“Live Free or Die Hard” -- Action series keeps going strong

This fourth Die Hard film, coming 12 years after the last installment in the John McClane series, has all the excitement, intensity, and wisecracks of the prior films. To date, there has not been a bad “Die Hard” film in the action series, however none of the sequels - including this one - reach the cinematic heights of the first film. The relatively new director, Len Wiseman (“Underworld“), has proven his directing abilities by keeping this big budget series fresh with a new story about technological terrorism, while including all the trademark “Die Hard“ plot devices and dialogue.

Bruce Willis again stars as the everyman cop from New York, in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, he is asked to pick-up a suspect in a computer hacking investigation, named Matt Farrell (Justin Long; “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story“), who has unknowingly begun a chain of events that will put the nation in jeopardy. The home-grown terrorists that contracted this independent hacker are now looking to tie up loose ends, and send a team to kill Farrell. Luckily - or unlikely for McClane - he arrives first to try and save the kid. McClane learns this professional team has a plan to shut-down all the critical transportation, financial, and utility systems of the United States. McClane will need the assistance of Long and his fellow underground hacker buddies to stop them.

Bruce Willis still has what it takes to make a great action movie. The character John McClane has aged along with him - including sporting a completely shaved head - and he now has a grown up daughter and a promotion at work. Willis continues to be cool as a cucumber as McClane, imbuing self-confidence while remaining human. The film continues to keep its stunts and action sequences realistic - if a bit fantastic. The film may have gone one set action piece too many with a sequence involving a military jet, a tractor trailer truck, and a series of bridges and ramps. Though not unbelievable, it was one exhausting hurdle too many before reaching the finale.

The addition of Justin Long and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as grown-up Lucy McClane, adds comic relief and some emotional depth to the story. The henchmen in “Live Free or Die Hard” end up being more interesting ultimately than the mastermind villain performed by Timothy Olyphant (“Catch and Release”). The least remarkable of the nemesis’s John McClane has faced, he serves only adequately as the terrorist’s leader. The story progresses along quickly, as we never need to wait too long between action sequences, and the focus stays primarily on the protagonists. This franchise continues to hold up years after its initial inception, sparking the question - when will we see the next “Die Hard” sequel?

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation.