Don’t see this movie. In a perfect world that would be all that’s required to know about this film but since The Clock has a required minimum word count for articles let’s elaborate. A Good Day to Die Hard is the second attempt to revive an action franchise that should’ve stayed dead 13 years ago if anyone in Hollywood had any common sense. At this point in the review would be where the plot synopsis goes, but if you have already seen the movie you’d already know there is barely any plot to speak of.
Eternally unlucky New York cop John McClane travels to Russia because… His sons there and they haven’t talked in a while. That’s it. Really. Of course once he gets there he realizes his son Jack is actually CIA operative in the middle of sticky situation involving nuclear weapons, but that’s really all the film will afford in way of plot or character interaction because the rest of the time director John Moore is too busy assaulting our eyes with explosions and bad CGI stunt work. Moore, by the way, is the director of Max Payne and the The Omen remake, which really sets the bar for how disappointing this movie is.
In Moore’s defense, however, when you’re given a script written by the guy who wrote X-Men Origins: Wolverine there’s not much you can do. The script in fact is where most of the films problems lie. Nothing really makes sense, and for a film franchise like Die Hard that prides itself on having strong villains, it’s especially damning that A Good Day to Die Hard has no strong adversaries to speak of. It’s just some Russian guys who don’t like “cowboys” (one of the films barely subtle references to the first Die Hard) and their plan involves Chernobyl in some way.
The thing sadder than the lack of strong villains is how clearly Bruce Willis doesn’t want to be there. This is clearly a paycheck job for him and it shows. His son, played by Jai Courtney, fares better. He does fine with the material he is given but is a bit whiny at times and much like the last Indiana Jones film he is set up to replace John McClane for future Die Hard movies, but if there’s any justice in this world no one will be allowed to touch either franchises ever again.
If you’re really want to see A Good Day To Die Hard, don’t. Just re-watch any of the other film from the series. Even Live Free or Die Hard and Die Hard 2 come out smelling like roses compared to this loud mess. And if you really want a good action movie to watch, the best James Bond movie since the Sean Connery days, Skyfall, just came out on DVD/Blu-Ray last week. Rent that. You have no excuse to spend 11 dollars seeing this rambling pile of disappointment. Don’t see this movie.