Die Harder

I watched the latest “Die Hard” movie over the weekend. Yes, I'm always a little behind the times because I refuse to spend twenty plus something at movie theaters when if I'm patient, I can see the movies I want for $1.20 from the movie rental box. So I waited. It was hard because I am a “Die Hard” fan from way back.

Being a slightly over middle aged woman I don't fit the profile of your normal everyday action movie fan. And I'm not...an action movie fan. My husband could sit and watch hours of people getting the crap beat out of them or having their brains and guts spilled out everywhere. Not me. I cover my eyes during the slaughter scene in “Hunger Games”.

But I have loved the “Die Hard” franchise because they have usually been more than the usual blood and guts type action flick. They have been intelligent, well written stories with enough of a plot line to keep me interested and enough of Bruce Willis' signature witty lines to keep me amused. And yes, enough action for my husband.

I loved #1. It was a perfect balance of all the things that make this franchise work. I loved #3. Great characters, awesome chemistry between actors and a twisty, suspense full plot. #4 is my favorite by far for all the above reasons. For me it even surpassed the first “Die Hard” plus it was rated PG13 making that a plus in my book. I can't even tell you how many times I have watched that movie.

I don't like #2 (the airport movie). Yes, it had a few good scenes but for the most part I felt that it missed that perfect balance of Bruce, chemistry, plot, etc. that the first one had. It just didn't capture my attention the way the others did. There was plenty of action but not much else. And really, I think it set some kind of record for how many times the “f” word could be used in two hours. It just didn't do anything for me.

And I'm sorry to say that I felt the same way about #4. I just couldn't get into it. The story was confusing. The action was too much and too big. The dialogue was bland and I got the feeling that they cut out the best Bruce Willis scenes. He was doing his best to show us the classic John but the movie kept getting in the way. Even my husband didn't like it. We were afraid that the best scenes might have been left on the cutting room floor to make room more things blowing up.

We also felt like it wasn't “real”. The best part of the “Die Hard” movies have been their sense of realness. Just a troubled hard working New York cop being in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” No superhero type stuff, he's not Batman or Superman or an X Man or any fantasy figure. He's a regular joe. He bleeds, gets old, has family problems and authority issues. We relate to John, the working man who doesn't have all the answers, heck, he doesn't even know all the questions but he does know bad guys when he sees them. And he doesn't give up.

There were a few scenes that showed us this but they were too few. We were so disappointed that we aren't even sure if we'd like to see them try again to take the bad taste out of our mouths or should they just leave it at this because it could get worse. What we were sure of was how glad we were that we didn't spend the money to see it on the big screen. We would have felt event more cheated then we do now. That's the view from my side of the street, what's yours?