A Good Day to Die Hard

A bad director and a bad screenplay can turn even a good series into a disaster. What's the problem? Well, actually, it's probably everything. It doesn't work from start to finish, unfortunately even from the side of the cast. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/07/smrtonosna-past-opet-v-akci-2013-30.html (07/31/2013)

One awaits another instalment with excited anticipation, but in the end, the Die Hard saga only gets disappointing. Bruce Willis is getting old, he’s basically an old geezer now and at the beginning, he couldn’t have looked more like an old geezer. The action is interesting at first and relatively decent, but as time goes on, the movie becomes a load of hogwash. But the stupidest thing of all is the story’s shift to Chernobyl. I mean, that’s simply unreal. The worst thing about it is the fact that the movie looks good in the beginning thanks to the action, but the cameraman gets high on mushrooms after a while and the other cameraman gets all high on dopamine, because they couldn’t have messed up the end result more. The truck just flies across the bridge over to the road and everything explodes insanely. One would think that there’s nothing easier than filming a moving car and letting it all flow without editing, but the scene begins and everything crumbles into twenty thousand sequences, shots and explosions. And what puts the cherry on top is the stressed-out assistant camera operator who probably held the camera for the first time in their life and they shook the devil out of it within the first nanosecond. Awful. Die Hard used to be about humility, a story that used to be realistic, honest and – on the other hand – random since John McClane has always been able to find himself in the world’s greatest mess. But this was just an action flick with special effects and it was downright awful. It has basically nothing to do with the Die Hard saga apart from Bruce Willis. (06/18/2013)

Merciless crap. It starts slowly and smells like a cheap production from Bulgaria. It is beautifully apparent how most of the budget went into action scenes (I must add that everything had to be completely blown to smithereens, of course), but their clarity is incredibly bad. I felt sorry for it and wondered where the director's talent from the Behind Enemy Lines era went – I didn't even breathe during the jet shooting scene, and that scene is already an immortal legend. Unfortunately, it is not just about the chaotic and bad action, the humor doesn't work either. There are only two or three interesting gags, and that's it. The R rating is basically pointless. I liked the cccasional self-parody (whether it’s intentional is another question) and the escapades like the Maybach in Chernobyl, but the casting is awful, and so is the script. Basically, it's a patchwork with 3 or 4 big action set-pieces, of which only one is truly memorable – no filters, work with lighting, low-angle shots like Michael Bay. A big disappointment. The fourth installment is indeed "the most decent" by far, but it's packed and no expense was spared on it. Here, the only evident thing is the attack on viewers' wallets to squeeze the last bit of money from the legend. (03/31/2013)

McClane's back, say and write what you want. It's still him. Yes, the reconciliation between father and son is hellish and we've seen it many times and better (Indiana Jones IV), but is that what A Good Day to Die Hard is all about? Don't be discouraged by the generally low rating and go see for yourself. What I saw was a pretty honest action movie that I perhaps enjoyed more than the second Expendables (but less than The Last Stand). Imaginative action scenes (the car chase, the helicopter ending, which is better than the fighter jet ending from the last film and is a typical McClane yippee-ki-yay improvisational moment), Beltrami's music, the visual effects, the jokes, of which there were more than I would have expected ("Need a hug"), the charismatic Sebastian Koch, references to the first film in the series (Beethoven, the villain's slow motion fall)... No problems at all. However, Jai Courtney really got on my nerves, and it seems that somebody also hurt the film badly in the editing room, as many scenes from the trailer didn't make it in (especially the taxi dialogue with the cop/lawyer makes me sad). I wish there was a longer version on DVD. Three and a half red stars.__P.S. The longer version was only released on BD, so I'll probably never see it. (03/23/2013)

A crazy day to die hard. When writing this script, Skip Woods occasionally forgot that he was writing another installment of an established series and often broke its established rules – unfortunately, including the traditional showdown with the villain. However, even so, I mostly enjoyed it in spite of myself. Because right from his first glance, Bruce Willis proves that he has missed his iconic role and relishes every shot or argument with the senator. Besides, John Moore, no matter how many flaws he has, simply knows how to handle action; he just needed a little push. I understand that McClane's adventure shouldn't focus on family values, but currently, the universal reactionism really disappoints me. That's why I will add an almost invisible plus to the solid 70 percent. But I want the sixth installment to be more personal in a completely different way. (05/31/2013)