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Author Topic: Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 07-03-2007 03:59 PM                     quote: Jarryd Beard Do they serve Coke at Disney theme parks? They sure do! There is even a mini Coke store called Club Cool at Epcot.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 07-04-2007 06:18 PM                     Odeon Huddersfield, Screen 4, 17:00 Show, 35mm SR*D -- Some nice set pieces (like the car falling down the lift shaft) strung together with a silly plot. Felt more like a Bourne movie that a Die Hard. I was waiting for Matt Damon to show up. [ 07-11-2007, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: Michael Brown ]  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-04-2007 09:14 PM                        Today at Regal 15 in Shelbyville, Screen #3. Uneven illumination, uneven focus, fuzzy edges. Sounded good though. I liked it. The plot is outrageous but provides the framework for some pretty good action sequences. Would like to see an R-rated cut. I'll give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, works very well as a summer action movie.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-10-2007 12:27 PM                     Location: Carmike 8 Auditorium: #6, 9:55pm show Format: Christie DLP/Doremi Server, 2048 X 852 pixels Rating: 2.75 stars out of 4 This latest release in the Die Hard franchise was fun, but derivative and forgettable. While entertaining it certainly doesn't measure up to the original. The premise of the movie is interesting and I humored it just to give the movie a chance. In reality, the "fire sale" concept would be much more difficult or even plain impossible to execute. So many things that are computerized are not connected to the Internet. Many systems are very proprietary in nature, demanding industry specific or even custom software to manipulate. Many other things are just not computerized at all. Lots of surveillance cameras are still analog and recording to analog tape. Important systems in our nations infrastructure are vulnerable to black hat attacks. But there's no way to bring down everything. Most of the action scenes were well done and entertaining. The acrobatic bad guys made certain sequences more interesting. But I did have the thought, "why is this guy committing crimes instead of earning gymnastics gold medals in the Olympics?" Justin Long played the same character he does in all his movies. Still, he did a good job of brining humor into the slow scenes between each action set piece. Long had many of this movie's best lines, muttering quips just out of earshot like, "if you knew half of what I know your fuzzy little head would explode." Kevin Smith's "Warlock" character (über-Star Wars geek/hacker slob) wasn't as funny as it should have been. The PG-13 thing wasn't as much of an issue. The action scenes were still pretty violent. IMHO, regular over the air network TV often wanders into R-rated areas of violence and gore these days. This Die Hard sequel doesn't have slow motion shots of exploding knee caps or brains getting blasted onto door glass. But the fights, stunts and shoot outs all still have some brutal impact. I agree with the comments of others that the scene with the VSTOL jet was very reminiscent of True Lies, but even more preposterous. It's a good thing the elevated expressway was strangely empty when that jet was demolishing parts of it. The sound mix was pretty good. I really liked the surround use during some of the shoot outs. I would have preferred Live Free or Die Hard to be shot in true anamorphic 'scope like the previous 3 installments in the series. Since this movie was shot in Super35 it just didn't have the same visual continuity. The editing and shot choices could have been better. Parts of this reminded me of the incomprehensible shot/edit bullshit that took place in The Bourne Supremacy. Jeez, let us focus on something. Objects were blurring through the frame so much I could barely even tell John McClane was using a SigSauer P226R instead of his usual Beretta 92F. The biggest nit I have to pick with this movie is geographical continuity. Obviously not enough movie goers care about this at all, otherwise Hollywood would not be pulling this shit. Los Angeles and Long Beach do not look anything at all like the Washington, D.C. area. DC doesn't have mountain ranges in the outskirts that look like the San Gabriel Mountains. That whole scene in the "tunnel" is just another location in L.A. we have seen used in countless other movies (Black Rain, Lethal Weapon 2, The Terminator, Mystery Men and on and on). One would think with all the CGI tools movie studios have on hand, they could do a better job of making a set look more like it comes from the location stated in the script. People can hit the pause button on a DVD player and see details like a California state highway "spade" showing up on a sign supposedly in Maryland. One would think the studios would be more up to speed about the resources movie viewers have on hand, such as Google Earth and all its included content layers. Maybe those movie producers ought to be using that tool to more effectively scout locations and get a better handle on geographic continuity instead of trying to film everything involving an expressway on the I-105.  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 07-10-2007 01:54 PM                     Yeah, I felt the same. I enjoyed it mainly because it harkened back to the good ole days of summer action movies(damn, I am getting old to talk about the 80s and early 90s as good ole days). But it could have been better. Firesale thing was far fetched, to say the least. I thought the stunts looked pretty good - kind of like Die Hard meets Lethal Weapon. I was a little concerned because the trailer action scenes looked way too fake. Maybe a small screen exposes the limitations more since we can grasp the whole image at once. Or maybe they edited out the fake looking sequence. I think it was the one where Willis and the kid get thrown out of the car(I cant remember). I wasn't too pleased with the color tone. The director should have cut down on the blue hues. Maybe he thought he was making Underworld 3. A Bruce Willis movie is not complete without having one annoying family character. The daughter all of a sudden remembers her dad only when she is in trouble? I do not wish upon anybody the family members Bruce Willis has to endure in his action movies. Still, I enjoyed it. Justin Long wasn't annoying like I expected after seeing him in his Mac ads. I liked him in Jeepers. And he was pretty decent here. SPOILERS I wish they didn't include the plot point where Tim O. is subjected to gunpoint threat by the government. It actually made me feel bad for the guy because at that point, I blame the government for making him snap. They should have just left it at an impatient guy who went off the loose end a little too quickly when his suggestions were spurned by the government and he was unjustifiably demoted. But once they took the storyline into territory where this guy was ruined by our government, I started feeling bad for his character instead of wishing for him to die. But then they make him totally ruthless to others in his group too who were not related to the government. And what was Maggie Q's story? Did she take his mistreatment by the government so personally too or she was just out for the money?  |  IP: Logged Ray Faultless Film Handler Posts: 96 From: Amington, Tamworth, England Registered: Jun 2001 posted 07-10-2007 02:18 PM                     I did'nt notice the f word at all but did notice Bruce did not light up. In earlier Die Hards he stopped for a smoke whenever he got a chance.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 07-11-2007 04:43 PM                     The BBFC rated this "15" for "frequent action violence and one use of strong language" Even though we don't actually hear the one use of strong language. This movie should have been "12a"  |  IP: Logged Jason Winn Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Mesquite, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 07-11-2007 11:28 PM                     I loved it! Great summer action movie!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-12-2007 08:51 PM                     Willis hasn't lost that touch. I liked this film and some of it was even believable. The contains best line in a long time in an action film... (Kid to Willis)man, you brought that chopper down with a car... (Willis to Kid) yea kid, I ran out of bulletts! All in all a very enjoyable film worth seeing. The gal playing Willis's daughter is a hot number!! Mark  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 10-13-2008 04:16 PM                 It has been 458 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Patrick de Groot Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sprang-Capelle, Netherlands Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-13-2008 04:16 PM                     Watched it on DVD. What a bummer. It's a totally unrealistic action flick. The computer hacking is absurd. The action is WAY over the top and McClane is leaning heavy on being extremely lucky in multiple scenes. This movie is nothing like Die Hard 1 and 2. It's not Bruce's fault, it's the stupid plot. Maybe you can enjoy it as a brainless action flick, but it's not Die Hard for me.  |  IP: Logged

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