Stirb Langsam 4.0

Die Handlung ist intensiv, die Actionszenen sind perfekt gedreht und manchmal sogar einfallsreich (der Tunnel). Der alte Bruce Willis ist (überraschenderweise) immer noch der ausgezeichnete John McClane, der alles zusammenhält und dem Film die richtige Leichtigkeit verleiht. Im dritten Viertel hätte ich mehr mit dem Schnitt gearbeitet und den ganzen Film um 5 Minuten gekürzt. Ansonsten habe ich nichts zu kritisieren. Also bis auf das kaputte Kapitol im Trailer, ähm. (26.06.2007)

Len Wiseman, dieser eklektische und seelenlose Vampirsohn und John McClane? Machen Sie Witze? Keinesfalls! Es sei denn ... Bruce Willis hatte die Form seines Lebens, und Len machte sich über das lustig, was er in seinen zwei vorherigen Filmen verkörperte - über einen hypermodernen Actionfilm. Nun ja, Wunder gibt´s. Die Hard 4.0 ist genau diese Art eines Action-Cocktails, welchen Liebhaber alter Zeiten gerne trinken. Explosiv, ironisch, bedacht ... charmant und faszinierend. Warum? Nun, der Reihenfolge nach: Willis hat die Form seines Lebens und sein John würde dem Film selbst dann einen Drive verleihen, wenn das Drehbuch eine ganze Klasse schwächer wäre. Das Szenario ist jedoch nicht um eine Klasse schwächer, es ist genau so dürr wie nötig. Wiseman spielte nichts vor und hat einen Film ohne unnötige modernen Ausweichschritte getätigt, mit Interesse und einer klaren Vision. Nach altem Schema, jedoch furchtbar schnell. Timothy Olyphant ist ein Baddie der Superlative. Das perfekte Pendant zum einem kahlen Detektiv, der seine Hände nicht mit Blut beschmiert, sondern die Annehmlichkeiten der modernen Welt nutzt. Jener Welt, die zu einer tödlichen Arena wird, in der ein alternder Detektiv, der sprichwörtliche letzte Mohikaner seiner Art, auf die Moderne stößt. Er kann nicht um sie herumkommen, er wird nicht mit der Eleganz eines Kung-Fu-Meisters an ihr vorbeitanzen, er wird sie nicht durchhacken oder mit übernatürlichen Fertigkeiten zu helfen wissen, er wird sie mit der Faust durchstoßen, mit einer Kugel, eben mit maskuliner Kraft, die wir von John gewohnt sind. Dieser NYPD-Detektiv möchte sich mit der modernen Welt ja nicht anfreunden, er macht sich auf den Weg von Punkt A nach Punkt B, spricht wie in alten Zeiten (und mehr), durchläuft vollgeladene und atemberaubende Action-Sequenzen, rüstet sich mit Klischees und dem Pathos der "good Cops“ aus, welches aus den 80ern nicht wegzudenken ist. Stirb Langsam 4.0 ist ein Hauch alter Zeiten, der ehrlichen Filmemacherei mit einem Helden, der als ein Loser herüberkommt (und daher cool) ist, mit einem Helden, der mit jeglicher High-Tech-Kultur derart unvereinbar ist, dass er dem wütenden Don Quijote ähnelt. Im Gegensatz zu Cervantes‘ Windmühlen macht er diese jedoch dem Erdboden gleich, steigt er blutüberströmt in einen Krankenwagen und fährt in Richtung goldener Fond der Holywoodfilme. Ein perfekt gesatteltes Genre, das ich persönlich als eine zum Schlachten getriebene Kuh erachte. Yippee-ki-yay, Bastard! (30.06.2007)

