Live Free or Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0)
Live Free or Die Hard official movie poster
Directed by	Len Wiseman
Written by	Screenplay: Mark Bomback Story: Mark Bomback David Marconi Characters: Roderick Thorp
Produced by	Michael Fottrell Arnold Rifkin executive William Wisher executive Stephan J Eads
Starring	Bruce Willis Timothy Olyphant Justin Long Maggie Q Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Edited by	Nicolas De Toth
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	June 27, 2007 July 4, 2007 July 6, 2007 August 8, 2007
Running time	129 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$110 million

Live Free or Die Hard (released as Die Hard 4.0 outside North America) is the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It stars veteran actor Bruce Willis as John McClane, the hero of the first three films. The film takes place some 19 years after the first film, and sees McClane face a gang of virtual terrorists. The film's American and Canadian release date was June 27th, 2007. The film was based on the 1997 article A Farewell to Arms written for Wired magazine by John Carlin.

Plot

The movie begins with criminal Mai Linh (Maggie Q) collaborating with computer hackers, exchanging payment for algorithms and code. The hackers are then killed in their homes by explosives set to go off when the Delete button is pressed on their keyboards. Only one hacker, Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), has yet to be killed.

Meanwhile, at one of the Rutgers University campuses, Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is engaged in a romantic interlude with a schoolmate, which is interrupted by her father, NYPD Police Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis). Lucy, angered at her father's surveillance of her, storms off. McClane learns that Lucy is using her mother's maiden name, Gennaro, an echo of the first movie, when McClane learned that his estranged wife was doing the same. McClane receives instructions from his supervisor to pick up a known hacker - because of a recent security breach of an FBI system, they are questioning all known hackers.

McClane goes to the home of the hacker, Matt Farrell, and takes him into custody. Five armed men then arrive, and when they see that Farrell's computer has not detonated, they go up to investigate. Rand (Cyril Raffaelli), a sniper, riddles the apartment with gunfire, but McClane and Farrell survive, and McClane dispatches most of the armed men in the process, escaping with Farrell. Two of the surviving thugs explain to their superior, Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) that Farrell has escaped.

McClane brings Farrell to the FBI, specifically to Assistant Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis), in the midst of a shutdown of Washington D.C.'s traffic system initiated by the terrorists. The terrorists then initiate a stock market crash, wiping out the life savings of countless people. FBI Agent Johnson (Yancey Arias) orders Farrell taken into protective custody, but the terrorists locate the car and ambush it. McClane again manages to dispatch the villains, at one point driving his car up a ramp and then fleeing it before it collides with the villain's helicopter, destroying it. Rand believes that the two men were in the car and thus informs Gabriel that both men are dead.

File:Bruce willis justin long.jpg

Bruce Willis as John McClane and Justin Long as Matt Farrell.

McClane asks Farrell what the next logical move by the terrorists would be. Farrell explains they would probably target major utilities next, but they can only be shut down manually on-site. They decide to head to the Eastern United States power hub in West Virginia to intercept. During the drive, Farrell expresses exasperated disbelief at McClane’s seeming calm, and laments that he’s not like him. When McClane asks him what he means by this, Farrell says that he himself is not a hero, and cannot see himself ever doing the types of courageous things that McClane does.

Arriving at the hub they discover that the terrorists are already there. While Farrell tries to undo the damage done to the computer system, McClane engages the terrorists in hand-to-hand and vehicular combat, killing them. After discovering that McClane and Farrell are alive and that more of his henchmen (including his lover, Mai Linh) are dead, Gabriel redirects the local natural gas lines to the hub. McClane and Farrell barely escape with their lives as the pressure of the gas lines results in the explosion and destruction of the hub, knocking out power across the Eastern U.S. Seemingly out of options, Farrell convinces McClane that they should pay a visit to the Warlock (Kevin Smith), a hacker friend of Farrell's, in order to get information on Gabriel.

