Slopping through the trash-heap that is action cinema, 1988‘s Die Hard is one of the very few precious jewels that can be found. The film’s absurd levels of violence and Bruce Willis’ unrealistically brilliant one-liners — characteristics that have easily ruined films of similar caliber — actually brought the film the popular acclaim it still enjoys to this day.
But in the past two decades, the ‘80s classic has fathered a whole brood of rip-off action films following the template “Die Hard on a _____,” where one man is trapped in a specific scenario fighting off hordes of bad-guys, as well true sequels Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengance, the respectable Live Free or Die Hard and now the feeble bastard child A Good Day To Die Hard.
A Good Day to Die Hard starts with the uncovering of a conspiracy involving a high-ranking Moscow official, a government whistle-blower and an assassin, but none of that information ends up being relevant. In fact, clever plot structures have never stood out as one of the shining qualities of the Die Hard franchise. So it is especially baffling that the filmmakers, knowing full well that audiences come out only to see Willis’ character, John McClane, being a smart-ass, would even attempt to construct a complex plot. Instead of expanding the franchise’s appeal, they only succeed in creating a huge knot of unsubtle twists and turns that are difficult to appreciate.
The film really begins to show the franchise’ irrelevancy when we find the writers have reverted to the archetypal Eastern Europeans/Russian bad-guys that were the foundation of the first film. Consequently, A Good Day feels more like a mid-Cold War espionage thriller than a good ol’ shoot ‘em up movie.
Willis, the keystone of the film, is as likable as ever but his wit and the quality of his sardonic commentary have certainly faded with age. His humor seems to stem from a constant awareness that he is approaching “old guy” territory, repeating the marginally humorous, “I’m on vacation” every time he seems tired of exerting himself like he did in his glory days.
With the introduction of his entirely unlikable son, the “daddy” element takes a more prominent and nauseating role than previous films. After McClane tries engaging in some father-son heart-to-heart, I was thoroughly relieved to hear his son cut him off yelling, “Dad, this isn’t your thing … killing bad guys, that’s your thing!”
While maintaining the high standard for unabashedly unrealistic fight scenes, the Die Hard formula has been done, overdone and, I am sad to say, should be promptly laid to rest. Unfortunately it’s likely that producers will try to milk Willis for all he’s worth given the type of name recognition the franchise receives. Maybe someday John McClane will use a walker to fight off the Chechnyan terrorists that have invaded his nursing home!
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