Being the fifth installment in the John McClane saga, A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD does not disappoint.
When the movie teasers first started coming out, I got a little worried. With things like, “Yippee Ki-Yay, Mother Russia,” and the fact that they were in Russia, I was afraid of the plot and how wrong this might go. But it was Bruce Willis and a lot of action scenes, so I thought I’d give it a chance. From beginning to end, it is one giant action scene that will have you wincing in one spot and whooping out loud in another. So much damage was dealt that I thought they were trying to break the Avenger’s record. Watch Marvel’s THE AVENGERS, if you haven’t already, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
The acting, which in these movies doesn’t always have to be Oscar worthy, was pretty top-notch. Bruce and Jai Courtney, playing McClane’s son, really made a convincing father-son team, but . . . they were handed some lines that sounded a little forced. Even Bruce was dropping one-liners like he had a bag full of them in tow. At times, it seemed a little campy. If you’ve ever seen the Dr. Pepper commercial with the “action star,” then you get it. Even the Russians get into it. But in the end, it’s not so bad as to ruin it. Komarov is played by Sebastian Koch, and very well, I may add. The twists at the end are handled wonderfully by his acting.
On the production side of the movie, I would have to say that, at times, the movie seemed to be filmed a little too frantically. I know that an action movie has to have movement, but there are times that I couldn’t follow the action at all because of the movement of the camera. The audio could have been mixed a little better, because in parts, I actually missed some of the dialogue because it was drowned out by gun shots or motor noise from the movie. Again, this is not something that would lead me to not watch the movie, just be slightly irritated at points.
Over all, the movie is a rocket ride of fun! Funny, fast, and explosive just like any DIE HARD MOVIE should be, so go check it out and tell me what you thought!
Dallas author, A. Lee Martinez, has decided to answer the call of his fans and publish a sequel, sort of. Instead of one sequel dealing with only one world, he will publish an anthology with ten short stories, each dealing with characters or settings from his novels. Since interest is not that great in the publishing arena when it comes to anthologies, he’s decided to run a Kickstarter project to help fund it. It will be published in softcover and e-book. As with all Kickstarter projects, all levels of help bring about some perks, so go by and check them out and help A. Lee Martinez bring this great idea to fruition.
