Live Free or Die Hard


"All you gotta do is go pick up a kid down in New Jersey, and drive him down to D.C. How hard can that be, huh? Can't be that hard, no, can it? No, gotta be a senior detective. A thing like a traffic jam, throwing a car at me's gonna stop me?"   - John McClane


release year: 2007
genre: action
viewing setting: home Bluray 7/21/13 and home DVD 4/6/08

synopsis: Tough-luck cop John McClane sees a random assignment go bad, involving him in a complicated plot involving computer hacking. Unfortunately for the bad guys, electronic communications and hackers aren't bulletproof.

impressions: If you ever wanted to know what might happen if an action hero went up against cyber-terrorists, this movie will answer that question. The technology is fairly realistic, though the general population does need to realize that just because you have a computer, you can't do anything. Action abounds, namely during scenes with the assassin/hacker Mai and this other guy who ran around on walls and pipes like a human spider.

body count: 29

something this movie has that no other movie has: 18-wheeler vs fighter jet

acting: Bruce Willis is back in form here. Justin Long is the "good guy" hacker who Willis saves from assassins, and who later becomes important in thwarting the bad guys. Timothy Olyphant is the main evil hacker, with a serious vendetta (which actually makes sense.) Maggie Q is the very dangerous Mai.

trivia: Justin Long is the Mac guy from the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" series of commercials.

final word: Good sequel, with modern terrorist methods and techniques thrown in.

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