A Good Day to Die Hard

A Good Day to Die Hard is a 2013 film starring Bruce Willis. I tend to like Bruce Willis films, and I've seen all the others in this series. I wasn't expecting much, but I expected more than this. There were many explosions, and that's mainly what I was in it for. The humor wasn't as good in this one as it has been in some others, and I missed that. The bad-daddy theme (John McClane wasn't there for his kids when they were growing up *alas*) was annoying, and I do hope they don't continue that in the next one. I won't watch this again, but I'll watch any new ones that are released.

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Slant Magazine gives it 1 out of 4 stars. Rolling Stone also gives it 1 out of 4 stars, calling it "total crap." Empire Online issues this verdict: "A few reasonable action sequences are mired in family soap, making this A Good Day To Call It Quits." /Film calls it a "really bad day for fans," says it "feels dismissive, and dumb" and says, "If there’s praise to bestow, it goes to Fox’s marketing department for making this dead-eyed bore look zippy and energetic, even if that illusion can only last for bare minutes at a time." Salon.com calls it "idiotic but action-packed" and declares,

the aggressive stupidity of this movie is impressive. It’s not just that it’s an ugly fantasy of masculine dominance aimed at 11-year-old boys – or, more precisely, at adult men who wish to cling to the 11-year-old joy with which they first encountered this kind of movie – it’s also a fantasy that rests on the idea that you’re better off not knowing anything about the outside world because there’s nothing to know.

Roger Ebert says, "A quarter-century later, McClane has been stripped of any real traces of an actual three-dimensional character. We feel as if we're watching Bruce Willis in a Bruce Willis movie". Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 14% critics score, and the audience score is 42%.