A Good Day to Die Hard - 1 star out of 10

A Good Day to Die Hard - 1 star out of 10

“A Good Day to Die Hard” is one long eye-roll.  The entire film is so over the top that even “Die Hard” fans must have a tough time stomaching this one.  I love this franchise for its intricate plots and unexpected twists but this film is unoriginal and trite.  I can just picture the writers sitting around a big table tossing out ideas.  “Hey, didn’t John McClane have a son?” [writers scratch heads]  “Maybe in the first film, but he was completely insignificant and hasn’t appeared since.”  “Oh… LET’S BRING HIM BACK!!!!!!”  “But isn’t that the exact same thing that we did in the last film with his daughter that nobody knew existed?”  “Yes, but now THE SON IS BACK!!!!”  “And what about his daughter that appeared in the last film?  Shouldn’t we continue building on that plotline?”  “Good point… we’ll put her in the first and last scenes and hopefully the audience will forget about her because THE SON IS BACK!!!!”  “But how do we explain the son’s absence for the past 20-some years?”  “Duh, he was estranged from his family and is now an undercover CIA agent who is infiltrating a terrorist organization.”  “That.  Is.  GENIUS!!!!!”  I mean seriously, when did the writers give up on the story in an attempt to turn the franchise into “The Expendables”?  This is the “Crystal Skull” of film franchises.  It has completely lost the aura of the original films and effectively left a sour taste in my mouth towards the “Die Hard” films.  Bring back the incredible villains like Jeremy Irons, the comedy of Samuel L. Jackson, and the edge-of-your-seat thrills while you hold your breath as the plot veers off-course.  “A Good Day to Die Hard” is 75% over-the-top action sequences, 13% cheesy family moments (which are meaningless because we didn’t even know that this kid exists), 8% John McClane battling a terrorist regime on his own, 3% twist that is a feeble attempt to make it seem like the story matters, and 1% clever catch phrase (“Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Russia”).  In fact, I’m pretty sure that they started with the catch phrase and adapted the story around it.  This film is absolute rubbish.