Live Free or Die Hard - 2007

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners

Directed by Len Wiseman

Cast:

• John McClane – Bruce Willis
• Thomas Gabriel – Timothy Olyphant
• Matthew Farrell – Justin Long
• Mai Linh – Maggie Q
• FBI Dep. Director Miguel Bowman – Cliff Curtis
• Trey – Jonathan Sadowski
• Frederick 'Warlock' Kaludis – Kevin Smith
• Lucy Gennero McClane – Mary Elizabeth Winstead
• Agent Molina – Zejlko Ivanek

Story: The FBI cyber security section is suddenly hacked. It is a momentary glitch, but the deputy director wants to find out what happened, so he tells his agents to get every known hacker capable of doing this and bring them in for questioning. Since they are spread out and the FBI lacks some local resources to bring them all in, the enlist the help of local agencies, including the NYPD. John McClane is in Rutgers, checking up on his daughter, who is currently not speaking with him (sort of a pattern with John and women in general), when he gets the call to go pick up young Matthew Farrell, a hacker in the general area. When he gets to Farrell's apartment, they are about to leave when gunfire erupts, aimed at Farrell. John manages to kill three of the bad guys and escape with Farrell, and heads to Washington DC to deliver the young hacker. When he gets there, he finds the FBI building has been evacuated due to an Anthrax alarm, and everything in the country run by computer is going haywire. They soon discover the source of the disaster, a disgruntled federal employee who has a plan to destroy the entire US monetary system as his revenge for his dismissal. Once again, John McClane must save the day using only his wits and the help of two unlikely sources, a computer hacker named Matt, and an underground cyberwarrior code named Warlock.

Review: Twelve years have passed and the franchise proves just as viable as it ever was. Talk about enduring star quality. Bruce Willis is just as flippant and entertaining as he was in Die Hard, still a cop, still in New York (although there was that brief stint in LA), and still fighting with the women in his family, this time with little Lucy Generro, who has grown into a very attractive young lady. The symmetry of the characters is perfect, and Wiseman certainly knew and understood the passion of the Die Hard films (at his age, he probably grew up watching them, he was 15 when the original came out). Justin Long portrays the cyber nerd Matt Farrell, and he does an excellent job in recreating the foil for McClane's character. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was certainly the right actress to portray McClane's daughter, as feisty and abrupt in the character as Willis. Timothy Olyphant is exceptional as the cyber genius whose knowledge of the computer systems in the government gives him the background to disrupt a nation. Cliff Curtis is great as the FBI Deputy Director of Cyber Security, and adds a wonderful facet to an otherwise typical role as the law enforcement officer who always seems to be at odds with McClane. Since John is more proactive, he is always a step behind, but at least he reacts more quickly once he sees the problem. The plot moves at lightning speed in this latest (last?) installment of the franchise, and the action is exceptional. Rated PG-13 for violence and a brief sexual situation, this film is a wild ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Absolutely collectible for the set, and for any fan of great action films.

Die Hard with a Vengeance - 1995

Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Directed by John McTiernan

Cast:

• John McClane – Bruce Willis
• Simon Gruber - Jeremy Irons
• Zeus Carver – Samuel L. Jackson
• Joe Lambert – Graham Greene
• Connie Kowalski – Colleen Camp
• Insp. Walter Cobb – Larry Bryggman
• Ricky Walsh – Anthony Peck
• Katya – Sam Phillips

Story: A peaceful morning in New York City. That is until a bomb explodes and takes out a department store along the entire block, causing cars to be thrown into each other and lots of really pissed off New Yorkers. At headquarters, police are trying to coordinate clean up efforts when they get a call from “Simon” who wants to speak with John McClane. Our hero is currently on suspension, but not today. “Simon” informs Inspector Cobb if McClane is not available to play a game of Simon Says with him, he will continue to set off bombs in New York City. They locate McClane, attempt to sober him up, and leave him in the middle of Harlem for the first part of Simon's game. He is to stand in the middle of Harlem wearing a sandwich board and his underwear with the message “I Hate Niggers” on the board. Zeus Carver, a shop owner across the street from where he has been dropped, sees McClane and attempts to get him off the street before local black thugs notice the sign. An altercation does take place, but the two manage to commandeer a taxi and head back to police headquarters, where Simon informs them via telephone they will both be required to complete his game. Simon runs McClane and Carver all over town, apparently for no reason until the FBI tells McClane this is none other than Simon Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber who McClane dropped off the Nakatomi tower. John figures this is a ruse, and works with the police and Zeus to thwart their efforts.

Review: YEAH! John McTiernan back at the helm. Not that Renny did a horrible job, but this Die Hard comes back to the energy level of the original. John and Holly are heading toward their inevitable divorce, John is back in New York, and now we introduce a couple of wild cards into the mix. Samuel L. Jackson plays Zeus Carver, a businessman in Harlem who does not like white people. Jeremy Irons plays Simon Gruber, the brother of Hans using his desire to take revenge on McClane as an elaborate diversion from his real goal, a robbery of international proportions. Graham Greene and Colleen Camp add a nice flair with their roles, and Bruce gives us an interesting perspective on McClane's development. Like the previous two films, the action is non stop and the good guys prevail, but it is never that simple. There is always one more thing to do. Rated R for violence, language, and a brief passionate encounter. Collectible if you love Willis or just want to have the entire set.

