Saturday, December 14, 2013

A Good day to Die hard

Started watching the movie under the knowledge of that this was named one of the worst movies of 2013. Why even watch, you might ask. Sometimes a dia hard fan of John McClane gotta watch the crappiest movie of the installment, just because he is a die hard fan. I'd still watch a Jurassic Park which will be made by a Michael Bay, just because it is Jurassic Park. Don't judge me, I'm watching A good day to die hard with the same kind of conviction.
It's obvious from the start that this is gonna crush the hopes and dreams of the fans. The 4th one sort of did that already. It proved that the future of John McClane in the big screen is going to be bleak and sad. But it still had a good conspiracy story which was in line with the previous material. Although filled with absurd plot holes and ridiculous, kollywood like action. But this one, the 5th one doesn't seem to have a good conspiracy either.
Man, I love high speed chases. I'm cuckoo for them. The one in this movie, I gotta admit was quite exhilarating. The sheer magnitude of destruction is awesome. Absurd, I know, as the previous one. But it's good entertainment. Can't complain about that. But I think what lacks, as in the first 3 Die hard movies was a sense of sophistication and cleverness. The first one was impressive in John McClane use of the air duct system and cleverness in kicking ass.  In this it's just do the most impressive destructive thing there is to stop the bad guys. The snide signature remarks are still there. There is some consistency I that. And also actions that defies reason. Why the hell, would John McClane go to all that trouble to stop that armored truck, when he just wants to meet his son.
That's not all that defies reason. One trend in recent action movies I've noticed is that , with the story the writers come up with all kinds of absurd crap just to insert a twist. My particular concern is that when the hostage kills the bad guy inside the vault, they wanna give the idea that the daughter was working with the father all along. That's the twist, I get it. But why did the daughter ever betray the father in the first place. They could've taken the key, and went to the vault without the help of the bad guys as they want. Twists in this sense are overrated. If it's even a mediocre plot, if everything adds up, that's just fine. Why they gotta ruin everything just by adding an absurd plot twist.
The bottomline is that, if this was a standalone movie with no history, I think it would've been received more well. But it's the 5th installment in a legendary movie franchise, which makes it a challenge to keep that hype going. The first Die hard movies has set the bar so high for the oncoming movies that hollywood is struggling to reach. They are doing all the wrong things, with the abilities and technology instead of trying to stay true to the original concepts. They are trying to squeeze money out of everything without thinking about the quality. What they mustvr thought is "let's put John Mcclanes son in Russia and send John to visit him where all he'll breaks lose in Russia. I see no fabricated plot here, like in the previous ones. Even the 4th one tried a bit with a mass scale conspiracy. But this one doesn't even try. The story is so mundane and unfit for a Dua Hard movie. In trying to make it more appealing to the masses, it has lost its taste and grandeur. This happens with a lot of things I guess. To reach the popularity, the unique and special identities get lost or sacrificed. And doing so it might become popular, but it loses the value.
Until Bruce Willis lives there will be more Die Hard movies.But I see no improvement in future movies. One can only hope.

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