Film Reviews Blog: 'A Good Day To Die Hard'

"Live Free Or Die Hard" was surprisingly great and re-launched a celebrated franchise that made Bruce Willis an action star.

"A Good Day To Die Hard" did just the opposite. This is without a doubt the worst film in the franchise.

Who really cares what the synopsis is for this film, there really isn't much of one anyway. Like the fourth film, John McClane does some making up as a father, but this time with his estranged son. Then, a bunch of unrealistic explosions occur everywhere.

In one scene, a (for whatever reason) dancing Russian villain says to McClane "It's not 1986 anymore." And then, he lists a few obvious examples.

However, based on the ridiculous over-the-top action, bad acting, bad writing, and Cold War-era villains, you would think it was 1986.

Everything explodes. I get it; it's an action film. So, things are going to be a little farfetched, such as furniture exploding like a grenade because a very powerful gun shot it. However, it is impervious to such a weapon if our reluctant hero is using said furniture as cover. Also, if a helicopter blows up and crash lands on uranium that somehow was safely stored in Chernobyl, it won't cause another nuclear meltdown.

There's no real backstory to the film. We're introduced to a tattered McClane at a gun range, who's quickly told his son is in trouble in Russia. Then he goes to Moscow, things explode, he finds his son, and then more things explode. More thought went into writing this paragraph then the film's script.

Willis' performance was a shell, if that, of the McClane that made the original a staple in the action film genre. The only benefit of Willis' phoned-in performance is that it made McClane look old and tired (according to McClane's Wikipedia page, he is nearly 60), which would be the only realistic aspect of the film.

Adding on to the bad acting are the typical Russian villains. You've seen the same type of character in other films. He's got some weird quirk, because he's different. And, the comedic relief he may provide equates to laughing at punch lines related to his accent; because, again, he's foreign. I guess you could also add that to the bad writing for being lazy.

Sadly, I don't think there is any hope this latest Die Hard film has killed the franchise. So the only thing to do is hope this franchise finds a better way to die hard.