Synopsis
Bruce Willis is back in action — mind-blowing, heart-stopping, rip-roaring action — as John McClane, the heroic New York cop with a knack for being in the wrong place at the right time. John’s latest predicament takes him all the way to Russia to track down his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), who has been imprisoned in Moscow. But the mission takes a deadly turn as father and son must join forces to thwart a nuclear weapons heist that could trigger World War III!
This film is divided into two halves; great action, bad drama.
For those looking for a non-stop thrill ride (don’t you love that term?) then you’re in for a treat. While there is little to no build into the plot, the action gets going right from the beginning and it barely makes time to pump the brake. The chase scene through the streets of Moscow are amazingly done, while the shoot-outs leading to the action-packed climax of the film keep it all moving. Folks, this movie has no shortage of the Die Hard action you crave. In comparison to the last film, which seemed as slow and sluggish as Bruce Willis looked in it, you get the action you were craving for in a film.
With that said, the one caveat to the action is that you have to give up any good chance for a decent story. While the main device here is John McClane going to help out his son, who has just been arrested in Moscow for attempted murder, it doesn’t really go far. The rocky relationship between John (Bruce Willis) and Jack (Jai Courtney — talented guy) is shallow at the very best. You never fully understand and dig deep into why Jack is bitter at John, other than John loved his job too much (we got that very same thing in Die Hard 3). Their very relationship is so bad that Jack doesn’t blink an eye to putting a gun to his father’s head at the beginning of the film.
That’s a pretty awful relationship, right?
So, with things being that bad, how in the world can it all be rectified mid-way through the film? It’s way too fast to resolve and there isn’t enough detail involved to feel anything near emotional towards the characters. This empty vessel is just a means to the action end.
Another negative to this story is how the enemies seem incredibly one-dimensional. I don’t want to give too much away, but you don’t get to know the villains long enough to understand where they are coming from, and who they are in the scheme of things. They’re literally introduced and taken out. Introduced again and taken out. At least in the first two Die Hard films you fully understand how deeply menacing the two main villains are, and how vicious they can be for their specific reasons. Both were cold and calculating in the first two films, but these villains in A Good Day to Die Hard just seemed very flat.
Having said all of that, you could be tempted to write this off as another ‘Die Hard’ film and put the story aside, so that the action will be fit nicely, but Die Hard 1-3 had an even balance of both. I’m not sure why they haven’t been able to get the series back on track with the first three, but they just haven’t been able to get that balance established. Where are the old writers when you need them?
As for the DigitalHD film, it looks pretty solid. Comparable to Blu-ray, though not quite as portable, it’s a solid way to watch a movie, especially if you have an Apple TV. The video is clean and crisp with little to no issues with color blending or graininess. The only thing that hurts the HD portion of this tim is the fact that it’s predominantly shot with a blue tint on the lens. You get a lot of this in the Russian scenes at the beginning. Other than that, it’s a solid delivery (and quick). The audio is just as good.
The only knock I have with this delivery system is that you only get access to a small portion of the features. What you get with the DigitalHD film is the deleted scenes, some of which aren’t half bad (they actually give more detail that the film could have used). Other than that, you’re missing out on some major extras, but with the cost at $14.99 and nearly three weeks earlier than the Blu-ray release, this might be worth it. Of course, you have to be a diehard Die Hard fan.
At the end of the day, the DigitalHD version of the film is actually quite good, in delivery and quality. I wish there were more special features attached to it, but I understand the need for some extra value for the folks wanting to get the more expensive Blu-ray.