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Bruce Willis is back as the badass cop, John McClane
, with Die Hard 5. The movie has released today in India in a big way.
John Moore has directed this instalment and Jai Courtney makes an entry
into the series as John McClane’s estranged son Jack McClane. Let us see
if Bruce Willis still has what it takes to cock a snook at the bad
guys.
Story :
John McClane (Bruce Willis) comes to know that his
estranged son Jack McClane is holed up in a Russian prison, facing
serious criminal charges. He decides to head over to Russia, in a bid to
try and help him. But once he goes there, John realises that there is
more to Jack than he could have ever guessed.
Jack is on a mission to rescue the jailed political prisoner Komarov (Sebastian Koch) from his arch enemy
Chagarin and Jack unintentionally gets mixed up in the mess. Chagarin
is a dangerous foe who is willing to go to great lengths to kill Komarov
in order to bury some incriminating evidence.
A dangerous game of chase begins, a chase that ultimately leads to the dreaded nuclear ghost town
of Chernobyl. Father and son must now team up and fight against all
odds to come out alive from the mess they find themselves in. How the do
it is what Die Hard 5.0 is all about.
Plus Points :
Bruce Willis still has what it takes. When compared
to Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis has still got the pace and
the looks to carry off a mega action entertainer on his own. His corny
one liners will remind you of the good old days….days spent watching
instalments of Terminator, Die Hard and Rocky in theaters.
Jai Courtney is decent as the estranged son Jack. Subtle hints are dropped about a possible change of guard for the Die Hard series. Perhaps, Jack McClane will take over from John McClane in the next instalment of this series.
The action sequences in the first half of the film are pretty good. The car chase
sequence through the streets of Moscow has been shot well. Sure, it is a
little outlandish..but hey, this is a film from the Die Hard franchise
so what did you expect? If you are a fan of the legendary Mercedes G
Wagen, you will have a whale of a time watching the car in action.
The first half has good pace and the emotional relationship between the far and the son has been captured well.
Minus Points :
The second half of the film is a big letdown and the climax is a way too far fetched, even for John
McClane. The film loses its way once the scene shifts to Chernobyl and
the ‘twist’ that comes up is all too predictable. Pace also slackens
considerably before the climax action sequences start to unfold.
As with most big budget action entertainers, logic
goes for a toss in the film. The way in which Bruce Willis dodges
bullets and bad guys is a bit, errr… unbelievable.
Die Hard 4 worked so well because the plot had a
certain depth to it and the action sequences had character. Those
qualities are missing in version 5.0 .And Bruce Willis was the alpha dog in
the old films. Here, he lets Jai Courtney take some of the credit and
that is perhaps one of the reasons why you can’t really root for John McClane’s character.
Technical Aspects :
Jonathan Sela’s cinematography is neat and the
action sequences look grand. Dan Zimmerman’s editing is good for most of
the film but he drops the ball in the final stages. Action sequences
are very good in the first half and a little ludicrous in the second
half.
John Moore’s direction is not very satisfactory. This was the same guy who screwed up Max Payne, so let us not be too surprised.
Verdict :
Die Hard 5 aka A Good Day to Die Hard
is a watchable action flick. It has the chases, the big explosions and
the grand action sequences. Sadly, it lacks character and it is also let
down by a bad second half. You may catch the flick on the big screen
for Bruce Willis, but don’t go in expecting Die Hard 4 levels of
entertainment.
Movie Rating............3.75/5
