Bruce Willis tries to breathe new life into film
They’re all at it. Sylvester Stallone (66) in Bullet to the Head and Arnold Schwarzenegger (65) in The Last Stand have joined the pensioner action movie genre, so for Bruce Willis (at a mere 57) to appear in a fifth Die Hard movie hardly raises an eyebrow.
A Good Day to Die Hard (dir. John Moore, cert. 12A) finds John McClane (Willis) off to Moscow to find out why his son Jack (Jai Courtney) is in prison. As John McClane Jr he was a child in Die Hard (1988), played by Noah Land, but we’ve heard nothing about him since (nor about Noah Land) but, wouldn’t you know it, he’s not exactly followed in his father’s footsteps as a cop – no, he’s CIA.
Straight away, the first thing that comes to mind is franchise – let’s find someone to whom Bruce’s Die Hard mantle, or vest, can be handed. Bluntly, they’ll need better stories and scripts than this to keep it fresh, as the latest plot line is very thin, and it’s hardly worth starting on what’s credible and what isn’t.
Jack’s on the trail of Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov), a Russian oligarch with political ambitions, whose former comrade in corruption, Komarov (Sebastian Koch), is about to testify against him. Jack has persuaded prosecutors that he can incriminate Komarov, and Jack’s on trial too.
His dad happens to arrive at the Moscow courtroom just as Chagarin’s men, led by Alik (Radivoje Bukvic), blast their way through the walls to capture and kill Komarov. Jack rescues Komarov and drives off in a delivery van, pursued by Alik in a big armoured van, pursued by John in whatever vehicle he can steal.
Lots of smashed cars later, John and Jack and Komarov have escaped, and meet Komarov’s daughter Irina (Yuliya Snigir), but Alik finds them and takes Komarov. When Alik is told to kill John and Jack, of course he engages them in conversation first, giving them time…
Anyway, it all goes back to the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and they end up in the ghost town of Pripyat where Alik has taken Komarov to find the file that will incriminate Chagarin. The good news is that there’s a secret spray that will instantly neutralise radiation so they can enter the secret vault and find the secret file.
There’s not much subtle about it, and the major twists are not exactly surprising, but I did like the henchman with a Soviet Union tattoo and the big explosion with a statue of Lenin in the foreground. There are so many explosions, the chance of having a Lenin statue nearby must have been high.
I suppose a singing Moscow taxi-driver and a dancing gangster add a bit of frivolity, but don’t go for the jokes. This is for lovers of bullets, bombs, and busted cars.
Argo
Steve Parish