The Son of No One - 2011

Millennium Films, Nu Image Films, Hannibal Pictures

Directed by Dito Montiel

Cast:

• Officer Jonathon White – Channing Tatum
• Kerry White – Katie Holmes
• Captain Charles Stanford – Al Pacino
• Captain Marion Mathers – Ray Liotta
• Loren Bridges – Juliette Binoche
• Officer Thomas Prudenti – James Ransone

Story: Jonathon White, the son of a police officer killed in the line of duty is raised in the Queensboro projects by his grandmother. His life is unbelievable hell, living in the midst of addicts and dealers and child molesters, and he is constantly in fear. In self defense, he kills a junkie who is stealing his grandmother's welfare checks, and when the dealer starts to kick his dog, he pushes him down the stairs and the dealer breaks his neck. Detective Stanford knows the truth, but also knows the circumstances and closes the cases as unsolved. Sixteen years later, he has chosen to join the police force and is assigned to the same precinct as he lived in when he grew up. Captain Mathers is just about to take over from now Captain Stanford, when letters begin to appear in a local paper accusing Stanford of concealing two murders in the projects. Pressure is brought to bear on White, who Mathers' suspects of writing the letters, but to further cover up the crime, Mathers and Stanford plot to kill a childhood friend of White's and frame him for the murders.

Review: When I watched this film, I was impressed with the acting, the plot, and the characters. What I was not impressed with was the film itself. The story is an impressive, courageous look at life in the projects, a place where we house the welfare cheats, drug dealers, and other scum of society in the hopes they will remain in the confines of their own jungle. Channing Tatum's character is a nice white boy growing up in a not-so-nice environment with little hope of surviving from day to day. Al Pacino is the cop who understands what kind of life the child lives, and when he sees the desperation of his existence, he covers the murders to protect the child. Ray Liotta is the personified vision of what most people believe NYPD is all about, a warden in the asylum, worried about nothing more than keeping his cops and his reputation alive. If the story had been told from front to back instead of jerking us back and forth in time, I think it would have merited a release to the big screen here in the US. As it is, the distributor was right in releasing this film in the overseas market and bringing it to the states in DVD release. With the exception of Katie Holmes, whose performance lacks the depth of emotion a police wife should have, the cast does an admirable job, and this film is worth a look. Rated R for violence, language, and a disturbing sex scene, this film is not collectible, and is certainly a second tier rental.

Demolition Man - 1993

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures

Directed by Marco Brambilla

Cast:

• Detective John Spartan – Sylvester Stallone
• Simon Phoenix – Wesley Snipes
• Lenina Huxley – Sandra Bullock
• Dr. Raymond Cocteau - Sir Nigel Hawthorne
• Alfredo Garcia – Benjamin Bratt
• Chief George Earle – Bob Gunton
• Edgar Friendly – Denis Leary

Story: In the very near future, super criminal Simon Phoenix has taken a bus hostage in the war zone called Los Angeles, and only John Spartan, the Demolition Man, is brave enough to defy him. As he bungee jumps out of the helicopter onto Pheonix's stronghold, he gives his motto “Send a maniac to catch a maniac.”. But his nemesis has framed him for the murder of those passengers, and John is sentenced to 70 years in cryo-suspension, the prison of the day, where he will have his behavior modified by synaptic suggestion. In 2032, Simon Phoenix (who is also a cryo-prisoner), has been thawed for his parole hearing in the San Angeles metro complex prison. Suddenly he knows all the passwords, and how to work the computers that never existed when he was frozen. In order to catch the madman, they release John Spartan, who goes about catching Phoenix with all his training and cunning. Unknown to Spartan and the officers of the San Angeles Metro Complex, the “savior” of their community, Mr. Cocteau, has had Phoenix released for his own selfish purposes.

Review: This has got to be one of the funniest action adventure films ever released. And the beauty of it all is the seriousness with which the actors play their roles. Stallone and Snipes are two 20th century macho types in an Orwellian society where everything is monitored and the police are almost superfluous. Bullock is a radical thinker bored with her perfect society, and Leary is just trying to keep people alive...the people who decided they didn't want to be part of the Perfect society. Now it is worth remembering this film was one of the first shameless product promotion films, with Taco Bell being featured in the film as the only restaurant to survive the Franchise wars, whatever those were. I would classify it as a “pre-comic” movie, with all the trimmings...bad guys and good guys, technological oddities, and a lot of great lines. Worth seeing, PG-13 because of a few lines here and there and a couple of brief shots of nudity. Collectible if you like Stallone, otherwise rent it and return it.