A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) directed by John Moore, 13th February

Plot

John McClane travels to Russia to look for his wayward son, only to discover he is a CIA operative trying to prevent a nuclear weapons heist. Leading to father and son teaming up and stopping it from happening.

Review

This is the 5th in the series of film which hard to believe started 25 years ago and kicked off Bruce Willis career as a Hollywood action hero. It is now in it's 5th re-iteration and follows the tried and tested formula of the wrong guy, in the wrong place and at the wrong time during a crime.

This 5th installment opens with a massive car chase through Moscow then it's action action action. Unfortunately that is all that really happens. The script is lightweight and not particularly interesting with very little humour or wit which has been a trade mark of the series. This is one of the reasons why the franchise has been so successful.

The film is just a series of set pieces with the dialogue only there to stitch the action scenes together. The action scenes were good but they are not enough to hold a film. At 97mins it is a short film but it also felt incredibly long.

The film also pays some homage to the original Die Hard film where the main villain dies in the same way and has similar attributes to Hans Gruber.

With such a light script and little character development the only characters I remember from the film are John MaClane and his son Jack. Everyone else was quite forgettable.

This film is rated a 12A. It is an amazing bloodless film considering all the shooting and a lack of Yippi Ki Yay. I suppose this is to get the film past the censors and get a greater audience appeal. The original Die Hard was an 18.

Surely, Bruce Willis does not need the money and he only agreed to do it if the script was good. Alas this was not the case. There was so much potential for this film set against a back drop of Russia. Only if more time was spent on a better script and story.

I had high expectations and really just wanted to see a good tried and tested formula work but this has been a disappointing addition to the Die Hard franchise.

A generous 6.5/10