John McClane is getting old. In the 25 years after getting caught off guard during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza, McClane, played by the increasingly hair-less Bruce Willis, has fought off terrorists in airports, saved New York City from destruction, and stopped a major cyber assault on the United States. The newest Die Hard film, “A Good Day to Die Hard,” sees John McClane at it again, this time on a mission to save his son (and the world) from a new radioactive menace.
So the set-up for a classic Die Hard plotline is there, but the execution, unfortunately, is not. Die Hard has always been a franchise based around a certain comic violence; it has never taken itself too seriously, but the emotional center has always been grounded in reality. “A Good Day to Die Hard” chooses to substitute the majority of this cartoonish violence for a grittier, modern feel. As the opening credits roll, one feels like they are seated in front of a modern espionage movie – “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” spring to mind. While this would not necessarily be a bad design decision (“Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” are both fantastic films, after all), the whole “dark-gritty-violence” demeanor simply does not fit with the Die Hard feel. John McClane is supposed to cackle in the face of villains, twisting famous quotations into new taglines. Naturally he repeats his famous catch phrase, a variation of which was used to promote the movie, but the rest of the film falls flat on this front. There are moments of comedy, but they are weak and generally few and far between.
The same could be said of the acting. From time to time the characters feel real, but the majority of the film portrays the characters as entirely unreal shells of people. Bruce Willis’ performance as John McClane feels strangely tired and worn out. Considering his role as main character, this is a problem. Compounding the problem, the supporting cast is not much better. The villain is boring, McClane’s son is lifeless, and the rest of the cast is forgettable. This son’s boring personality is especially problematic as the filmmakers decided to play up his role in this film, often making Willis’ character take the backseat for entire scenes at a time. It is a sensible choice considering Willis’ age, but it is poorly executed and generally unexciting to watch. There are hundreds of generic action movies with faceless main characters – but there is only one John McClane, and he is more engaging in tired, old age than any of them.
“A Good Day to Die Hard” is not an absolutely terrible movie. There are moments where John McClane will smirk and spew out a relatively memorable line before shooting some Russian terrorists that remind of the relatively great franchise that this movie aspires to be a part of. Occasionally, a character will show a hint of emotion, pointing vaguely towards actual feeling.
Most of the movie is generic and devoid of any feeling, though. One can only hope that this is not Willis’ last chapter in the series. It would be a legitimate shame for the series to end on such a half-hearted note. John McClane deserves a patriotic sendoff, filled with comic explosions, smarmy taglines, and plenty of good-natured violence. Maybe someday this dream will come true. Until that day, however, we are stuck with dying hard on an entirely mediocre day.