Just saw Live Free or Die Hard and his place in movie villain lore is secure. Yeah, it has the usual stunts as well as a few unusual ones–a pretty cool one actually involving a fire hydrant–and enough references to the previous three to make you feel at home. As a Having great villains.
The ones here are the kind you’d find in a CSI or 24, (and even 24’s are better). Which is too bad. Like any great action flick, this series depends on memorable villains. And I’m not talking performances either, but their celebrity. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say Willis didn’t want anyone upstaging him here. Odd, considering he’s had some great competition in the other three that made those films entertaining.
(And to that point, Justin Long plays his vulnerable sidekick, but here is easily outdone by both McClane and his daughter. Now, the “I’m a Mac” ads are cool and all, but that boy needs to stop playing the insecure goofy nerd all the time and move into Keanu action territory soon.)
The Rock, Bourne Identity, Patriot Games, any Steven Seagal or Ah-nuld flick have bad guys that bring something to the table in terms of intensity and popularity. You can almost compare DH4 to Enemy of the State, where it’s basically the same bunch of government secret ops people found in DH4. Difference is, one has Jack Black, Seth Green and Jon Voight.
Here, well, if after seeing this you can name even one of the bad guys, I’ll refund your money. Case in point without revealing much: there’s a moment in a hostage scene where Bad Guy in Charge is indecisive. Would Gruber act like that? Not a chance. Gun to head. (New microsite: ‘What Would Hans Do?’ Just throwing that out there.) And I call him Bad Guy in Charge because I didn’t feel like looking up his name; he was that unimpressive for me.
Fear not, you’ll still get your Rocky 6 type closure watching Bruce hang from shit at impossible angles while spouting off one-liners. However, at this rate, it appears as if come Die Hard 7, Die Hardest, he’ll be on target to end up looking more like Vic Tayback than Stallone.
Tags: Bruce Willis, Live Free or Die Hard
2 comments:
Didn't Montana from HBO's Deadwood play one of the Bad Guys in Charge? You know, the depressed extacy loner from Go?
If he was the main villian, they might as well have used Gary Busy.
Corey, probably. Unfortunately I don't watch Deadwood and haven't seen Go yet.
Which may underscore the point. if that's the only recognizable star, they needed more, even if they were in less prominent roles.
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