My first foray into the Die Hard franchise was Die Hard 4, AKA Live
Free or Die Hard. I really enjoyed the conceit of the film: using
technology, a man and his crew shut down the entire USA via
cyberattacks: hijacking TV stations, changing traffic lights/signs,
and downloading "all the country's financial data" to a central
repository, easily stolen. It's quite intriguing.
Despite being one of the more poorly-regarded films in the series, I
really enjoyed watching it. Maybe it's because I wasn't tainted by
watching the previous films. Maybe it was because I've been a fan of
Justin Long since he was on Ed (NBC) and Galaxy Quest. Maybe it's
because the action is quite satisfactory, if a bit ridiculous. Maybe
it's because I've viewed Timothy Olyphant as an incredible villain
actor ever since he terrorized a high school kid in The Girl Next Door
(2004). Whatever the reasons, I still love rewatching this movie. It's
just fun.
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from this movie is how the
Internet runs the USA...as well as most current countries. I can't
help but think about the Crowdstrike outage in 2024 bringing the
airlines and hospitals to their knees. Various cyberattacks from
countries like Russia and China have, at least publicly, been less
effective.
Many years later, and after buying the first four films on DVD, I
watched the previous three movies. They're all pretty much action fun.
And it also has the bonus of putting a few lines from The Office (US)
into context: Oscar is "faggy" because he likes Shakespeare in Love
more than Die Hard. And in a later episode, Michael criticizes Die
Hard 4 for the unrealistic transformation of John McClane from a
normal cop trying to defuse a hostage situation into a superhuman that
can throw minivans into helicopters.
Anyway, I have lots of love for all of the first four Die Hard movies
and wanted to share.