McClane and Farrell arrive at the home of the Warlock, a thirty-something man who uses his mother's basement as his "command center". The Warlock explains that Gabriel had designed a new, more secure, security system for the US after 9/11, claiming that the current U.S. security system was vulnerable to terrorists. After demonstrating the vulnerability by personally hacking into the system and threatening to go public with this information, the authorities conspired to bring him down and ruined his reputation. Embittered, he decided to teach America a lesson, which is the "{{#invoke:fire sale|Use as plot device|fire sale}}" currently in operation. Meanwhile, Gabriel then learns of a hacker inside his systems and he confronts McClane, via web cam. Gabriel has tracked down Lucy, who is trapped in an elevator, and shows a video image of her to McClane. The Warlock tracks down Gabriel's location, which turns out to be an NSA building, and the location of high-powered supercomputers containing all the country's backup financial information (which Gabriel had designed). McClane and Farrell set out to rescue Lucy and stop Gabriel.

McClane and Farrell arrive at the NSA building just as Lucy is being dragged in. Farrell tries to re-route the system while McClane fights off Gabriel's thugs. Gabriel and his men capture Farrell, but not before he has set up an encryption preventing Gabriel from accessing the stolen financial records with which they amassed their money. Gabriel and his men flee in trucks with Lucy and Farrell. McClane manages to hijack one of the trucks and pursues. He contacts the Warlock to ask him to patch him through to Bowman to inform him that Gabriel has left.

Gabriel uses his hacking abilities to pose as a Marine ground controller and commands a F-35 Lightning II jet to attack McClane's vehicle, which he identifies as a criminal. The jet engages McClane, but McClane manages to escape yet again. McClane then follows Gabriel's truck to a nearby warehouse.

At the warehouse, Gabriel orders Farrell to reverse his encryption. Farrell begins to comply after being shot in the leg but before the decryption begins, McClane shows up and kills Trey (Jonathan Sadowski), Gabriel's lead hacker, and a couple of thugs before taking a shot in the shoulder from another assailant. While Lucy is held hostage by one thug, Gabriel picks up McClane and holds him from behind, wanting him to watch the death of Farrell and Lucy. Meanwhile, Farrell, hiding, has picked up McClane's gun and Lucy tries to toss another gun to McClane, but the attempt is foiled. Gabriel taunts McClane, prodding his wound with a gun. After being harassed by Gabriel, McClane delivers his classic catchphrase, saying "How about yippie-ki-yay motherfucker". McClane presses the trigger, firing the gun, causing the bullet to go through his shoulder and into Gabriel's heart, killing Gabriel instantly. Farrell then picks up McClane’s gun and shoots the thug holding Lucy, killing him. The FBI arrives soon after.

Afterwards, Farrell sits in an ambulance. Having been given morphine, he makes a romantic query about Lucy, but McClane discourages him from pursuing an interest in his daughter. Recalling their earlier conversation about heroic types during their drive to West Virginia, McClane points out to Farrell that he has now engaged in the exact sort of daring act that he earlier claimed he could never do, and opines that he is now a hero himself. McClane returns to Lucy, who asks if Farrell expressed any romantic interest in her, much to McClane’s chagrin, as the ambulances drive off.

Cast

• Bruce Willis as John McClane
• Justin Long as Matt Farrell
• Timothy Olyphant as Thomas Gabriel
• Cliff Curtis as Bowman
• Maggie Q as Mai Linh
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McClane
• Tim Russ as Agent Summers
• Kevin Smith as Warlock/Freddie
• Christina Chang as Taylor
• Yorgo Constantine as Russo
• Andrew Friedman as Casper
• Sung Kang as Raj
• Matt O'Leary as Clay
• Cyril Raffaelli as Rand
• Jonathan Sadowski as Trey

Production

The film's plot is based on an earlier script entitled WW3.com by David Marconi, screenwriter of Enemy of the State. Using a Wired article entitled "A Farewell to Arms" by John Carlin, Marconi crafted a screenplay about a cyber-terrorist attack on the U.S. After the 9-11 attacks, the project was stalled, only to be resurrected several years later and rewritten into Live Free or Die Hard by Doug Richardson and eventually by Mark Bomback.

Willis said in 2005 that the film would be called Die Hard 4.0, as it revolves around computers. IGN later reported the film was to be called Die Hard: Reset instead. 20th Century Fox later announced the title as Live Free or Die Hard and set a release date of June 29, 2007 with filming to begin in September 2006. The title is based on the state motto of New Hampshire, "Live Free or Die," which is attributed to a quote from General John Stark. International trailers use the Die Hard 4.0 title, as the film was released outside America with that title.

Filming for Live Free or Die Hard started in downtown Baltimore, Maryland on September 23, 2006. Willis was injured January 24, 2007 during a fight scene, where he was kicked above his right eye. The injury was regarded as "no big deal" and Willis saw a doctor and went home for the rest of the day.

