John
McClain returns to our screens in John Moore’s A Good Day To Die Hard with Bruce Willis reprising his seminal
role for the fifth time and to be fair- at 57 years of age- the great man looks
jaded. But hey, maybe it’s just the jet lag.
After getting
word that his elusive son Jack (Jai Courtney) has been arrested in Moscow,
McClain hops a flight to Russia unaware that Jack’s involvement is part of an
elaborate CIA plan to abduct a Russian prisoner and obtain the delicate
information he holds. McClain’s appearance proves a spanner in the works and so
the usual madness ensues but when an endless car chase through the streets of
the capitol leaves them stranded, Jack and John must work together in order to
survive and get their payload home.
The theme of family values has
always been a Die Hard mainstay
and when asked what relative would be covering his fire in Die Hard 6 Willis smiles and explains “It would be a sad little
movie if it was just me running up and down the stairs” and rightly so, but the
series only ever flourished as a wise-cracking one-man show. Ever since he
rolled his eyes and sighed “California…” at the cheek-kissing Los Angelites of
the original it’s been McClain’s NYPD guff that gave the series its name. Sadly
Moore’s attempts to replicate this abroad feel rather dated. Its plenty of fun
taking shots at over sunned west coasters and frat-house FBI bureaucrats but
having John McClain shouting “I don’t know what you’re fucking talking about”
as he knocks out some pedestrian and steals his car doesn't quite hold the same
charm.
Moore talks of writing an “Ode to
the joy of the first film” and indeed there is even the familiar whisper of
Beethoven’s 9th as the opening credits fade in but amongst these
love letters we find a fish truly out of water. The fact is action films
changed the day Jason Bourne started punching his way through our continent’s
passport controls and McClain just doesn't look suited to the constantly
overcast Europe which modern Hollywood so loves to portray.
