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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 07/03/2007 : 15:50:06
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Recent headlines uncannily set the tone for the latest of the Die Hard franchise, targetting enemies within and enemies without. The UK terrorist threat was raised to its highest level, paving the way for another �re-assessment� of security legislation. The White House admitted bombing Afghani women and children in the same week a survey revealed over 40% of Afghan women are self-immolating to escape from domestic violence. The US President commuted the sentence of �loyal patriot� Scooter Libby, who successfully manipulated the FBI.
�It�s always about the money,� says ruffty-tuffty Detective John McClane [Bruce Willis] on discovering his latest enemy�s plans to empty every bank account in the free world. Wise words, because this film, which pretends to engage with complex political ideas of national security but reduces them to live-action cartoons, exists solely to rape your wallet, as surely as those Afghani women are being raped within forced marriages.
The film�s US title Live Free or Die Hard appeals directly to the analysis of and solution to �The Threat�: from wheresoever it will come it can never destroy �our Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!� With a jibe that American allies can�t be counted on to buy into the US gung-ho bullshit, McClane steps up because �no one else will.� His street-wise often bloody solutions are constantly contrasted with a knowledge-based younger generation, struggling with their moral compass.
The UK title Die Hard 4.0 delivers the same message but reveals its digital arena. Instead of a mere sequel, this is McClane Version Four: gee, like a computer program.
Today�s movie threat oozes from those who have mastered cyberspace, unlocked its codes and figured out that even the most powerful nation on earth is vulnerable at a digital level. Does that mean the police have trained McClane in the dark computer arts? Don�t be silly!
He�s the same, my-country-right-or-wrong patriot he always was, a little older, balder, and possibly with a cleaner undershirt. He can �kill a helicopter with a car,� but to battle the �bad computer man� he needs to recruit a �good computer man.�
And if that sounds a bit kids� story, that�s the way people actually talk in America, from the presidential incumbent justifying bombing Afghani villagers to �trailer trash� vigilantes justifying attacks on pediatricians.
It�s maddening if unsurprising that we�re made to watch well over an hour of sfx explosions and various fisticuffs before we learn that Badguy Timothy Olyphant, dapper and clean in his digital HQ is motivated by petulance at being ignored by his former FBI employers. Yup, his entourage at Badguys-R-Us, mostly French, Italian, and Asian-looking employees, have been gathered together to bring down the country just so Tim can say �I told you so.� That and the billions of dollars he�s stealing.
It�s always about the money. I told you so.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 07/03/2007 21:02:52 |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 07/03/2007 : 16:01:53
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See, your problem with it seems to be that they reduced serious issues to the level of a dumb action movie. My beef was that my dumb action movie deal with too many serious issues.
Intense political content and dumb gung-ho action movies: two great tastes that taste like shit together.
Still, I'm a bit surprised that you're criticizing a Die Hard movie for being "a bit kids' story." Of course it is, it's a Die Hard movie. I also don't quite see what was maddening about Olyphant's motivation. The maddening thing about Olyphant was that he was boring as hell. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 07/03/2007 : 16:09:09
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
See, your problem with it seems to be that they reduced serious issues to the level of a dumb action movie. My beef was that my dumb action movie deal with too many serious issues.
Intense political content and dumb gung-ho action movies: two great tastes that taste like shit together.
Still, I'm a bit surprised that you're criticizing a Die Hard movie for being "a bit kids' story." Of course it is, it's a Die Hard movie. I also don't quite see what was maddening about Olyphant's motivation. The maddening thing about Olyphant was that he was boring as hell.
Yup -- whichever you seek -- action or serious -- to mix the two in such a simplistic way makes the result pretentious and deceitful. Was my point. Not my "problem."
Olyphant's reveal was the maddening part -- neither his motivation nor his character warranted keeping us in the dark, especially for so long. Any attempt at equating him to some 'nameless terror,' was unjustified by the script and subsequent knowledge that others knew who he was and why he was doing what he was doing. In sheer screenwriting terms it's just sloppy.
I agree he was insufferably boring.
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MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 07/03/2007 : 16:30:56
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quote:
Olyphant's reveal was the maddening part -- neither his motivation nor his character warranted keeping us in the dark, especially for so long. Any attempt at equating him to some 'nameless terror,' was unjustified by the script and subsequent knowledge that others knew who he was and why he was doing what he was doing. In sheer screenwriting terms it's just sloppy.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
I came expecting a dumb action movie, not a serious political thriller, so I'm a little warmer than this film than BB was. It might also be because I'm American, as the Die Hard movies are a loving tribute to American badassery. The message of Die Hard, and Die Hard with a Vengeance is, "Fuck you, you cultured, classy, well-manicured European assholes; I'm American. I'm loud, I'm obnoxious, and I'm gonna kick your ass." My heart pumps red white and blue when I watch Die Hard.
BB has already given good reasons why Die Hard 4.0 doesn't work as a serious thriller, but there are other reasons why it doesn't really work as an action movie either. Die Hard 4.0 doesn't quite work because of its inherent PG13-ness; the action is omnipresent, but watered down. Lots of bad guys die, but none really get hurt. Willis is beyond superhuman, too far from the guy who was simply tough and resourceful in the first movie. Worst villain of the franchise, as previously noted. There's something that's just too clean and anesthetic about this PG-13 technothriller, there's no flavor to it.
Still, at least it has Bruce Willis. God bless Bruce Willis, we're lucky to have him. And I loved Lucy McClane, give her her own Die Hard movie. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 07/03/2007 : 16:36:21
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I, too, am American. It's not a generic condition.
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MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 07/03/2007 : 22:24:48
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
I, too, am American. It's not a generic condition.
*checks Wikipedia* Huh, I guess you are. Wikipedia's never been wrong before. |
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Die Hard 4.0
