A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

I have now watched this movie twice and I still like it.  I bought it, obviously, because it's a Die Hard movie and I have all the other ones.  The blu-ray came with an option for theatrical or extended cut, so I watched the extended.  Having only seen it upon its debut, I wasn't really sure if I would recognize the extended parts.  I'm pretty sure it was just more violence and maybe some more interaction between father and son.  I do know that they cut the phone call with daughter Lucy from the beginning.  It doesn't really change the movie in any way, so if you already formed an opinion you're probably going to keep it.  I stand by my decision that this is a fun popcorn flick and I support the R rating.  It's just not John McClane if he can't say "yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker".  Original review:  9/16/13     Everyone talked about how awful this movie was, but I liked it. Even now, it has a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.  I liked it more than Live Free or Die Hard and that one was far more of an accurate assessment of what could happen in a SCADA attack.  Which may explain why it didn't do so well.

John McClane (Bruce Willis) goes to Russia after his son, Jack (Jai Courtney) is arrested.  What he doesn't know, since the two have been estranged, is that Jack is undercover on a CIA op to get Yuri Komorov (Sebastian Koch), a political prisoner, freed from custody.  Yuri has access to a file of information about the current Russian Minister of Defense, Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov).  Unfortunately, John McClane's mere presence is enough to throw off the most carefully laid plans.  After his op is blown, Jack and John must find a way to stop the bad guys and repair their damaged relationship.

This one made absolutely no sense whatsoever.  There were some serious narrative shortcuts going on here.  I recognize that, and yet, I still thought it was a fun movie.  If you go into it with low expectations, you'll probably have a pretty good time too.  I thought it was nice that they managed to get Mary Elizabeth Winstead back for some continuity and it's always good to see Bruce Willis blow stuff up.  I'm still on the fence about Jai Courtney.  They keep trying to make him happen but I don't know if he has what it takes.