Thursday, February 14, 2013

A Good Day to Die Hard Review

Saw 20th Century Fox's "A Good Day to Die" and I was totally floored by this action flick. Here are some of the things that I liked from the fifth installment in the Die Hard franchise still with Bruce Willis as the iconic John McClane.



In this film we follow our hero John McClane as he flies off to Russia to see what he can do for his long lost son Jack McClane who will be facing trial in Moscow, Russia together with a former billionaire with a sordid background. And since we're all familiar with the old McClane luck we know that major trouble comes knocking right at McClane Sr. and Jr.'s door.



Unlike Willis' other action movie throwback to the 80s "The Expendables 2", "A Good Day to Die Hard" wasn't trying too hard nor had it tongue-in-cheek humor. This makes it a lot less goofy.

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Bruce Willis as an actor here was great. It's the return to form of the John McClane that we all know and love and it's also more of the fatherly McClane we saw in Die Hard 4. And seriously there's nothing more cool than seeing an old, grizzled Bruce Willis and his kid kicking scumbag ass and being just plain badasses. It's totally worth the ticket price. Also worth noting is the return to a much darker, grittier cinematic rating for the film which makes it possible for the swearing to return. Why is that such a big deal? Because McClane's classic catchphrase "Yipee Ki-yay Motherfucker" returns with a vengeance here as well.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD


Newcomer Jai Courtney has his moments here whether it's the humorous variety or more of the action variety. Throughout the movie, you'll see that the guy wasn't cast to be the comedic foil to Willis' McClane unlike what the studio and writers did with Justin Long's character in the previous movie. This was more of a tag-team partner for McClane. Somebody who'd be just as tough in a gunfight as McClane Sr. is. Also is it just me or is Courtney a dead ringer for Sam Worthington?

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD


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More on Jai Courtney HERE

There's a small bit part for Mary Elizabeth Winstead here, again playing the role of Bruce Willis' daughter Lucy McClane. I melt with that really pretty face of hers and I can only remember her as Ramona Flowers in "Scott Pilgrim versus the World" (which is a totally underrated movie)...

And then there was Yuliya Snigir who plays Yuri's daughter Irina. I won't spoil anything about her character but let me just say that she's a total bomb here in this movie. Oh and boo for the censors for removing that bikini scene with Ms. Snigir which was blatantly shown in the trailer but was never present in the actual movie.

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Why the heck would they want to NOT include that scene??????

The action scenes in this movie was excellent. That is all I can say. You want car chases? Then you're certainly going to get it here and it's not just like through a short highway. It's through several different highways and with the use of a van, an APC and a Mercedes-Benz SUV careening through the busy Moscow streets. Not to mention those gunfight scenes and those chase scenes involving a motherf***king HIND D against the McClanes.

As for the negative comments, it's not too violent enough. That's it. It's still up to the Die Hard standard but I can certainly say that the blood splatter that's natural for this genre and for the franchise alone has been tapered down a bit. I guess this is so that parents who grew up with watching the past four Die Hard movies can still bring in their pre-pubescent kids. And that I guess is also the answer as to why they decided to cut off Ms. Snigir's bike scene.... 

See the film in IMAX just like we did and the fun factor suddenly doubles up...

Also don't forget to brace yourself for some critical plot twists towards the end. The casual moviegoer might not have seen it coming but there are certain subtle clues in the film. 

Willis Courtney Koch in A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD


Just like all the other action packed Die Hard movies before this, don't expect too much realism or depth because there won't be. And I'm saying that as a good thing because once that's out you'll just sit back and enjoy the adrenaline rush and the epic gun battles like every 10 minutes.

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I definitely enjoyed "A Good Day to Die Hard" and I certainly plan on seeing it again, hopefully with my dad as and younger brother. It's that good and it's that mindlessly fun. And since it's Valentine's Day today why not go and bring your date and see Bruce Willis do what he does best....



Special thanks to 20th Century Fox Philippines for the press screening invitation. I love you guys!



"A Good Day to Die Hard" is now showing in over 200 cinemas nationwide.

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