A Good Day to Die Hard: 5 Reasons To Be Excited!

3. John McClane Jr.

The groan felt around the world! It€™s true, putting in a gun-toting son to the gun-toting legend seems as hackneyed and self-indulgent as naming the little blighter €˜Jr€™! Narratively speaking it€™s the film equivalent of boy racers adding a chrome spoiler to their Nissan Micra. He€™s superfluous but so are coloured socks and even they can brighten some people€™s days! In truth, introducing McClane€™s son to the action is no more a cliché than portraying the aging detective as an €˜analogue player in a digital world€™ or, on paper before the film was released, having a previous bad guy€™s brother come back for some revenge two movies later. Die Hard With a Vengeance was a triumph, not only for Jeremy Irons€™ sinister performance, but also because it succeeded in spite of itself. Having John McClane Jnr trigger-flicking alongside his too-hot-to-handle sister (reprised by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) will add a cyclical quality to the canon, and this will no doubt feel like a warm fuzzy blanket for the yay-sayers.
Contributor
Contributor

A. J. S. Scott was created as a homunculus by a mad English Alchemist who was trying to make rum from ink and seawater. He is still a fan of both and he has no comment on what happened to all the ‘No Exit’ signs in Islington Underground Station when he visited for Beltaine. You can send him missives by bribing the Right Raven with sour-strings, or: Instagram: @ajsscott Tumblr: andrew-scott-things.tumblr.com