Movie Review - Die Hard 5

"Die Hard" remains to this day as one of my top ten favorite action films, and it's no surprise why. The story is compelling, the characters are memorable and the action and suspense are top notch. The franchise has solidified Bruce Willis as one of cinema's best action stars along with creating the iconic character John McClane, the New York City cop that always seems to find trouble in the wrong places.  After twenty five years, a fifth entry in the franchise titled "A Good Day to Die Hard," or "Die Hard 5" as many refer it as, has been released in a time where previous action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are looking to make a comeback. Does this film deliver the high-octane action and suspense the franchise is well known for, or does it reek of age and beg for the franchise to end.

After viewing the film, I can say that while "Die Hard 5" is a great action film, it is unfortunately a very underwhelming "Die Hard" film. What do I mean by this? The film is a great action film without a doubt, but it lacks the charm that is present in the previous films.

One factor that contributes to this charm is the villains. All of the villains in the franchise have so far been memorable in both their ultimate goals and their personalities. In every film, I could pick them out as individuals rather than another nameless enemy. Unfortunately, the villains in "Die Hard 5" are not that memorable. Their end goals are not entirely original and they have no personality to them at all. Now some will argue that Thomas Gabriel had this problem in the previous film, but I argue that he had the most original end goal. He wasn't trying to destroy the world or steal money or anything. He was simply trying to make a point, his point, and he would stop at nothing to see it done. I just didn't get that from this film.

Another problem I had with the film is, sadly, McClane doesn't feel like McClane. That's not to say that Willis pulls a poor performance, as he easily shines in his iconic role, I almost didn't recognize him as the "policeman hero who saved the Nakatomi hostages." This McClane seems more focused on mending his broken relationship with his son, which takes up the majority of the film and even hurts scenes that were otherwise intense action moments. Even more disappointing, McClane doesn't try to foil the villain's plans by calling them and cursing them out, a scene I always loved in the previous films, especially in the first film. This could be because for the first time, he doesn't have as much information about this villain or a means to communicate with them, where in the past films he always had radio communication with them.

Finally, there is the iconic catchphrase, "Yippe-ki-yay, mother******." Thankfully, the line is not edited out like in the previous film (although the full line is present in the unrated version of the film). The problem though is the delivery felt really off. In the past movies, the line is spoken directly before McClane dramatically kills the villain, or in the case of "Die Hard with a Vengeance directly after. However, in "Die Hard 5," McClane says the line in the middle of the last fight rather than before the final kill. This may be more of a nitpick, but it didn't have the same badass feel that it had in the previous films, and in the end it only felt mildly satisfying to hear it.

All of that aside, there are still things to like about the film. As said before, Willis proves he is still worthy of his action icon status. The film delivers enough eye popping explosions, shootouts and car chases to please any action fan, although there is a surprising lack of hand-to-hand combat. There are also some welcome nods to the first film, and newcomers don't have to have seen all of the previous films to follow the plot. While the writing is very cheesy, there are moments in the dialogue that do bring out the McClane fans have grown to know and love, despite there being so few.

In the end, while this is not a great entry in the "Die Hard" franchise, I was still satisfied when I left the theater. Fans of the previous films may be disappointed with this latest installment, but there is enough for any fan of action films or Bruce Willis to warrant a theatrical viewing. Also, it was a great way for a single guy to spend Valentine's Day.