The fact that Wiseman is an enthusiastic filmmaker who has a lot of experience with action films and then only proves on screen what wonders can be done with a big budget doesn't bother me all that much. What bothers me is that he completely misunderstands the poetics of Die Hard, especially McLane’s character, whose tragic cop with a touch of sad comic relief has become the killing machine that dominated cinema 25 years ago and whose renaissance McLane created as an action hero. Overall, I find the concept of digital terrorism juxtaposed with a 1980s hero rather dull, given that political correctness and pandering to American politics of today are at play. Willis is good at being a tough guy, but the rating tames his vocabulary and character, so the result is ultimately (from my perspective) an expected loss. Die Hard itself didn't deserve this kind of eating of its own stupidity through non-stop action. McTiernan should have got the last crack at it - it couldn't have ended up worse than this. (25.01.2008)

The nightmare of every IT specialist, or rather, the best comedy of their lives, depending on how you look at it. Wiseman totally blew it. It's definitely an above average action film, but that's about it unfortunately. If I were a hardcore fan of the Die Hard franchise, I’d wonder where are the cynical, dry wisecracks typical of John McClane, and where are the plot twists that worked so well in the second and third films. Wiseman's film is closest to the first in its directness, but unlike it, it lacks tension, because Willis has a skeleton made of titanium and wouldn't be stopped even if a Boeing fell on him. In other words, the almost comic-book exaggeration kills the movie. This is especially true of McClane's adversaries, a dashing guy, undoubtedly Spider-Man's older brother, who falls 10 metres from a helicopter onto concrete and it's all good. But that's nothing against Maggie Q – you can punch her several times with your fist (without breaking her make-up), slam her against the wall several times (her make-up still sticks) and then hit her with a car at full speed and she won't even flinch and will still kick your ass. Sorry, Wiseman, but I'm not interested in Aeon Flux 2, I'm getting a bit bored of these feminist superheroes. (29.07.2007)

Die Hard for kids. History repeats. As in the first Die Hard, John has to regain the lost trust of a woman (and which surname is used again plays a role) and, as in Die Hard with a Vengeance, the labyrinth in which he finds himself and in which he toys with the villain is an entire city (Washington this time instead of New York) and, as in all three of the previous films, he faces a band of terrorists from around the world (France, Italy, the United States). Now, however, because of the PG-13 rating, he curses a lot less and kills only in such a way that cuts down on the blood spatter (i.e. sometimes imaginatively, sometimes like in a shooter game from the last century). In comparison with the previous films, the pace is significantly more laid-back, John and the people around him aren’t constantly under stress, there aren’t several things happening repeatedly in parallel (the third film particularly excellent in that respect) and quite of lot of time is taken up with somewhat sentimental talking. Of course, John’s primary objective – other than eliminating the bad guy – is to prove himself a capable father (where Matt serves as his training aid before he reunites with his daughter), but haven’t there already been enough action dads in other movies? ___ As in every buddy movie, here the narrative is given its dynamics by conflicts between opposite natures. John and Matt are separated by a few generations and by their varying scope of knowledge of modern technologies and pop culture (John’s dialogue scenes with Kevin Smith, the guru of all nerds, are among the film’s highlights). They reverse the unfavourable course of events only by joining forces, which is a pleasantly nostalgic aspect from today’s perspective, when analogue heroes have clearly fallen behind the geeks. Information still wasn’t everything back then. It was sometimes necessary to stop staring at a monitor and do something. John has all of the necessary skills; he just lacks information. Muscly tough guys like him are shown to be invaluable. By contrast, the hackers, cut off from the world of real (not virtual) action, are given one ethical slap in the face after another, and whereas John imparts important life lessons (“face your fear”) to his younger partner, he himself remains the same BFU at the end as he was at the beginning. ___ Live Free or Die Hard is the most entertaining when it refers to one of its (better) predecessors or to the action genre as such (the villain’s urging to “Say somethin’ funny”, the ruses that John uses). This would have been a run-of-the-mill high-tech action flick (with action moments sometimes bordering on parody in the vein of True Lies) if it didn’t have the ability to poke fun at itself – and, of course, if it didn’t have John McClane. Because even though this returning American saviour no longer has hair, he still has balls. 75% (31.01.2013)