I have a set of movies that i consider my all time favourites. By that, it means this : if i catch it on tv, whether its 1 minute into it or 1 hour into it, i get sucked in and end up staying with it and Die Hard (1988) is at the very top of that list. Proven by the fact i've seen it twice this year already, and watched it 3 times last year. It had everything, in fact, if i could see any movie on the big screen, it would be die hard without having to think twice.
So going into Live free or Die hard (called Die Hard 4.0 over here) i was somewhat nervous. I knew it wasn't going to be on the same level, but i have to say i was pleasntly suprised. It wasn't all that bad, it wasn't all that good either. Let's go through the good stuff shall we....
One aspect of the film i was worried about was the use of comedy and Justin Long's role in the movie. The comedy in the first one was well excuted and came from John Mclane's attitude towards the situation he was in. However i felt with the addition of justin long as a sidekick if you will, the comedy might turn out to be corny. In places it was, but hell, i got a kick out of it. Some of the moments with john trying to figure out recent technology was cool. Justin long's character was actually a great addition to the film and i liked the character more than i expected. On another good point, the cinematography was fantastic, especially during the somewhat over the top action scenes. the whole film managed to keep me on the edge of my seat and was a great movie going experience in that sense, much in the way Bourne Ultimatum was. The final scene was a highlight of the film, the way john get's himself out of the situation was great and really went back to no messing style of the first film.
On the negative side, you can tell that this film is mainly focused on "how big and over the top can we make this scene?" by that i mean here we have john mclane Vs harrier jump jet, John and a Car Vs a helicopter, john sliding down a broken bridge while a plane crashes after him, john ducking to avoid to cars flying towards him. It's certainly far removed from a fist fight that ends with both men tumbling down a flight of stairs. Some aspects of these over the top scenes did make me long for the good ol' days. I felt Maggie Q was great in this film but her character wasn't the best, she played it well. However the character itself was way over the top, reminded me of a computer game character, she survived falling down an elevator shaft in a car, as she was holding onto the car (as it was falling) she was still punching and kicking. She survived a full on hit with the car, it was a little mad. As was that crazy acrobatic guy who was slidding around when john was trying to shoot him, all said to me "hmm am i watching a film or a video game?"
that being said, there is enough here for that to be somewhat forgiven. It may just be me, comming from a...."die hard" die hard fan i can't help but compare it. What i'm tyring to say is this : if i read a positive review (not that this isn't) by someone who had NOT seen the original, i can totally relate to that. As there is a great film here that is above what you see usually these days in action movies, but when compared to die hard, it makes its faults more prominent.
All in all, its one of the better movies of the summer. I have issues with some of the more hyber bolic elements of the film, but i can also see this is an action movie that though not too the same feel as the original, still has a lot to get enjoyment from and is quite a bit better than the majority we see these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment