Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Director:

Len Wiseman

Writers (WGA):

Mark Bomback (screenplay)
Mark Bomback (story) ...

Release Date:

27 June 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Yippee Ki Yay Mo - John 6:27

Plot:

John McClane takes on an Internet-based terrorist organization who is systematically shutting down the United States.

Plot Keywords:

Hacker | FBI | Police | Police Detective | New York City

Awards:

2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Bruce Willis	...	John McClane
Timothy Olyphant	...	Thomas Gabriel
Justin Long	...	Matthew 'Matt' Farrell
Maggie Q	...	Mai Linh
Cliff Curtis	...	FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman
Jonathan Sadowski	...	Trey
Andrew Friedman	...	Casper
Kevin Smith	...	Frederick 'Warlock' Kaludis
Yorgo Constantine	...	Russo
Cyril Raffaelli	...	Rand
Chris Palermo	...	Del (as Christopher Palermo)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead	...	Lucy Gennero McClane
Sung Kang	...	Raj
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Agent Molina
Christina Chang	...	Taylor

Also Known As:

Die Hard 4.0 (Australia) (South Africa: English title) (UK) (USA) (working title)
Die Hard 4 (USA) (working title)
Die Hard 4: Die Hardest (USA) (working title)
Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard (South Africa: English title) (TV title)
Die Hard: Reset (USA) (working title)
Die Hard: Tears of the Sun (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation.

Runtime:

128 min | 129 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Italian | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Denmark:11 | Sweden:15 | Norway:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43515) | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Malaysia:18SG | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Malta:16 | Chile:14 | France:U | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Italy:T | Spain:13 | Peru:14 | India:UA | South Africa:13V | USA:Unrated (unrated DVD version) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | New Zealand:M | Canada:PG (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

105 Freeway, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In the elevator shaft scene where Mai Lihn swings on the wire and flies into the truck and hits McClane, the stunt double accidentally cut Willis's eyebrow with her spiked heel and according to Len Wiseman in the DVD Commentary, she jabbed Willis hard enough that when medics examined the injury, the brow bone was exposed.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Matthew is reading the name off of the registration card while talking to OnStar, the name Dvorak Tsajanski is handwritten, but the actual typed name on the card is David Seaver.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mai Lihn: Well?
Clay: I'm sending you the code.
Mai Lihn: Yes, I see that. Thank you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.82)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Fortunate Son

Good Old-Fashioned Shattered Glass Action Flick

"Live Free or Die Hard" is quite a refreshing piece of entertainment this summer in the wake of so many effects-driven computer simulated action/fantasy films. With its silly title, smart-alleck lead character (Bruce Willis as Bruce Willis doing John McClane), and loads of old fashioned stunts involving cars, SUV's, elevator shafts, big rigs, helicopters, fighter jets, and collapsing highway bridges, this flick is a great piece of shattered-glass entertainment--a throwback to the late 1980's and early 1990's when movies like the original "Die Hard" changed the face of movie action.

There is some frustration to be had when you start to realize how much they toned down to achieve the friendly PG-13 rating. There's far less profanity flying, and while the body count is astronomically high (the collateral damage in this film in terms of human life and damaged property is tres magnifique), there's little blood and guts to be found. Still, die hard "Die Hard" action fans should rest assured knowing there will be plenty of funny one-liners, hot chicks (a wonderful Maggie Q as the bad-ass female villain and the scorchingly feisty and cute Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McClane), super smart bad guys (a very good Timothy Olyphant), and jaw-dropping death-defying stunts.

Director Len Wiseman orchestrates the complicated stunts very well like a masterful puppeteer, which is a shock considering how god-awful his "Underworld" films were. The hand-to-hand human match-ups still bear some of his annoying hallmarks, but he's learned how to blow things up really well and has learned a thing or two about scope and editing in big action set-pieces. The excellent pacing and preposterousness of the stunts (especially the climax involving the fighter jet and the big rig) certainly put a smile on my face.

There's a whole lot of computer hacking related mumbo-jumbo involved in the story, and there's a lot of downtime for male bonding and "explanation" of the finer plot points that slows the film down some but is actually nice to see in a world now ruled by Michael Bay-style non-stop action. Plenty dumb, plenty thrilling, and plenty of fun, "Live Free or Die Hard" is a pleasant surprise considering how unnecessary this sequel seemed from conception.