Live Free or Die Hard: Possibly one of the best film titles of all time.
There was a lot of danger in coming back to the Die Hard saga 12 years after the last installment, Die Hard With a Vengeance, redefined the franchise once every action movie became "Die Hard on a boat" or "Die Hard on a plane" or "Die Hard at your grandma's house." This was an understandable trend, because the original Die Hard is quite possibly the best action movie of all time - so of course you want to rip it off. Hell, Renny Harlin's subpar sequel Die Hard 2: Die Harder somehow manages to be a cheap knock-off of the original. Thank god John McTiernan came back for the third film and brought in Samuel L. Jackson to shake things up and finally put NYPD's John McClane in his own element - Die Hard in New York City. McTiernan showed us that Die Hard is not necessarily about a guy trapped in a confined space trying to deal with bad guys, but rather it's about an everyman trying desperately to do the right thing against incredible odds and his own better judgment. And it's also about Bruce Willis being that everyman.
I was highly skeptical, yet unabashedly hopeful when I saw this film. I am a ridiculously big fan of both Bruce Willis and the Die Hard movies, but a delayed sequel with an aging star and Len Wiseman, the director of Underworld didn't leave me a lot of hope. I was afraid it would concentrate entirely on slam-bang explosions and not at all on the character, which is the big reason why Die Hard was so good - it wasn't just a series of acrobatics and destruction. You really felt for John McClane and could easily empathize with him. But when I finally saw this movie, I realized I had underestimated just how great it would be to see Willis being Willis again. He's spent the last 12 years dabbling in subdued roles here, bad guy roles there, trying to stretch as an actor. All well and good, of course, but you forget how much you missed that smirk and that Moonlighting attitude until you get to see it again. You want to welcome him back and invite him to Thanksgiving dinner.
The movie itself was a blast as well despite its absurdly high world-threatening stakes, only going too far over the top once (I'm looking at you, ridiculous jet-riding scene). Justin Long wasn't as annoying as I'd feared, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was badass enough to be believable as the next generation of McClane, and Maggie Q provided a great opportunity for McClane to take a stand against all the pseudo-Matrix wire-fighting action clones that dominate the genre today by barking out "Enough of this kung-fu shit!"
Sometimes you just want a good old-fashioned action movie. Live Free or Die Hard is an old friend coming back to town for some fun.
Rescue Dawn: Christian Bale as a pilot shot down over Laos struggling for survival during the Vietnam War. I think it's impossible for Bale to make a bad movie anymore. Newsies be damned.
Hairspray: John Travolta in a drag fatsuit. I know I should be able to see past this and enjoy the craziness of the movie, but I keep waiting for Eddie Murphy to show up and fart. Is it that hard to find actual fat actors?
Hudson Hawk Special Edition: In keeping with the festive Bruce Willis theme, a special edition of the misunderstood cult classic Hudson Hawk is being released in conjunction with Live Free or Die Hard. It has a repuation as a tremendous flop because, well, it was, but it's no fault of the film itself. It was marketed in the height of Die Hard-mania as a perfect extension of Action Star Bruce's milieu, but when people showed up and found out it was a weirdo comedy about stylish sing-song cat-burglary and threatening CIA agents by saying he'll "kick your centrally intelligent ass," people went 'huh?"
It's their loss. Here's the gist - Willis is Eddie, a legendary thief who's getting out of the pokey and trying to go straight, despite his parole officer trying to get him to swipe an art piece. His partner and best friend, Tommy Five-Tone (an amusingly boisterous Danny Aiello) helps talk him into it after a little threatening from freakin' Frank Stallone as Cesar Mario (yes, he works with his sibling and they're called The Mario Brothers, but hey, it was 1991). Turns out they're getting involved in the world domination schemes of Darwin and Minerva Mayflower (a fabulously insane Richard E. Grant and equally weird Sandra Bernhard), who are trying to seek out classic works of Leonardo Da Vinci for pieces of his legendary "gold machine," while also trying to outwit the James Coburn-led CIA and a secret Vatican spy organization represented by Andie MacDowell, in her only redeeming role. You will perhaps note that The Da Vinci Code is a blatant rip-off of Hudson Hawk (or at least Hudson Hawk made it impossible for me to take The Da Vinci Code seriously).
It's also worth noting that this film also finds David Caruso in his best role to date - as a CIA goon named after a candy bar who never speaks. Watch the beginning of any episode of CSI: Miami, or worse yet, watch Kiss of Death, and tell me you don't agree.
It's not an action movie - it's Bruce Willis doing something different, as he's often done in the years since. It's goofy, it's absurd, it's full of genuine buddy comedy and will have you singing along with "Swinging on a Star." Give it a shot, and then hope Bruce does more legit comedy in the future. The guy is funny.
