Sidewalks On The Corner

Bruce Willis is back in full force in the role that made him a superstar. The fourth installment, "Live Free or Die Hard," is to die for. That wisecracking New York detective John McClane (Willis, "The Sixth Sense,” "Perfect Stranger") is always in the wrong place at the wrong time; this time he finds himself in the middle of a country wide investigation.

Follow up:

McClane is ordered to pick a computer hacker named Matt Farrell (played by Justin Long, "Galaxy Quest", upcoming "One Part Sugar," and The Mac Guy in the Apple commercials). But before McClane can take the young hacker into custody, they are both caught in the line fire by the terrorists, whom Farrell passed a sophisticated virus to. With this virus, the savage cyber terrorist organization can shut down the nation's entire electronic infrastructure, thrusting the country back to the Stone Age. McClane is forced to use excessive force.

In the original "Die Hard," Willis embodied the McClane character and was a resourceful and cleverly inapt NYPD cop, who played things smart. He worked systematically to bring down his enemies, by setting booby traps, collecting info on the terrorists, and even confronting some of them face to face without giving up his identity. And at the same time, McClane was vulnerable and unsure about his situation. But it wasn't until the sequels, "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" and "Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance," that John McClane became more gutsy and confident with his use of weapons. So the only logical choice was to go a step further and turn him into a "been there done that" veteran superhuman. "Live Free Or Die Hard" has Bruce Willis in his element: he's suave, funny and like a Timex watch, "takes a licking and keeps on ticking". Thus, the "Live Free Or Die Hard" trailer slogan "In McClane We Trust".

The supporting cast allows "Live Free Or Die Hard" to have a human side.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Black Christmas,” "Grindhouse," upcoming "Make It Happen") is Lucy Ginero-McClane , who is all grown up and still hates her father. But when she becomes a victim in the clutches of the same terrorists John is chasing, things get very personal for McClane. Winstead's character feels like the typical young woman who's trying to make it on her own … with or without her father's help. But there's a nice twist when she finds out that she's more like her father than she thinks. A solid job by Winstead.

Justin Long's Matt Farrell character is just a computer hacker who sits in his room crunching codes and numbers all day, until that fateful night he gets picked up by none other than John McClane. He gets a wakeup call when he's thrust into action along side McClane. After a while, Farrell seems whinny and somewhat annoying, but Long manages to keep it light and funny. Long plays it smart; offering his services to the government in order to save the country.

The character of "Warlock" is portrayed by filmmaker/actor Kevin Smith. Smith's character is only 2 dimensional at best, however, his character is an important link towards solving the plot. His role seems like the man behind the curtain, like in the "The Wizard of Oz" or Mr. Universe in "Serenity."

The Head bad guy in charge is Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant, "No Vacancy,” upcoming "Hitman"), who is the typical by the book bad guy. Olyphant really doesn't bring anything new to the realm of evildoers, and by the end of the film you almost don't care about what happens to him. All in all you can't blame him for trying. The sexy Maggie Q ("Mission Impossible 3,” upcoming "Balls Of Fury") plays Mai Linh, who is deadly, smart, and can kick booty (and look hot doing it). There were times where Mai Lihn seems like the female terminator, the T-X from "Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines." After getting knocked down she would get right back up as if nothing had happened.

After its release in 1988, "Die Hard" has continued to set the stage for almost every action film to follow in the late 80's to the present, and for the fourth film, the filmmakers have pushed the envelope to the extreme. Director Len Wiseman and crew managed to fill the latest venture with plenty of everything you need in a super-action film. There are plenty of knock down, drag out brawls between McClane and his mortal enemies. There are non-stop explosions, crazy off the wall stunts, and buckets of bullets. Visually the movie is stunning to watch. However, the later half of the film suffers slightly. "Die Hard 4" starts out strong and actually stays strong through out, but the plot somewhat takes a back seat to all the outlandish and awesome special EFX.

The story line is cohesive and keeps the audience riveted to their seat for about the first 45 minutes to an hour of the film; it's just the delicate shell surrounding the explosive core of the movie. The outcome doesn't really add up, nor does it reach a true conclusion. You don't know if John and Matt were successful at keeping the electronic infrastructure from crashing. Instead it chose to end in a violent manner. The only down fall of "Die Hard 4" is that the ending was mildly satisfying and lacked some impact.

This is a super-action film through and through and it arrives just in time for Independence Day. It's a true blast to watch, and it even surpasses the first in an explosive way.