Aisleside View: "Live Free or Die Hard"

Amid the reverberation of a gun blast and the crashing of bullets within a film, it often seems that a moral, or perhaps a founding idea or principle should exist as justification for the purpose of killing a gaggle of bad guys. Without such guiding ideology, that staple of American cinema known as the action film would be reduced to a Tarantino-esque blood-bath and yet, in the instant that men begin to fall for a purpose, the audience is captivated with coursing adrenaline and a rapidly beating heart. Certainly, police-officer hero John McClane would have no different reaction as he once again fights for justice, patriotic devotion and the persistence of the American way. A young veteran well-versed in action cinema, whose repertoire includes the "Underworld" vampire flicks, Len Wiseman accepted a lofty challenge when he agreed to direct the fourth "Die Hard" blockbuster, "Live Free or Die Hard." Officer McClane, played by a bald-headed Bruce Willis, returns to the silver screen to save the country from destruction once again. Set in Washington, D.C., it is not the impending doom of a nuclear blast which threatens to destroy the nation's capitol but instead a severe instance of electronic terrorism. Led by a demented computer-programming enthusiast named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), the terrorist group wreaks havoc by taking over the airwaves, traffic systems and the complete record of all of the nation's financial transactions. A well-dressed, but overly intelligent computer nerd-hacker, Gabriel, much like the angel delivering the news of a coming Messiah, believes he has a message which will open the eyes of a faltering nation. With the forthcoming independence holiday, "Live Free or Die Hard" is filled with plenty of patriotism-inspiring rhetoric to incite cheers from those on both sides of the political aisle. But more importantly, the film, simply put, makes you happy to be American. Bruce Willis as Officer McClane is an icon of both American heroism and all that is great in action cinema, and director Wiseman never lets his audience forget that notion. He may not be the fastest or the most intelligent, yet the bad guys never measure up. Rather, they fall with the pull of a trigger or the soft thud of fist-to-face contact as only McClane can deliver. To say that the "Die Hard" franchise is either monotonous or without ideological credence is as profane a critique as could be given, for fighting in the name of patriotic valor and preservation is a key characteristic of the action genre. While some sequences are, to put it candidly, far-fetched, Officer McClane fights for a purpose and needs no reason to be a hero other than to save lives. Thus hearts will continue to pound and adrenaline rush as the last thing the unrelenting terrorist hears are McClane's chuckled words, "Yippie-ki-yay mother - BOOM."

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