Well I caved, I wasn't going to go see this movie, but being such a John McClane  fan I just couldn't resist.

Now this movie is kind of difficult to review, should I compare it to the other die hard films or as it's own separate movie.  In the end I had to see it as part of a series and not on it's own.

some spoilers....................

The basic plot of this die hard is a computer hacker hacks into all the government agency's which happens to have all the money as well, he basically shuts down the east coast causing mayhem and panic.  

The bad guy, Timothy Olyphant, was the one that designed the program but got booted out by the government so he is a little ticked off. He is by far the weakest die hard villian, there was nothing menacing about him, he is in no leauge with the likes of Hans Grubber.

Bruce Willis is sent to pick up some kid who may know what the hell is going on and after that point it goes balls out into action.

A surprise here is how good Justin Long was, I thought he would be annoying but he has some good one liners.

The action scenes in this film are some of the most spectacular sequences I have seen, the best being a fight between bruce willis and maggie Q, it goes from hand to hand then on a car and ends up in an elevator shaft and the fight continues.  that had to be the highlight of the film.

Then we come to the showdown.  Bruce Willis and the bad guy.  Bruce beaten almost to death cocks his gun, and his lips move.  this is the moment we have all been waiting for.  "Yippie-ki-yay, mother...........WHAT!!!!!!!! NO MOTHERFUCKER

It is cut out, those bastards, they couldn't even give us that, stupid fox twats, we wait 2 hrs and 10 min for that line and it doesn't happen.

I felt cheated from this movie and I left upset, no matter how good the action scenes were it was just too watered down for my liking.  they missed out on a good gross out moment when a guy falls into a shredder, you see nothing, it is also badly dubbed in many parts, you can tell they replaced a lot of the dialogue probably to get that pussy pg 13 rating.

In the end I was not happy and felt robbed of my die hard that I remember.  BIG DISSAPOINTMENT.

Well I have had a day to simmer down after seeing this film, and my feelings are more or less the same.  I think the action is top notch, Kevin smith has a great part as the warlock, Justin Long is a good counterpart to Willis, but I still feel let down, if this were not a die hard film my feelings would be different, but it is a die hard film and it lacks the personality of the other three, it should have been made for the die hard fans, not little kids, so I will wait for the R rated DVD which I know I will probably enjoy a lot more.

Did you see the same movie I saw? I had to have heard at least 20 plus curse words that "kids" would not be in a traditional PG-13 film. And the death where he drops the dude into that fan... if you looked you could see blood and guts since that's what makes these movies. In Die Hard you can see a dummy... I mean is that what you wanted? To see flaws?

It says on the ratings board that 14A is not suitable for kids under 14 or necessarily over that either. That's the Canadian rating and for us the only rating that matters.

Is Die Hard made for swear words? Is that the only reason people liked it? I don't think so.

One problem I do have with this film is that it starts out a lot like Bruce's previous film 16 Blocks. A senior cop is assigned to pick up a kid and he doesn't want to. Once he does and something screwed up happens he decides to take it upon himself to keep this kid safe.

I admit, I liked 16 Blocks better as far as the overall product goes but for action entertainment this is probably a really good example of Hollywood doing something right and (Arguably) for the fans.

I agree with Wesley.  This movie was adult oriented.  If you really want MORE adult action movies you have to go see them.  If you don't support them you risk Hollywood doing the exact opposit of your intention: make less adult action movies.

In other words, boycott kiddie films (animation/craphero movies/harry potter, rent them on video. Your kid won't know the difference) + go to more adult action oriented films, even the crappy ones = more adult action movies being made for you to attend.  If they realize there is a market for R rated action flicks they'll make them.  They only care about money. And until you start showing them the $$$ you won't be getting what you want.

James

Okay, I saw it.  I snuck in for free (with the help of a friend working in the theater) because I didn't want to contribute to the box office of a PG-13 Die Hard film.  After I saw it, I went out and gave the theater my eight bucks.

I thought it was absolutely fantastic.  With the exception of a lackluster ending, the action was phenomenal, the film was gritty and violent, the supporting cast was uniformly strong, and Bruce was in top form.  Sure, you could see the moments where they dubbed over the profanity.  Sure, the yippee ki yay was a godawful letdown.  But for the most part, this film was excellent, and I personally have no qualms saying it was better than Die Hard 2 and probably as good as Vengeance.  And great restraint shown in terms of CGI!  A great deal of physical effects, complemented by CGI which was used only to create sequences which would otherwise be impossible.  Bruce beating the living fuck out of Maggie Q was wonderful to see as well.

Problems?  Olyphant was boring as the bad guy.  The aforementioned lackluster ending.  A script full of somewhat obvious devices.  But oh well.  This was a slam-bang time at the theater and I think everyone should go.

Just a reminder, this is a review thread. If you want to complain about the rating, then go here.

Anyway, I caught this one on opening night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. McClane first jumped off the Nakatomi Plaza while I was still in a crib, so my generation grew up with him on basic cable, without the fucks and blood. This fact didn’t really bother me back then, so I didn’t really care about this films rating.

This was a solid action flick and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Luckily the chick in front of me had great smelling hair. Err, anyway- this film just felt like a Die Hard film. There were plenty of one-liners, explosions and gunfights. And just like the previous films, McClane spent plenty of time mocking his enemies over the walkie-talkie.

My only complaint has been mentioned before; Thomas Gabriel was a terrible villain when compared to Hans Gruber. Lastly, the Mac Kid was fairly entertaining, but had nothing on Sam Jackson in the sidekick department.

Ya know, it is a good movie, I let my emotions cloud my judgment, I know the "really" good version will be available on DVD, so I can wait a few months, I'm more angry at the executives at fox than the filmmaker, they made an R rated film that no one had any right to change, but the action in the film is sensational, probably some of the best I have seen, I think the bad dubbing throughout bothered me a lot, but I can let it go, I think with a stronger villain(prefurably European, I dunno why they just make classier villains) this would have been a lot better, so I guess, yeah, this is worth seeing, I just hope people See the true version once it is available on DVD.

I just came back from Die Hard 4.0 as they're calling it around here. I thought it was surprisingly good for a PG-13 actioner, but in the end, it just didn't feel right. It didn't feel like a reeal Die Hard film to me.

Someone in this thread asked rhetorically if Die Hard is popular because of swears, and naturally if you wanna pinpoint the popularity of the franchise to one singular element, then no, but damnit, it IS part of it. John McClane swears. It goes to character authenticity.

But honestly, my main gripe was the lack of violence. Die Hard IS about violence. Always has been. Terrorist gets his kneecaps shot out in the first one, John McClane shreds his feet to bloody pulps and Mr. Nakatomi gets head blown off. In number two we have the ice-pick in the eye, the thumb-bite, the guy through a jet-engine and of course the graphic adams-able slicing. The Third one sticks to old-fashioned guns and knives but it's still blood and guts everywhere.

Why is the violence important? Because when John McClane started limping around moaning about how hurt we was in this film, I was like "What? So you fell out of car!? Big deal!". When a Die Hard film is over, McClane needs to be covered in blood. Other people's blood mostly, but blood nonetheless. A Die Hard film is a death rattle. I didn't even need graphic decapitations or anything, just have people bleed when they are shot! It was a travesty.

I agree that Thomas Gabriel (whose name is way too close to Peter Gabriel) is the weakest villain of the bunch. I never even really hated him. But that wasn't Timothy Olyphant's fault though. He did a good job with what he had to work with.

On the bright side I thought Justin Long and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were really good, and I'd like to see them in the next installment.

I went to see this one immediately after Transformers yesterday. I'm glad I saw Die Hard last of the two otherwise Transformers would have seemed like a dud.

I'm a HUGE Die Hard and Willis fan and this movie did not let me down. I really enjoyed it and I didn't notice the lack of profanity so I guess to me the absense of it didn't bother me.

I did not think that there was too little violence either. Violence is ok, but it has to fit in the story. I don't see where there should have been any more. He does beat the hell out of a woman who's smaller than him even!!! Not long ago, that would have been unthinkable, at least in a PG-13 movie.

The comedy was sharp and the lines were delivered perfectly by all characters.

Willis was great, but I'm afraid that his days as a man women fall for might be over, or at least soon. It never bothered me that he was bald (I'm married to one of those) but he's starting to resemble a turtle.

Justin Long played his part really, really well. Even Kevin Smith was Great.

I liked just about everything about this movie. If I had any complaints about anything it would be the F-35. They don't exist and it stretched the imagination a tad too far.

Other than that, definitely one that I will buy.  

The R rated version is now available and I highly recommend it.  This much improved version is now my 3rd fav out of the series just behind the first 2.  The F bombs are put back in, about 30 to 40 of them, and Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker is back, it now FEELS like a die hard film, plus some added gore, still not as gory as the first 3 but more than what was in the cinema's.  

The R-rated version makes it nice and clear that Wiseman lied about "shooting a Die Hard film" that they intended to be rated R.  The added violence is largely CGI and the added profanity is largely dubbed in, often when it's unclear if characters are even talking.

Still, that's just as a point of interest.  The R-rated cut is just as good as the theatrical version and a little more fun.