Live Free or Die Hard

Bruce Willis returns as John McClane, and it’s great to see him back in action. This movie is a good, swift kick in this summer movie season’s pansy ass, even with a PG-13 rating (the first non-R-rated movie of the series). The further adventures of McClane prove (after last year’s totally fun Rocky Balboa) that our old movie heroes have plenty of life left in them. A cyberterrorist is shutting down all the power on the East Coast, and McClane must escort a hacker (Justin Long) to Washington, D.C., for questioning. Willis and Long have a good rapport, and Timothy Olyphant is creepy fine as the bad guy. The stunts in this one are crazy and a lot of fun to watch. Plenty of them are old school without CGI, and that adds to the enjoyment. Willis is already talking about a fifth film in the series, and this installment proves that the franchise is still strong. It’s better than all the other summer sequels, especially Spider-Man 3.