This film followed the biggest disappointment of the Die Hard series to date. That could mean one of two things: less pressure because director, Len Wiseman, would have paved the road for a step in the right direction after his failures or more pressure to right the wrongs of the previous film. Current director, John Moore, came out with guns blazing and bodies dropping, continuing the idea that he had to cater to the new, younger, audience by getting things started quickly. Moore quickly upped the ante by quickly introducing the main antagonist and Jai Courtney’s Jack McClane--who would play alongside our internationally adored John McClane. Moore avoided the potential skepticism by diving right in and forcing the audience to pay attention early and not allowing them to question how it would answer Live Free or Die Hard. Like I’ve mentioned before, the new characters are often what propels these Die Hard films and their stories. Courtney was a phenomenal casting choice as he was able to portray Jack with the same intensity and humor as Willis does his character. The two characters were so similar: stubborn, witty and full of energy, potentially creating an issue, but the two fed off of one another’s charisma so well that it managed to work. I felt that the biggest issue from the previous film was rectified with the inclusion of the father/daughter duo of Yuri (Sebastian Koch) and Irina Komarov (Yuliya Snigir) as the antagonists in this film. They rose the stakes by making the explosions bigger, the casualties greater and the gun fights longer than ever before. While the characters were not terribly intimidating, their actions forced the audience to view them as such. The action was, in many ways, outlandish and unbelievable, however, with a slight suspension of disbelief (and the fact that we are talking about John McClane) these things can be dealt with. We chose to watch the extended version, rather than the theatrical version, and I regretted that choice. The ending of the theatrical version far surpasses that of any other ending in the franchise’s history and it brings closure to John McClane’s journey. Family possibly played the biggest role in the first film, so, ending with the McClanes (sans Holly) was the perfect way to end the series. I believe that, even with the inclusion of the final two films (and the upcoming prequel) the Die Hard franchise has done enough to solidify itself as one of the greatest action series of all time. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606378/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Kommentare