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Check out the movie poster extravaganza for the Die Hard franchise
If you happened upon this list of spoiler points and would prefer to read a review for the film, Live Free or Die Hard without major plot spoilage, click here.
Who's missing from the cast that should have been cast?
Obvious answers: Reginald VelJohnson aka Sgt. Al Powell and Bonnie Bedelia aka Holly Gennero formerly McClane. Maybe they were too busy to be in the film?!?! Not finding a way to get them, even cameos, in this film is a huge disappointment.
What's ruined by the trailer? see the trailer Well, the answer's obvious here too! Almost the best line of the film is Matt saying, "You killed a helicopter with a car", to which John McClane responds, "I was out of bullets." This is classic John McClane and nothing about it should have been in the trailer.
The Plot?
Well, guess what? Nothing new here. All of the bad guys get killed.
It's pretty rare in action films for women to be killed by men—some antiquated, gender-biased rule used to state that women could only be killed by women. They could kill all the men they could get their hands on, but they couldn't be killed by them. Well, no more. John McClane wickedly dispatches Mai Lihn (Maggie Q) dropping her down an elevator shaft and smashing her with a truck—not that she doesn't deserve it, and not that she isn't a very worthy adversary for him. He makes several mistakes in underestimating her, so when he finally gets the upper hand, which is partially fate and partially due to help from Matt Farrell, he doesn't hold back.
While Mai Linh's death is pretty brutal, nothing in the film beats the demise of French henchman (hmm, might make a good title for a film, huh?) Rand played by Cyril Raffaelli who despite some of his amazing parkour moves, cannot defeat the dual fan blades that shred him up like meat in a food processor—pardon that image.
As for the other main bad guy, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), he gets shot. It's not spectacular, but it's different. McClane shoot him through his own shoulder proving yet again he's willing to take a bullet to save a loved one. And still his wife divorced him! Oh, an no, he doesn't get shot and then get up 5 minutes later when everyone is celebrating, only to have to be thrown off a building 20 stories onto a crane hook or something.
The cool part, here, at the end though is that Matt Farrell gets on the action and saves John's daughter's life. The two bond over this! Awe shucks.
Any strange cast connections?
Hmm…well, Timothy Olyphant and Kevin Smith were just featured together in the Boulder, Colorado, Jennifer Garner love story, Catch and Release. So, it's kind of odd to see them together again in this film so soon and on opposite sides of the law. Smith goes from Celestial Seasonings tea box author to Warlock, the supreme computer hacker, while Olyphant goes from rugged playboy charmer to homicidal, ego-maniac, mega thief.
Are there stunts and action scenes that are not in the trailer?
Well, I'll have to watch the trailer again to be sure, but the easy answer is yes! There's an entire sequence with a fighter jet trying to take out a semi being driven by McClane who is furiously trying to rescue his daughter and Farrell who are both in peril under Gabriel's control in a Mercedes – yeah go figure – haz mat truck. There're also the usual amazing stunts with McClane just really giving it to the other guy, lots of falls, etc. Adding French stuntman and actor Cyril Raffaelli (who happens to be one of my favorites after his amazing performance in District B13) made for some really cool parts that they really should have made more of in some ways.
Please post any other plot spoiler point questions, etc. to be answered ASAP below.
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