Bruce Willis' stunt double, Larry Rippenkroeger, was seriously injured when he fell twenty-five feet to the pavement. He suffered broken bones in his face and fractures in both wrists. Production was temporarily shut down. Willis picked up the tab at area hotels for Rippenkroeger's parents and visited him a number of times at the hospital. Rippenkroeger also doubles for James Caan in his TV series, Las Vegas.

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Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McClane

The involvement of McClane's daughter in the film was previously considered for Die Hard with a Vengeance, and was used in the video game Die Hard: Vendetta). It was speculated that Bruce Willis' real life daughter Rumer, who was born the same year that the original Die Hard was released, was a prime candidate for the part of Lucy McClane. Jessica Simpson, Wafah Dufour and Britney Spears had previously auditioned for the role; Paris Hilton had been considered for the role, as had Taylor Fry, who played Lucy in the original Die Hard movie in 1988. The role of Lucy eventually went to Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Despite being set in Camden, New Jersey, Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland, there were a number of scenes that were filmed in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Center Studios production building stands in for exteriors of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The climax scene was filmed in Los Angeles, as a California State Highway shield can be seen in one scene, palm trees can be seen throughout, the freeway viaducts are built to California standards, and mountains that are typical of Los Angeles can be seen in the climax scene. In addition, in the Camden, New Jersey scenes, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority low-floor buses can be seen in the background. In Camden, New Jersey Transit operates bus service and does not have low-floor buses, or CNG buses for that matter.

The scene where McClane talks to his daughter at Rutgers University was actually filmed at the University of Southern California. After this scene, McClane travels to Camden, New Jersey, but this scene was actually filmed in downtown Los Angeles, a few miles north of USC, showing continuity in both the setting and filming locations.

The Social Security Datacenter exteriors were shot at Diamond Ranch High School[1].

Rating controversy

The past three installments in the Die Hard series have all been rated R by the MPAA. However, Live Free or Die Hard sparked controversy because it was edited to obtain a PG-13 rating. Bruce Willis was upset with the studio's decision, stating, “I really wanted this one to live up to the promise of the first one, which I always thought was the only really good one.” to Vanity Fair. “That’s a studio decision that is becoming more and more common, because they’re trying to reach a broader audience. It seems almost a courageous move to give a picture an R rating these days. But we still made a pretty hardcore, smashmouth film.” Willis later confirmed that it was PG-13, but opined that viewers unaware that it was not an R-rated film would not suspect it in watching it, due to the level and intensity of the action, and the one usage of the word "fuck" He even claimed that this film was the best of the four by saying “It’s unbelievable. I just saw it last week. It’s better than the first one. I personally think, it’s better than the first one.”

Reception

As of July 16, 2007, the film had a score of 80% with a certified "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 161 reviews (127 Fresh, 34 Rotten) with the consensus being it is "an efficient, action-packed summer popcorn flick" and a score of a generally favorable 69% on Metacritic based on 32 reviews. The movie has also been subjected to generally favorable reviews in The Washington Post and IGN (who scored the movie as a four out of five stars). On Ebert and Roeper, film critic Richard Roeper and guest critic Katherine Tulich gave the film "Two Thumbs Up", with Richard Roeper claiming it to be the best of the Die Hard sequels. [2]

Live Free or Die Hard made $9.1 million in its first day of release, the best opening day take of any film in the Die Hard franchise (not taking inflation into account). On its opening weekend Live Free or Die Hard made $33.4 million ($48 million counting Wednesday and Thursday). As of July 11, 2007, Live Free or Die Hard has made $90,420,838 domestically, and $181,535,822 worldwide. It is currently on pace to break over $200 million worldwide, making it the 2nd most successful Die Hard. [3]

Video game

Main article: Live Free or Die Hard (video game)

A video game based on the film appeared on the ESRB ratings board for the Xbox 360. It is strongly suspected of being an Xbox Live Arcade title at this point.

External links

• Live Free or Die Hard at IMDb
• Live Free or Die Hard at Rotten Tomatoes
• Live Free or Die Hard at Metacritic
• Die Hard 4.0 review at iomtoday.co.im
• A Farewell to Arms, the Wired article on which the movie's script was based
• Live Free or Die Hard trailer at Yahoo! Movies