John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to Moscow, Russia after he learns his son has been arrested for murder.   Soon, John finds himself in the middle of a bigger affair as his son escapes with political prisoner Yuri Komarov with an armed team attacks the courthouse.   John and his son (a CIA agent) must protect Komarov who is believed to be in possession of an important document exposing corrupt Russian official Chagarin.  They learn not everything is as it seems as they find Komarov and Chagarin have ties to the Chernobyl meltdown.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD really is a low point for the DIE HARD series.  I really enjoyed the first four films and all this new DIE HARD has to offer is lots of action with a  very weak script and lame bad guys with no character development at all.   This sequel also is the shortest DIE HARD film as John McClane is turned into an invincible and all knowing action hero.  You don’t see an everyman action hero stuck in impossible situations you wonder if he is going to get out of.   Instead, the film delivers a John McClane as the ultimate action hero who slides through every action sequence and he keeps on coming.   John McClane shouldn’t have survived the first big action set piece which is a long car chase, but somehow he does and then don’t even get me on the radiation danger in Chernobyl that make you wonder how John and son are affected by their trip there.   The chemistry between Willis and Courtney is lacking with some poor character development between the two as McClane regrets not being there for his son and McClane’s son not wanting his father along for the trip. If Bruce Willis wants to do a sixth DIE HARD film, they need a better script and a better director than what I watched in one of the worst action films of the year and a poor DIE HARD sequel too.  Wait to rent A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD instead if you want to watch this latest DIE HARD film.

There isn’t much difference between the extended cut and the theatrical cut other than the extended cut not containing the McClane reunion bit during the end credits in the theatrical and the extended cut having some of the deleted scenes incorporated back into it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

MAKING IT HARD TO DIE- an hour long making-of documentary that shows how much green screen and CGI went into the making of this new DIE HRD film as they cover the production and post-production of the film, but I think they could have left the talking bits from cast and crew between segments.

TWO OF A KIND- focusing on the pairing of Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney

BACK IN ACTION-

THE NEW FACE OF EVIL- all about the bad guys in the new film

ATANOMY OF A CAR CHASE- a 26 minute look at what it took to make and shoot the three part car chase sequence

MAXIMUM MCCLANE- a series of clips from the first four movies showing how superior the action and moments in those first four are to the inferior A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD.

14 minutes of deleted scenes show how worse this train wreck of a sequel could have been.

Also on the blu-ray disc are Pre-Viz sequences, Storyboards, still galleries, theatrical trailers, and an audio commentary for the extended cut with Director Jon Moor and First Assistant Director Mark Cotone.

In the combo is the movie in standard def on a DVD along with the options to get a  digital copy of the film (and instantly stream and download an HD Ultraviolet copy of the film).

FINAL ANALYSIS:  Stay away from this horrible sequel and watch the other DIEHARD films again.  It is interesting to see in the extras on how the director was more interested in crafting the look of the film instead of focusing on a decent story.

This movie review is (c)2-17-2013 and the blu-ray review is (c)6-9-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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