign; in retribution he hatches a plan to run a fire sale.  That is computer lingo for everything must go; he plans to shut down all the nation’s computers.

Gabriel uses a ruse to convince a bunch of hackers to break security codes on computer systems that run the stock exchanges, federal government offices, even local traffic systems.  He then has them killed.  All except Matt Farrell (Justin Long).  John McClane (Bruce Willis), the aging New York City detective, is asked to pick Farrell up and bring him to Washington, where he can be interrogated by the FBI.  McClane arrives just before the assassins, and dispatches them handily – using explosives, his vehicle and a seemingly unending supply of ammunition.


With Farrell at his side, McClane navigates his way to the nation’s capital, where he dispatches a helicopter using an airborne police car and almost gets dispatched himself by an airborne sedan.
Nothing, certainly not Gabriel’s kung-fu trained army, will keep this mailman-like cop from his appointed rounds.  When Gabriel kidnaps Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he seals his doom.  You know Papa John won’t give up until his daughter and the world are safe.

The film has a lot going for it, especially the mind-blowing stunts. In addition to the airborne autos, there is one continuous scene in which a bad guy jumps across a building, lands on an air conditioner, jumps over to a fire escape and then to two more.  The way the scene is shot, you fly along with him.

The beauty of these scenes and others is that CGI special effects were supposedly kept to a minimum. I say supposedly, because (except for one instance) it’s difficult to tell that there was any CGI at all.

Another positive is John McClane himself.  It’s been a dozen years since we last saw him, and, frankly, the old gray McClane just ain’t what he used to be.  But that adds to the wise-cracking, ass-kicking cop’s appeal; it makes him more human (to the extent that a blockbuster movie hero can be human).

I even enjoyed the special features.  Usually, these “special” features are self-reverential baloney: how great a thrill it was to work with this actor or that director.  And the features on this DVD were no exception.  But there were some interesting moments. 


In a behind the scenes feature, director Len Wiseman (not intending it to sound as funny as it did to me) describes the instructions he received from the producers: “Make it new, make it original and at the same time, keep it the same.”  Ironically, that’s exactly what he did.

In a separate featurette, Willis sits down for a talk with Kevin Smith, the writer/director/actor who has a small role in the film.  Willis talks about the Die Hard franchise referring to the series mythology – as though he was talking Apollo, not a light film.  But what fascinated me is that he expressed disappointment in Die Hards two (on a plane) and three (with Samuel Jackson).  Now I feel bad, because I liked both of them.

It took a dozen years, but LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD was worth the wait.  Yipee-ka-yay!