A quick rant about Live Free or Die Hard

So I was watching Zodiac in my local cinema on Monday when the latest trailer for Die Hard 4 played. Now I've seen this trailer a couple of times before over the net, but this was the first time I had seen it on the big screen. Now I'm made no secret of my disdain for EVERY SINGLE decision they have made with this Die Hard movie but just sitting there and watching that trailer, well it just made me want to vomit. This new Die Hard 4.0 or Live Free or Die Hard or whatever the damn thing is called, is CLEARLY NOT a Die Hard movie. That's not John McClane I see on my screen. That's Bruce Willis. Somehow this production has turned McClane into Willis, if that makes sense. Think about it. Remember in Rocky III when Sylvester Stallone suddenly became a superhero type figure, and suddenely the movies became a whole lot less interesting and the franchise went downhill soon after. The heart of the character was totally ripped apart because they propelled his status to a high that the setting couldn't match. The same goes for Rambo in that series sequel. By the looks of Live Free and Die Hard, they have done exactly the same thing again. McClane could never do some of the stunts on here. The beauty about his character is that he is just a "wanderer", pretty much an ordinary guy who just stumbles into a situation that is bigger than he is. This character looks way too serious and has now been elevated to a status where it looks like no-one can hurt him. Do you see that shot where he is punching some guy to near death? This trailer looks like Stone Cold Steve Austin from The Condemned. The smile he dons in this movie is not the ironic smile he use to carry in the old movies but instead it's a smile that screams, "I know the script, I know I'm going to kick your ass. You can't hurt me in MY MOVIE". It's as if McClane has become away that this franchise is about him and that no-one can do him any harm.

Is there anything in that trailer that would make you think it was a Die Hard movie except for the forced line "Yipee bla bla bla". Now compare that trailer, with the one for the last movie in the series Die Hard With a Vengeace...

Now you tell me which movie you would rather see? Die Hard with a Vengeance had an interesting villain which is setup superbly in the trailer, a sidekick which was relevant to the story (again, wtf does Long do in the new Die Hard trailer?) and a character who looked like he wasn't indestructible. That look Bruce Willis gives when he is on the phone with Jackson hearing the sick villain speak.. is something we are NEVER privilaged with in the new trailer for Die Hard 4.

That's the look McClane needs. Not the look that Willis gives to Long in his car.

Again, compare it to the original Die Hard... and there really is no comparison...

From the looks of the new film, Timothy Olyphant has been given the blandest villain character in the history of the series. Justin Long will no doubt get the one-liners that will make us all cringe and as fun an idea it is for Kevin Smith to have his own Batcave... that has no place in a Die Hard movie. And PG-13. What the hell are they thinking? This movie looks way too glossy. Way too clean. Way too ordinary. Where's the grittiness of the original movie, the lead character and the villains disappeared to? I really wish this movie wasn't happening. At this point, it's a toss up between Die Hard 4 and Halloween for which movie is going to piss me off the most this summer.