Die Hard V - Not Looking Good...

[ThunderAeroI]

Well, I have problems with the plot point of crashing planes based on the ILS being incorrect and that there are manholes in a runway.

[Trekker4747]

Die Hard is the definitive action movie for over a generation it was the benchmark. "Die Hard on bus", "Die Hard on a plane", etc.

The second one I actually kind of like, though it certainly has its flaws. The third one is just awesome, it almost achieves the awesome of the first.

The fourth one is just Meh. I think it tries to hard to make the scope of McClain's problem bigger which doesn't work. He's not Jack Bauer trying to save a nation he's an over-worked, often suspended, NYC cop who always thrust into bizarre situations. Had he "failed" in his tasks in any of the first three movies things would've ended up mostly okay. (Though the lasting effects of the third movie may have been great.)

The fourth movie had he failed a nation would've been greatly impacted. I mean it's serious shit he gets pulled into in that movie and it doesn't work.

Not to mention Mac Guy just wasn't as good of a side kick as Al Powell or SLJ.

God, if this new movie teams him up with Shia LeBouff....

Well, I have problems with the plot point of crashing planes based on the ILS being incorrect and that there are manholes in a runway.

The ILS thing I'll give you -still roll my eyes at that one- but if I recall it wasn't a "man hole" so much as it was a giant drain grate. Which, yeah, still likely wouldn't be on a runway but is a bit different than a manhole.

[ThunderAeroI]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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The ILS thing I'll give you -still roll my eyes at that one- but if I recall it wasn't a "man hole" so much as it was a giant drain grate. Which, yeah, still likely wouldn't be on a runway but is a bit different than a manhole.

I may need to rewatch the movie again, but I'm almost positive that either Bruce or the baddies come out of a man hole in the runway as if there was a large tunnel underneath the length of the runway. But a giant drain gate wont be on a runway either.

I honestly can't watch aviation movies because I can't enjoy them.

[Trekker4747]

McClain over hears on the CB the landing of the cargo plane, he's talking to the janitor guy with the maps and wonders how quickly he can get to the landing runway.

We next see him running through the series of tunnels (!) under the runways of the airport, he finds the place his looking for and climbs up a ladder. At the top of the ladder is a large drainage grate -probably three feet on each side, at least- that is locked to the ground with a pad-lock. McClain shoots at the lock with his gun, breaking it (and likely giving him a good ring in his ears) and allowing him to try and force the heavy gate open with his back and shoulders.

The gate proves to heavy for him as he ends up wedged between it and the runway surface as the C-130 (?) lands at the runway threshold. I believe he uses his gun to try and support the grate as he tries to wedge through as the slowing plane closes in on him. He manages to dislodge himself from the grate just as the plane gets there and rolls out of the way, the plane's nose wheel strikes the propped-up grate with a crash, dislodging the gun it getting lost to the bottom of the drain shaft, the gate slams "shut."

Yes it should be noted that there's no likely to be any large drainage grates on a runway's surface. Such a thing would simply be too dangerous with too much opportunity to go wrong resulting in "at best" a heavy bump in the middle of the runway as age, weight and rust cause it to cave-in and at worst a very large hole should the grate ever fail or somehow become missing.

Also the plane would have struck the propped up grate going around 40 or 50 miles an hour if not much more and airplane landing gear hardly have the heartiest of suspension systems. The pilot (the captured leader the mercenaries/terrorists were trying to retrieve) almost certainly would have felt the jolt of the plane striking the grate if not plain lost control of the plane on the slick runway (the ground crews were not allowed out to clear the runway of the heavy snow) with his own admission to low visibility.

Personally, I wouldn't let your knowledge of how things work in the real world preclude you from being able to enjoy a movie based entirely in fiction. You may know that's not how things work, I know that's not how things work, but it's one of the cases where you check your knowledge at the door and roll with it.

[Captaindemotion]

Title and synopsis:

A Good Day to Die Hard. McClane the Klingon?

http://www.moviehole.net/201146951-i...tines-day-2013

Since the first Die Hard in 1988, John McClane has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the skills and attitude to always be the last man standing, making him enemy #1 for terrorists the world over. Now, McClane faces his greatest challenge ever, this time on an international stage, when his estranged son Jack is caught up in the daring prison escape of a rogue Russian leader, and father and son McClane must work together to keep each other alive and keep the world safe for democracy.

[davejames]

I don't remember him even HAVING a son.

Title is definitely better than the last two though (although for the longest time I always assumed that phrase originated with TNG. lol)

[Captaindemotion]

^ I don't think Trek invented the saying. McClane does have a son, there was a son and daughter in the original movie, remember?

[JarodRussell]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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Title and synopsis:

A Good Day to Die Hard. McClane the Klingon?

http://www.moviehole.net/201146951-i...tines-day-2013

In the 90s, this would have been a SNL parody or an April Fools joke.

