Review: A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD

Well, I went and saw Die Hard 5 last night. It isn’t better than Die Hard 4, just a little bigger in size and scope with a lot of explosions and car/truck crashes, but it brings something worth looking forward to when Die Hard 6 comes out. It was larger in scope, taking place in Russia amidst political turmoil and unrest, and holds its own with epic gun battles action scenes to keep viewers interested.

To be honest, I missed a good few bits of it toward the end because I was falling asleep. That could be because it was real late at night and my body started shutting down in my seat because of it. But to be even more honest, this is the first time in my history as a filmgoer that I have fallen asleep in front of an action film (missing one or two minutes every now and then toward the end) which may or may not say much.

I can say with full certainty, having seen about 90 percent of the film or so, that the story is really good, with some surpring twists in the plot that get you gripped into what is happening at times. As far as the performances go, I was pleased, but not largely. Bruce Willis‘s character was still entertaining as ever, sharing screentime with daughter, Lucy (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead from part four), and Sam Worthington Jai Courtney, who did pretty well, playing the role of John McClane’s jaded, untrusting now much older son, Jack, working for the C.I.A. as a spy in Russia on a mission that goes awry when he sees his father John for the first time in years; Personally, I hope I see Courtney in other films that will help him stand out a little more. Here, amidst all the Die Hard hype, he was a little bland to me.

Just sayin.

Sebastian Koch and Yuliya Snigir also did very well in their respective roles as Komarov, a political prisoner at the center of an investigation involving a secret file tied to Chernobyl, and daughter Irina. Their roles impressed me in this film leading up to the climax of the film, written pretty well thanks to Skip Woods and Roederick Thorp.

Not gonna give anything else away, as I highly recommend you see the film from an action fan’s point of view (in which case I also recommend two of director John Moore‘s previous films, Max Payne or Behind Enemy Lines) or if you are a Die Hard fan from the get-go. For me, I enjoyed the first, second and fourth films–the third one not as much as the first two, but nonetheless, as a tie-in to the first film, it stood on its own feet.

Having said all this, A Good Day To Die Hard is well worth the viewing if you want a decent set-up for the next Die Hard film. Conclusively, however, chances are you will probably read a better review than this. And yes, it isn’t the most articulate review–I kinda started this as a brain fart to share on Facebook, which I then decided to share as a blog entry as expansive as I could before I went on about my day.

Anyway, I’m going to do just that, lol. Meantime, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 (and only because there are parts I missed). So feel free to check out a second and third opinion. But I do recommend seeing it anyway, if not for some good old nostalgic Die Hard action with an iconic character who always ends up at the “wrong place at the wrong time”.