DIE HARD 5 isn't just a fantasy. Screenwriter hired!

The Hollywood Reporter say Skip Woods ('Hitman', 'Swordfish') is in talks with 20th Century Fox to write 'Die Hard 5', the summer 2012 blockbuster which would once again star Bruce Willis as the relatable, everyday cop John McClane, who continually happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, that's the McClane I saw in 'Die Hard 1-3' anyway, but he was decidedly absent in the misguided 2006 effort. In the fourth movie, McClane was replaced with an action hero, and Willis' performance was identical to the kind he had previously given in 'Hostage', 'Mercury Rising' and many others. 'Live Free or Die Hard' was Bruce Willis playing Bruce Willis, not Willis playing John McClane, and I felt robbed. Especially when the movie made $378 million worldwide and the public perception was incredibly positive, which continues to dumbfound me. Had they really seen the movie I had seen? Had they become so saturated by what a good action blockbuster means in the 21st century that they had forgotten what a 'Die Hard' movie was all about, because it certainly wasn't jumping off aeroplanes like a superhero. McClane is not Bourne, Ethan Hunt or James Bond. That's the mistake they made, replacing heart and humanity with over the top action, and the Six Million Dollar Man. Two of my personal friends tell me with a straight face that 'Live Free or Die Hard' is better than the original and if that's the modern day indicator of a Joe Popcorn movie fan - then we are all heading to a movie apocalypse. So much like Quint at AICN, I am torn at this news. On the one hand, when these kind of announcements are made that one of my favourite childhood icons are returning to the big screen - well I can hope and dream that it will turn out just fine. I am way too invested in the John McClane character to not have a little semblance of hope that Fox will get it right this time. But on the other hand, I'm a realist and I know a mistake when I see one and Fox/Willis have already made screwed up by hiring Woods. Here is a screenwriter whose only solo credits 'Swordfish' and 'Hitman' - are such weak efforts, the latter an utter disgrace of a concept for what could have been a killer movie (pun intended), something I become more and more convinced of when I watch the trailer for George Clooney's 'The American'. And Woods' hiring feels like a pat on the back for his re-writes on the studio vehicles 'The A-Team' and 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' - and if that's the case we can expect another weak on plot but high on ridiculous action movie. Though they had a dozen writers to please Bruce Willis' ego on the last movie, so Woods' won't be the only writer on this when all is said and done. Willis publicly said earlier this year that he wanted Len Wiseman to return and helm, and given the fact that Willis hasn't been the same actor for ten years now - I haven't got much to be positive about other than the memory of what 'Die Hard' means. He also said the movie would film in 2011 for a release in 2012.