Thursday, May 17, 2007

Die Hard 4 Coming Soon

Bruce Willis is back. If the trailers are an indication, it's going to be a nice summer for Bruce.

I remember going to the movie theater to see Die Hard (
imdb) on opening night and being blown away by it. It's hard to beleive it's been 19 years though. Wow, I'm getting old.

Every once in a while a movie comes along and just shakes things up. Star Wars, The Matrix, Toy Story. Movies that remind us just how special a movie can be. A movie that clearly differentiates the medium of film and reminds us that TV is pretty good, but the big screen can be awfully special when it all comes together. Die Hard was a movie that did that for the audience.

Die Hard 2 (
imdb) was a valiant effort and had it's moments. (OK, I watched it over and over on cable.)

Die Hard 3 (I'll spare you the imdb link) was DOA. Decent story in retrospect, but it all seemed so forced and formulaic when you watched it.

Here comes Die Hard 4. Apple always has the cleanest trailers

Smartly titled Live Free or Die Hard (website), with no mention of being a sequel. Why? Well, I was a teenager when Die Hard came out. There are teenagers who this film will be marketed to who weren't even born when the original came out. (Fox hopes they didn't see DH3.) After all, if you're over 30, you don't go to the movies enough for Tinseltown to stay afloat.

I also suspect that there's some political undertones in the title. It's no secret that Fox (owned by Rupert "bajillionaire" Murdoch) has a bit of a lean to the right. So they throw a little political jab, and at the same time appeal to the patriotism of Americans headed to the cinema turnstiles. (Are there theaters that still have those?)

If you go to the Internation site for the movie, you'll see that it's being titled Die Hard 4.0 in other countries. Interesting huh? Maybe the title that appeals to test audiences here doesn't play well elsewhere? Or did they all just love Die Hard 3 overseas? Will the Director's Cut International DVD be titled Die Hard 4.1.2? I digress.

I heard some rumblings that Bruce Willis was upset that Fox planned to gut the film a bit to get a coveted PG-13 rating. Of course they want a teenie rating, R films have a lower chance of box-office success. It's kind of funny how everyone involved in a film project wants it to succeed financially, but cannot understand that excluding a huge portion of the movie-going public might hinder that goal somehow. The suits are in charge now Bruce. (They have been since day 1 Bruce. It's their $200M world you got to play make-believe in. Be nice to them, they write the checks.)

But I can appreciate the desire to have a gritty, realistic action picture where the lead is free to utter Yippee-Kaye-Motherfucker whenever he feels the urge. So, why doesn't Fox do the public (and the R-teests) a favor and release 2 versions simultaneously and see which does better? For the unchaperoned underage teen, the PG-13 version sans ultra-violence and fake breast shots (if any), and a little foul-mouthed action and silicone for us old timers.

A word of advice: Get the original Die Hard in your Netflix queue now. When 4 comes out it will be on the extremely long wait list. (Hear that
Reed Hastings? Spring for some extra copies.)

I see from the movie site that the dude that plays the MAC on the
Apple commercials is sort of the side kick in the movie. It would be a hoot if PC made a cameo. (If he got killed in some crazy way like a malfunctioning elevator run by Windows software the Apple fanboys would cream in their shorts.)

Blast from the Past Alert: I think they need to bring back Argyle for a cameo. (You have to see the first one to appreciate this.) Hard to find a decent image of Argyle on the web. Check out this crazy shit though:
http://www.cornerstorecomics.com/af_diehard_palz.html (People will make and buy anything!)

Side note: I was searching for Argyle references on GOOG and ran across imdb) appears to play the villain.

There's also an appearance from Kevin Smith (
imdb), who continues to prove to me and every other schlub that he is indeed the luckiest SOB on the freakin planet. If you don't know what I mean, check out his blog and especially his flickr posts. I'll let you find pics of his wife for yourselves. Suffice it to say, as I did, he married up in the looks department. God Bless women for having a soft spot in their hearts for the clearly uglier gender. If they were unable to see into our hearts, the species would have died out long ago.

Anyway, I hope DH4 brings the sizzle back. I'm looking forward to the end of June now.



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