MOVIE REVIEWS |
INTERVIEWS |
YOUTUBE |
NEWS
|
EDITORIALS | EVENTS |
AUDIO |
ESSAYS |
ARCHIVES |
CONTACT
|
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME
Saturday, February 16, 2013
MOVIE REVIEW
A Good Day To Die Hard
No Perestroika For Old Men On Vacation
Bruce Willis as John McClane in John
Moore's action drama "A Good Day To Die Hard". Fox
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Saturday,
February 16,
2013
It's the 21st century but John McClane is stuck in the 1980s, the decade in
which the first (and last) great "Die Hard" originated. In "A Good Day To
Die Hard" you know someone will be in trouble when a solemn McClane (played by a
Republican-leaning Bruce Willis) stands in a New York City police precinct
nearby an official photo of President Obama. Why? Well, just as in
"Zero Dark
Thirty" it's a turning point when Mr. Obama is heard saying the U.S.
"no longer tortures", the photo in the precinct is a cue for Mr. Willis'
character to cease and desist using the U.S. as a location for cowboy mayhem.
McClane upped the body count in the prior four films of this overwrought action
franchise, one that should have died for good after the admirable "Die Hard 2"
in 1990.
So where to export McClane's violent road show? How about Moscow, which in
the film looks very much like the Moscow of 1986. There, a portrait of
then-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev can be seen adorning one scene. I
thought the Cold War was over. Mitt Romney did not, at least in his RNC
speech last year. Neither did this film's director John Moore (no
relation, but yes, a namesake to a family member.) Nor did screenwriter
Skip Woods, who seems to have skipped his obligation to deliver a half-coherent
or decent story to the big screen. The year 1986, which gets mentioned by
a villain, figures prominently. In 1986 Mr. Gorbachev instituted
perestroika (which means restructuring) to the Soviet Union, to invigorate a
struggling economy and social progressivism.
Inappropriately John McClane initially brings a humorous cultural restructuring
to Moscow, namely of American values, cultural and otherwise. (The film's
bad guys take note of this.) John's on vacation. Never mind that
he's in Moscow to visit his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney), a CIA agent on a
mission to protect a Russian criminal Komarov (Sebastian Koch) from political
persecution. Jack, who isn't a very smart chip off the old block as a CIA
man, constantly gives his dad the Rodney Dangerfield business. The film's
early, hokey sentimentality is soon abandoned, and its true, boisterous face
emerges: lazy, noisy, cartoonish action sequences, which grow more nonsensical
and improbable by the minute. By movie's end the sunshiny emotional
treacle returns, in a cheap, cynical and inauthentic way.
Any perestroika in the film's anachronistic Moscow is the restructuring of
traffic jams by the elder McClane, and in ridiculous fashion. "Guess
who?", McClane says, in Bugs Bunny cadence. As well as being older (a good
thing) John McClane sounds senile (not so good). He apparently
isn't smart enough to retire to the Caymans or Barbados. Hint: the smart
gene isn't in evidence in the McClanes or this film. "I'm on vacation!",
is McClane's refrain, always in the thick of action. Not funny. Gone
are "The Matrix" days, yet Mr. Moore's film sloppily revives them, and like John
McClane himself the action is outmoded.
There's a villain, Alik (Radivoje Bukvic), clad in black, who smirks,
laughs and eats a carrot like Bugs Bunny but looks more like Daffy Duck.
The villain's existence is terminated brutally in close-up, needlessly, designed
for shock value that overwhelms any plot twists, none of which are clever,
interesting or effective. "A Good Day To Die Hard" lacks ambition, runs on
autopilot and out of fumes. I didn't care about it, or for it, and the
film doesn't seem to care how foolish or sloppy it is. "A Good Day To Die
Hard" joins
"Safe Haven" and
"Identity Thief" in rapidly-growing unwanted
company. This
image has been used to sell "A Good Day To Die
Hard" but doesn't appear in it. I truly believe this film knows how bad
it is. Mr. Moore, who has directed such action zeroes as "Max Payne" and
the horror reprise "The Omen" (2006), needs a new line of work.
In the next "Die Hard" (and yes, I fully expect a sixth film), John McClane
should run for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Maybe the state's citizens may not
notice the balding man whose name sounds oh-so-similar. Mr. Moore's film
is insane. Even the short-attention spans of 15-year-old boys won't be
sated by it. One person sitting next to me shook his head throughout at
the crazy action, he being a non-critic member of the general public.
That's all you need to know. Please don't take a critic's word; the
customer, they say, is always right (even if he isn't a paying one.)
"A Good Day To Die Hard" is a pointless exercise of blood, bullets and bodies
being exploded. The film and its action are exhausted, deadening and
hollow. By extension John McClane has devolved in his older age into a
weary, pathetic machine of punchlines without meaning or purpose. "John
Dies At The End" might have been a better title for this "Die Hard" but, alas,
even that title has already been taken. A side plot about parents
and their children gets twisted and swallowed, another facilitator for mindless
violence.
Mr. Moore's film is the nadir of this self-tarnishing series and Mr. Willis'
career. You'd think that Mr. Willis, who in some circles is known as a
selfish actor, would have learned his lesson after "Cop Out" in 2010, but
he apparently
opted for an easy payday. This is the laziest work Mr. Willis has
ever done. I'm not sure that's saying much, though.
Also with: Yuliya Snigir, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cole Hauser.
"A Good Day To Die Hard" is rated R by the
Motion Picture Association of America for violence and language. The
film's running time is one hour and 37 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2013. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
FOLLOW
MOVIE REVIEWS |
INTERVIEWS |
YOUTUBE |
NEWS
|
EDITORIALS | EVENTS |
AUDIO |
ESSAYS |
ARCHIVES |
CONTACT
| PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME