Live Free or Die Hard is the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It stars veteran actor Bruce Willis as John McClane, the hero of the first three films. The film takes place some 19 years after the first film, and sees McClane face a gang of Internet terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant.) McClane doesn’t face the baddies alone, however. He’s forced to protect and eventually team up with nerdy computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long, Ed, Jeepers Creepers, The Mac Guy.) Together, they must take out the bad guys, rescue McClane’s daughter, and make sure the baddies don’t wipe out the Internet.

Is Live Free or Die Hard worth your time?

The original Die Hard succeeded because it took an average, fallible, tough-guy cop and placed him in a confined, desperate situation. It worked because you felt as if this “everyman” could be killed at any moment, that success wasn’t guaranteed. But in the end, he overcame his limitations and saved the day. McClane wasn’t a superman; he was a man who performed superbly.

The following two sequels never really captured the essence of a Die Hard film. 1990’s Die Hard 2: Die Harder seemed quite implausible and lacked a truly terrible villain. 1995’s Die Hard With A Vengeance paired Willis with Samuel L. Jackson in a race around New York City to stop a bomb placed by super terrorist Simon Gruber. While many believe DH3 was the better sequel, it deviated from the Die Hard formula enough to feel like more of a typical action movie than the classic McClane adventure.

With Live Free or Die Hard, it still doesn’t feel quite right. McClane is running around the eastern seaboard with a partner, doing miraculous thing after miraculous thing. Sure, John gets the crap beat out of him, overcoming impossible odds. But in the end, he’s still the one delivering the witty line after downing the terrorist. The same old same old.

While watching this film, you never think it’s anything more than a standard action film with the lead character from Die Hard. LFODH also struggles with lazily constructed plot twists (John conveniently knows how to pilot a helicopter because that’s the only mode of transportation) and terrible supporting roles (witness uber-nerd Kevin Smith single-handedly drag the film to a halt playing an…uber-nerd/computer hacker living in his mommy’s basement.)

Live Free or Die Hard does have some redeeming qualities. The first action sequence in which McClane rescues Farrell from attacking terrorists is claustrophobically fantastic. But in the end, the good parts and Willis’ charisma simply can’t save an average action movie. I’d say better luck next time, but let’s be honest: the first Die Hard is the only Die Hard we’ll really ever need.

Scope scores for the other Die Hard films:

Die Hard: 4 Stars
Die Hard 2: Die Harder: 2 Stars
Die Hard With a Vengeance: 2 1/2 Stars

The team that brought you Shaun of the Dead, writer/actor Simon Pegg and writer/director Edgar Wright, returns with Hot Fuzz, another genre sendup that turns the Hollywood buddy-cop adventure on its ear. Hot Fuzz is the story of Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), London police officer of superior skill. Angel’s policing ability is so far above that of his colleagues and superiors that they arrange for him to be promoted to sergeant and transferred to the sleepy, crime-free village of Sandford. Sergeant Angel is partnered with PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), a fan of overblown Hollywood action films, and the two investigate a suspicious string of accidental deaths.

Is Hot Fuzz worth your time?

Hot Fuzz is a great experience from beginning to end. Much like the genre-mixing Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz is not afraid to break the boundaries of what you expect an action film to be. It’s sometimes a comedy, sometimes an action film, and occasionally a grisly horror film, but it seems to avoid the pitfalls of each genre. Just when you think you know how the film is going to deal with a particular situation, it takes it in a new and interesting direction, all while never taking itself too seriously.

The characters are also well-crafted. They are simultaneously familiar and unique; you’ve seen these types before, but not quite in this way. These are American character stereotypes filtered through British comic sensibilities and given new life with excellent writing.

Hot Fuzz is just pure fun to watch. The ending is a bit predictable, but it hardly matters at that point; there are too many laughs to be had over the course of the film for this one lapse to sully the experience.

Grindhouse is a double feature consisting of two feature-length segments directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, bookended by trailers for “coming attractions”, advertisements, and in-theater announcements reminiscent of those typical in U.S. theaters in the 1970s.

Rodriguez’s feature is a gory flick called Planet Terror in which a poison gas is released into the air, turning local inhabitants into violent, zombie-like creatures. Tarantino’s contribution to the double feature is called, Death Proof. In this film, a crazy stuntman befriends young women only to lure them into his car and kill them. His plan would have gone perfectly if he only avoided targeting a group stunt women who were more than prepared for his deadly intents…

Is Grindhouse worth your time?

Clearly, the general film going population doesn’t think it is. But the real answer is slightly more complicated than that.

Truth be told, Rodriguez seems to understand the goal of Grindhouse: make a loving tribute to the low budget, hypersensational films popularized in the 1970s. Planet Terror features all the gore, corny dialogue, sex, and action one would expect. While Rodriguez certainly takes filmmaking seriously, he doesn’t ever lose sight of the fact that the genre he’s imitating isn’t all that great. So the end result is a film that’s fun to watch and is loyal to the source material.

Quentin, on the other hand, seems to miss the point. Death Proof is a great concept with a perfectly cast villain (Kurt Russell.) But over the course of 90+ minutes, Tarantino unleashes meandering dialogue, a disjointed plot, and action that really doesn’t kick in until the last third of the film. Death Proof feels more like a Tarantino flick than a grindhouse film. And the most disappointing aspect to it all: when Quentin’s script does veer into Pulp Fiction-style dialogue, it feels like a rehash (and not a particularly good rehash) of his other great movies.

At the end of the day, Grindhouse only gets it half right. While that’s enough to warrant a viewing, it’s definitely disappointing, considering the exceptional talent behind the movie.