[Reverend]

davejames wrote:

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I don't remember him even HAVING a son.

Title is definitely better than the last two though (although for the longest time I always assumed that phrase originated with TNG. lol)

^I vaguely recall there being a boy and a girl in the first film when matey bloke from Ghostbusters went round their house.

As for the saying, I'm reasonably sure it's a Native American saying (not sure, but it might have been from Crazy Horse.) Of course I wouldn't be surprised if a dozen other cultures have come up with something similar at some point or another, but I think that is the most often credited source.

[bigdaddy]

I like the name.

They all have their moments, but the 4th one was just too over the top. Bring it back down to reality and this can be a winner.

[Lonemagpie]

Reverend wrote:

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As for the saying, I'm reasonably sure it's a Native American saying (not sure, but it might have been from Crazy Horse.) Of course I wouldn't be surprised if a dozen other cultures have come up with something similar at some point or another, but I think that is the most often credited source.

Yep, it's Crazy Horse who coined it (actually he said "Let's do this - today is a good day to die")

[JarodRussell]

Die Hard 4 was way too over the top, McClane was way too tired and phoned in, the villain was a joke, the hacker was annoying, it lacked all the irony and charme of the previous three movies, it lacked Michael Kamen's score (stop saying "But Beltrami used his themes!", Beltrami's score was utterly generic and bland and lightyears behind anything that Kamen would have phoned in had he still been alive. It would have been better to reuse already recorded pieces from the three movies (I believe they did that a lot in Die Hard 3 already anyway)).

It was like with the hair and the vest everything else was gone, too. They had the July 4th setting, and didn't use it. I'm absolutely certain that Michael Kamen would have based his score on the 1812 Overture. And that he would have underscored the French parcours stunt guy with pieces of the French national anthem. No self references, no irony. No even a christmas reference. Even Die Hard 3 had one!

And Willis' performance was so bland. The Bruce Willis from the 80s and early 90s was a completely different one than the guy after The 6th Sense. Even in the Mercury Puzzle he was more of a John McClane type of guy than he was in Die Hard 4. Now he likes to play the rather silent and cool types, with a low voice. But McClane has always been loud, impulsive, ironic, sarcastic.

And then the stupid hacking shit. Open the tunnel gates, put out the lights, and everybody's going to crash. Kill the hacker by putting explosives into his computer, and upload a virus that will make him push the delete key. Or let's explode an entire power plant with a few online commands. OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!

And then we had this wonderful scene in Die Hard 3 where they break into a cheap old car with a gold bar, and McClane asks: "can you hotwire this thing?" and Jackson simply starts the engine and says "Of course I can, but it takes too fucking long", and bam, next scene.

And in Die Hard 4 that very stupid scene with the BMW and the onStar system, which was completely unneccessary, awkward and destroyed the pacing. Followed by a very awkward moment where McClane has to explain why he does what he does. When a character has to explain himself to the audience, you know that something went wrong. That's the job of the movie critic to analyse the actions of the character.



And then visually and auditorily, it didn't fit into the other three movies at all. That horrible orange & teal color timing. The bland soundtrack.

And as others have said, John McTiernan would have been able to direct the same scenes into something way more powerful and exciting.

Oh my. In short, I was extremely disappointed.



And now the premise has really outlived its usefulness. McClane is a totally cartoon character by now. People complain about the self referential Die Hard 2, but they don't complain when he gets accidently into a terrorist plot the FIFTH FUCKING TIME?

[Captain Craig]

I LOVE pt.4, kicks pt.2's ass up and down the sticky theater aisle.

I enjoyed A-Team, would like a sequel there but know it isn't happening.

Let's face it the series, like most action films, is at the point where it has to keep amping up the absurdity and danger levels. A return to form, aka, the first film works for a series like Rocky but not this...at least not yet imo.

[Gil T.Azell]

Set In Russia, this should be good!

[The Borgified Corpse]

It's a pattern of escalation. We've gone from "John McClane saves an office building" to "saves an airport" to "saves the city" to "saves the country." We need Die Hard 5 to be "saves the world" in order to be the missing link between Live Free or Die Hard and Bruce Willis' "saves the universe" film, The Fifth Element.

McTiernan has a couple movies in development right now but he hasn't directed a movie since Basic in 2003. That is a fucking crime!

I like Die Hard 2 & Live Free or Die Hard. Die Hard 2 is the only sequel that comes close to capturing the claustrophobic tension of the original.

Live Free or Die Hard was probably the best they could do under the circumstances. The action movie landscape is just so different from how it was back in the 1980s & 1990s. Forcing Live Free or Die Hard into being a PG-13 sapped the film of the grungy blood & foulmouthed charm that were the series' trademarks. It also focused too much on CGI enhancements for the stunts, much like another recent 1980s revival, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Still, it's better than most action movies.

BTW, best song ever!