Rating: 3 of 5  

or as I like to call it – Die Harder!

Yeah, it’s a little long and the jet/freeway scene is a little over the top. But mostly it’s great action and funny and a whole lot of fun.

Bruce Willis is great. He is the reason we love John McClane. And I’m glad they made this sequel because the 3rd one was not loved by me.

I adore Justin Long. I’ve had a little bit of a crush on him, well, since I started seeing the Die Hard previews. He’s nice and funny and likes dogs. And he’s superbly funny in this movie. Plus, his character evolves really nicely throughout the film which was really good.

Len Wiseman is amazing. I saw both Underworlds so that isn’t entirely surprising, but he really distinguished himself with Die Hard. The thing that makes his action sequences so remarkable are the long steady shots. You see the guy get hit, fly through the air and run into the wall in one uncut shot. It’s so simple and yet really effective.
If Michael Bay is my favorite director of action then Len Wiseman just stepped into second. And I don’t get impressed with action directors that often.

Loved the acrobatic stuntman. I want to be an acrobat, always have. So to watch him jump through the action sequences was really cool. Also, liked Mia’s fight scenes. Her kung fu was so sharp and precise but the thing that put her over the top was after she got her ass kicked by McClane and then just walks back over to Matt unfazed. Total stone cold bitch. It was kind of cool.

One thing that really stood out was the scene where Matt tells McClane that at first he thought a fire sale would be cool. I could be speaking out of place here, but I think Generation Y tends to be less grounded in the everyday reality of our governmental system. They tend to see it more in the abstract compared to the Baby Boomers. When Matt’s talking about crashing the system and hitting the reset button it was good to hear McClane say that it’s not a system, it’s real people sitting in their homes with their lives falling apart. I think it was a fitting sociological commentary and somewhat valid.

I loved the use of Fortunate Son. First of all, love that song. Playing it over the shots of the unfurling flag with the radio dj talking about the 4th of July was classic Bruckheimer/Bay. And then to have it playing again over the credits tied in so well with who John McClane is and what he and Matt were talking about being that guy.

fantastic summer movie.

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