Title – A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Director – John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines)
Cast – Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Plot – Everyone’s favourite grizzled cop who is defiantly too old for this John Mclane (Willis) finds himself in the motherland of Russia to help his estranged CIA employed son Jack (Courtney) get out of a sticky situation involving Komarov (Koch), a bunch of mean looking Russians and a trip to Chernobyl.
“Me and my boy here, we’re gonna put a whuppin’ on ya!”
Review by Eddie on 15/08/2013
I know the title and brand name is Die Hard but seriously can someone please kill off this franchise? I am an unabashed fan of the Die Hard series (partaking in a 4 film in one night marathon at one point in my life) even Die Hard 4.0 was a decent entry into the canon in my opinion yet here we are at film number 5 and I wish I could erase this monstrosity from my memory. Die Hard has become nothing more than a shaky cam, CGI riddled run of the mill action flick that loses all things which made the brand the popular franchise it is or perhaps was.
First things first – Bruce Willis what are you doing? The man that inspired wife beaters the world over in 1988 with the first Die Hard here looks like he is just waiting for the pay check to arrive. Willis’s performance here as his most memorable screen character McLane does nothing more than his roles in such forgettable fare as Red, GI. Joe Retaliation or any other countless cash grabbing role he has participated in in the previous years. It’s a sad thing to behold, a Mclane incarnation that you can’t root for, a Mclane you don’t want to cheer on as he dispatches baddies one foe at a time. John Moore has made Die Hard a bargain basement worthy action flick, a movie in which you’re expecting Nicolas Cage to appear in at any moment.
One thing you expect from a Die Hard is fantastic action set pieces and there is hope in the first 30 minutes that A Good Day will provide this. Moore put’s all his cats in one basket with the opening set piece centred around a car chase through the Russian streets, it’s an impressive 20 or so minutes but from there things just gradually and quickly get worse and worse, each set piece becoming more unbelieveable and random as they go. When the action in Die Hard is stale times are nearing an end.
If you have any love or affiliation for Die Hard as a series and as wonderful action classics please do not watch this movie. One can only hope that Bruce has enough sense to say enough is enough, although with money on the table it seems it would be a certain yes from the once great on screen warrior.
Half a carrot out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
You notice how Willis mentioned he was on vacation at least five to ten times? Really freaking annoying when I watched it.
He was on top annoying form – sad to say that Bruce has turned into an A grade git! (Eddie)
Starting to lose some respect for the guy nowadays.
When you say vacation as well I think he actually meant it – looked like he was all about R and R not making a decent movie. Good luck to him! (Eddie)
How about the number of times he muttered, “Jesus!”. Really a lame-brained script. ML
As much quality as you’d expect from a script writer by the name of Skip Woods. It was truely a clanger of a script with not one ounce of originality or wit.
Eddie
I think the trailer told about 90% of the film and yeah, it was pretty wretched. I’m glad I saw this for free because I wanted to sue someone afterwards for my time back…
I could only imagine how angry I would of been forking out for the cost of a ticket for this one, could not picture a more time wasting flick.
Eddie
Good thing I never saw this lol
A very good thing indeed! Avoid at all costs. I almost feel like quiting Bruce Willis movies cold turkey.
Eddie
His last good one was the Sixth Sense. I’ve already given up.
I think he has to! Judging by recent media behaviour and roles.
Eddie
Which roles was he superb? Maybe I missed them.
Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, Looper, Die Hard 1 – 3, Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Hostage and 12 Monkeys are all pretty quality films or feature a relatively good Willis performance. In particular Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys and the Sixth Sense.
Eddie
I meant performances after the sixth sense. I want to see Looper. I’m not saying he isn’t a good actor. I just think he’s let me down.
Oh after – that’s a tough one it pretty much narrows it down to Unbreakable, Looper and Sin City. Jordan would more than likely want to include The Whole 9 Yards as well.
Eddie
Unbreakable was good and I plan to see looper soon. His good movies are too far in between.
I’d just like to include The Whole Nine Yards as a fun, post-Sixth Sense Willis performance…
Jordan
I’ve never seen that movie.
“The man that inspired wife beaters the world over…” LOL, so wrong 🙂 Thanks for the review Eddie. Haven’t seen one positive note on this but yours might be the most brutal thrashing 🙂
Oh Gene it would be very hard to find a positive in this sad entry to the Die Hard franchise! I could not hold back on my harsh words it was to infuriating.
Eddie
‘Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, Looper, Die Hard 1 – 3, Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Hostage and 12 Monkeys” I enjoyed lucky number slevin as well, even though it didn’t really hold up to par on the second watch. Agree with this review it’s a terrible film which was obviously made to cash in on the rep of the first one.
Lucky Number was a great little flick, Willis seems to thrive most in a team ensemble at present not so much as the central figure.
Eddie
“I’m on vacation”. So were the screenwriters, Bruce.
A paid vacation at that.
Eddie
I did a one sentence review of this which was kind of positive: “We’ll, it’s not Kingdom-Of-The-Crystal-Skull-bad…”
Oh harsh indeed! At least Kingdom had some decent laughs, this one forgot to ad the wit to the generic action.
Eddie
I agree with this review. That I rated it higher is really of no consequence. It really is not good. I hold out hope because the series reached almost as low with only its second film. If you don’t believe me, go back and listen to some of the dialogue and all the fat jokes. Franz is horrible.
My review of the series is here, if interested:
Great work mate. Would love to revisit the older entries into the franchise see how they hold up now days. I know the first one still holds up well.
Eddie
I agree with the sentiments here, at least with regard to A Good Day to Die Hard; but I thought Red was a cute and generally pleasant, if superficial, action snack for Willis fans. What’s fundamentally wrong and contemptible about A Good Day to Die Hard is its crude hijacking of a venerable action franchise for vile political ends. While the other Die Hards are about home defense, A Good Day to Die Hard goes totally neocon and conscripts our hero from previous films for gratuitous overseas adventurism and fearmongering over those notorious “WMDs”. I’m really getting tired of the constant attempts by the government-media complex to revive the Cold War by vilifying the Russians and promoting them as America’s chief geopolitical foe.
Got to love the constant threat by those baddies plotting in the Kremlin! Never thought I would see John Mclane involved I must say.
Eddie
Funnily enough, I enjoyed this a lot more than “Die Hard 4.0”, but I agree with you: the formula has become very tired and, despite Jai Courtney doing his best, it was little more than a bunch of warmed over action-cliches welded to some very banal “I’m too old for this” dialogue
That and Bruce’s character just didn’t feel like John Mclane. The desperation and the sense of his being out of his depth that made the first three films so watchable has been sadly missing in the last two sequels; and now JC is little more than a glib unassailable cliche that wanders through the carnage with a quip on his lips.
As you say, a franchise that definitely needs to be put out to pasture.
From reports Courtney is being groomed to take over eventually which is just a few to many Die Hards for everyone to take. Let’s hope someone has the sense to stop it in it’s tracks!
Eddie
Pingback: The Best and Worst of 2013: Eddie’s Take | Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)·
Pingback: Film Review – Dangerous Animals (2025) | Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)·