A Good Day To Die Hard
review by Chiara Spagnoli

“Bang Bang” is what Nancy Sinatra sang in the late 60s and how the 5th Die Hard film would generally add up to: “Bang bang, he shot me down, Bang bang, I hit the ground, Bang bang, that awful sound, Bang bang, my baby shot me down.”

Bruce Willis reprises the role of John McClane, who travels all the way to Russia to catch up on his fatherly duties with his son Jack, Jai Courtney, but will soon be caught in the crossfire of a terrorist plot.

‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods proves to be the nth American action film with an overdose of pointless explosions and overflow of car chasing: the first 40 minutes are spent following the Jai Courtney making acrobatic moves at the wheel of a police truck, chased by his father driving some sort of panzer-jeep.

Bruce Willis undoubtably still has the physique du rôle to jump off buildings, through thick glass windows, and fall through tower scaffolding, without getting hurt except for a few scratches. The young actor co-starring with him, originally from Australia, does all the best to keep up with the big American Hollywood star, but the main weak spot of the movie is the script. Nothing amazes: it’s a bore. Even the humour is extremely lame.

Ever since John McTiernan’s 1988 original ‘Die Hard’ – that is firmly cemented in the minds as the pinnacle of Action Cinema – the following sequels have had a negative exponential trend: Renny Harlin’s 1990 effort, ‘Die Hard 2: Die Harder’, still stood up as the most compelling of the series’ sequels; John McTiernan’s return with 1995’s ‘Die Hard With a Vengeance’ had Samuel L. Jackson keeping the high standard next to Willis; Len Wiseman’s 2007 attempt ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ worked to some degree but completed drifted away from the first film.

The failure of ‘A Good Day To Die Hard’ can be laid at the feet of the illogical plotting of screenwriter Skip Woods and the cast can do little to help the mess. The opportunity of focusing on the father-son relationship goes down the drain, as there is never a single moment of truth that tries to focus on why the two are totally estranged. 97 minutes of special effects can’t hold the dumbest of audiences. Die Hard has been wrung out as far as it could go, the premises are quite hazardous for a 6th sequel.