Die Hard 4.0

Die Hard 4.0
Director: Len Wiseman
125 minutes
2.39:1

The following review has been rated R.

Unlike Hollywood series of the 1920s and 1930s, not many modern film franchises go beyond three with the same lead actor. Finding the right spark that made the first film popular is hard to begin with. Doing it beyond two sequels is really fucking hard. To get to number four, both the actor and character must have a great bond with the audience. Bruce Willis and John McClane in the Die Hard franchise are it.


16 years have gone by and John McClane (Bruce Willis) is still an NYPD cop. He’s mostly content to read the Miranda act to Lucy Gennarro’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) dates. Enter Matt Farrell (Justin Long), a white hat (good hacker) who had just uploaded a program to an unknown client. This algorithm is meant to test secure networks. Before you can even type U R PWNED!, the FBI cyber intelligence system is hacked and the Feds are pissed as fuck.

Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis) sends local detectives across the nation to track down all the black and white hats for questioning. That is how John and Matt meet and they soon discover a group of terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is the cause of it all.


Let’s lay down the controversy first - the ratings. Twentieth Century Fox’s executives need to get serious kicks on their balls for this fucking mess, if they had them to begin with. No, the film is not a mess but the drive to get a PG-13 rating is. Even though they removed the blood splatters, and edited and ADRed scenes to censor every fucking expletive, the fact of the matter is this movie is still violent!

Many people die violent, on-screen deaths and this should be the main reason to keep the film’s rating at R. 13 year olds should not have easy access to this film. To beat a dead horse yet again, the MPAA’s system is fucked. The film has received BBFC’s 15 rating in the UK - “Suitable only for 15 years and over” - while the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia has given it an SG-18 – “For 18-years and above. Film contains elements of violence and horror that are not excessive.”


The fans of Die Hard are not die-hard fans of the F word. What they are fans of is the iconic character of John McClane. Age has an effect of mellowing people to tone down their language in real life. However in tense situations as depicted in a movie, it is completely believable and understandable that stressed people, and not just McClane, will blow off some motherfucking steam with the F words peppered in their conversations.

Censoring the foul language out of Die Hard 4.0 is just fucking dumb.


With this being his third film, director Lens Wiseman shows that he has a good sense of action, drama and comedy to pull off action movies. Working with a tight script by Mark Bomback - story by Bomback and David Marconi, and based on John Carlin’s war-games article “A Farewell To Arms” – Wiseman wisely gives enough hacker details to the story to create tension early on. Wiseman however trimmed down McClane's signature wisecracking nature significantly. He and director of photography Simon Duggan designed dynamic camera movements in the thick of action scenes that are fucking impressive. The aerial photography unit also did an amazing job at capturing beautiful and exciting shots. Editor Nicolas De Toth keeps the pace quick and moving with enough sense of backstory and comedy, though the scenes where “fuck” is uttered a lot are sloppily edited and sometimes do not match the ADR.

Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos must have one of the harder jobs in the production in trying to recreate NYC, DC and Baltimore by masking L.A. locations with props. In spite of not pulling that feat off consistently, he and set decorator Robert Gould did a great job with the sets of the FBI, the terrorists’ hive, and the action set pieces, both practical and CGI. The work by digital film colorist Siggy Ferstl and digital conform Alex Romano must not also be forgotten for they are responsible in stringing together scenes from different locations to look the same. Kudos must also be given to the under appreciated departments of make-up and costume for without them, McClane’s and Farrell’s roughed-up state just won’t be believable.


No modern action film can get by without the help of digital visual effects. To their credit, the VFX by The Orphanage do not scream for attention or look too fake. The augmented scenes have enough believable animation detail that they don’t detract from the movie experience. With additional work by Riot, Pixel Magic, Amalgated Pixels, as well as computer screen simulation by Digital Dimension, and miniature effects and miniature visual effects by New Deal Studios and Cinema Production Services, the VFX of the film as a whole is cohesive. Interestingly enough, it is the non-action green-screen driving sequences that feel fake. How the fuck did that happen?

Sound Designers Ai-Ling Lee and Jason W. Jennings and Sound Effects Editor Randall Kelley did a great job at creating soundscapes that are enveloping and alive. No doubt their work is also affected by the need to conform the film to a PG-13 rating. The sound of the gunshot wounds do not sound as wet and bloody as they normally would. Still, it is a bang-up job by the sound department.


Finally, the cast is great. Willis’s performance is the one that most people may overlook. His McClane is an aged McClane and that performance requires some intimate knowledge of the character. It may not scream Oscar-worthy but it is a great work. As the instant sidekick, Long’s characterization is also noteworthy for he had to be vulnerable without being annoying and still fulfill his tiny arch in the end. Olyphant as the bad guy gives a great performance with his minimal facial and eye expressions, and some really snappy lines.

Curtis’s Fed man is commanding, decisive but sympathetic. Winstead as the daughter gives an interesting and fiery performance that nails down the essence of John McClane. Maggie Q as Mai is just a bad-ass cunt; she must have had a great time chewing her scenes during the shoot. Last but not least is big nerdy bear Kevin Smith as the Warlock. While it may not be as endearing as his performance in Catch And Release, the scenes he is in are just fun to watch. His scenes alone probably would jack up the ratings and no doubt a lot of them ended up on the virtual floor of the cutting room.


In the end though, Die Hard 4.0 is a kick-ass action movie. It is similar in structure to Die Hard With A Vengeance than the original film. But let’s face it. Die Hard is in the top 5 action movies of all time. Even without the F words this movie fucking works.

Hopefully when the Blu-ray Disc and DVD are released later this year, Fox execs would come to their senses and release the truer version of the film, with the realistic, expletives-filled dialog put back in. Until then, action film lovers are just going to live with and hopefully enjoy the violent and kids-friendly Die Hard 4.0. Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!


Die Hard 4.0 is the international title to Live Free Or Die Hard.