We are now nearing the holiday season and as I haven't finished my Die Hard series review I decided that I should finish it off. So today I will be reviewing the last film in the franchise (for now at least) A Good Day to Die Hard or Die Hard 5. For this instalment, I will be talking about what worked and what didn't as this entry is known as the weakest but it does try and separate itself from the rest of the series.
The movie's plot goes as follows, John McClane goes to Russia in order to free his son Jack McClane (Jai Courtney), he discovers that Jack is a CIA operative who is apart of a mission to stop an undercover organisation in Russia. Both John and Jack join forces to stop this organisation. From this plot, it sounds interesting and focuses on the son as the last one focused on the daughter but what really drags this done is Jai Courtney's performance as he doesn't do much apart from calling his dad a jerk and what not and shoot people for good measure. The character comes across as bland and uninteresting and is a weak part of the film for me.
The films cast is ok, the only returning characters are John McClane and Lucy McClane. The film's villain is Komarov played by Sebastian Koch. For most of the movie, he is portrayed as a man who was convicted because he had a falling out with a politician. This already sounds interesting but the problem with this is that he doesn't work as a villain, reasons why are that he is not a villain for very long and he comes across as weak. The film's director this time around is John Moore who is known for films such as Max Payne, The Omen (2006) and Behind Enemy Lines. Moore tries his best to make something different out of this film but at times it comes off as unrecognisable as a Die Hard movie and becomes a bland action movie.
The lighting as well is quite bland with very bleak colours and makes the film look dull and boring. The camera work is pretty standard with not many unique shots. It mainly has long shots, mid shots and close ups. These two things don't work well at all as it makes the movie look quite boring which is not what the Die Hard Franchise is meant to be.
However, the movie does have its good moments. Such as the Cab driver played by Pasha D. Lychnikoff as he is a likeable character and has quite good chemistry with John McClane for the little time we see him on screen. John McClane is still a strong point for this film but the problem in this film is that he feels more of a background character as he moans He is on Vacation and seems to be a weaker portrayal than the other films which I think is more of a writing problem than Bruce Willis's acting.
Overall, A Good Day to Die Hard tries to be different from the other films but the pay off backfires miserably. It has its moments but is the worst film in the series as it comes across as bland and boring and has a lot of weak characters. With the next Die Hard, a prequel titled McClane with Die Hard 4 director Len Wiseman set to direct, the Franchise might have a saving grace.
I would give A Good Day to Die Hard a 5/10- as it is a bleak and boring movie with very few good moments.
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