Live Free or Die Hard Directed by Len Wiseman


British terrorist threat level set to highest. White House admits bombing Afghani women and children.

Bush commutes sentence for FBI scammer and loyal patriot Scooter Libby. Reality sure sets the tone for Die Hard's latest.

'It's always about the money,' says rufty-tufty Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) on discovering his enemy's cyberplans to empty every bank account in the free world.

Wise words, because, though this film pretends to engage with complex political ideas of national security, it exists solely to plunder your wallet.

The film's US title Live Free or Die Hard baldly summarises 'the threat' which will never destroy 'our freedom.' With a jibe implying that allies of the US can't be counted on to buy into the gung-ho bullshit, McClane steps up because 'no-one else will.'

His streetwise, inevitably bloody solutions contrast constantly with a knowledge-based younger generation's struggle with its own moral compass. Guess whose sidekick is converted?

The British title Die Hard 4.0 delivers the same message, presaging its digital arena. Instead of a mere sequel, this is McClane Version Four — like a computer programme.

Today's movie threat oozes from those who have mastered cyberspace, unlocked its codes and figured out that even the most powerful nation on earth is vulnerable at a digital level. Does that mean that the police have trained McClane in the dark computer arts? Don't be silly.

He's the same, my-country-right-or-wrong patriot that he always was, this time a little older, balder and possibly with a cleaner vest. He can 'kill a helicopter with a car,' but, to battle the 'bad computer man,' he needs to recruit a 'good computer man.'

If that sounds a bit like a kids' story, some people actually talk like that in the US, from the presidential incumbent trying to explain bombing Afghani villagers to 'trailer trash' vigilantes justifying attacks on paediatricians.

It's maddening if unsurprising that we're made to watch well over an hour of SFX explosions and various fisticuffs before we learn that bad guy Timothy Olyphant, dapper and clean in his digital HQ, is motivated by petulance at being ignored by his former FBI employers. Yes, his entourage at Badguys-R-Us, mostly French, Italian and Asian-looking employees, have been gathered together to bring down the country just so that Tim can say: 'I told you so.' That and the billions of dollars that he's stealing.

It's always about the money. Told you so.

From Morning Star