Live Free or Die Hard 2007

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Far from the crass, just-for-the-money sequel it appeared to be on paper. It's a genuine blast. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: What's the fourth "Die Hard" called? I keep forgetting. "Die Hard: With a Pension"? "Die Hardened Arteries"? "Die Laughing"? Read more

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: The usual pyrotechnics are intact, the corpses pile up and McClane even gets to spit out his signature battle cry. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: The bad guys' omnipotence at nearly every turn dilutes the film's suspense. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Terrific entertainment, and startlingly shrewd in the bargain, a combination of minimalist performances -- interestingly minimalist -- and maximalist stunts that make you laugh, as you gape, at their thunderous extravagance. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Ultimately, Live Free or Die Hard so completely slacks our jaw and so successfully suspends our disbelief that the highest praise goes to the crew of first-class technicians who pulled it off. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: For a pure summer power trip, it's a decent throwback to the pure-brawn heyday of Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, an agreeable respite from today's cartoonlike ballets of computer-generated action. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's loud, yippee-ki-yay explosive, mostly watchable and, unfortunately, almost entirely forgettable after its final bang. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: None of the scrapes and bruises [Willis] sustains are as wince-inducing as the image of his younger self in the first film, padding across broken glass with bare feet. He was human back in 1988; now he's the Terminator. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Director Len Wiseman never lets the movie slow down enough for us to think about what's happening. And he gives us some amusing things to keep us occupied, including one particularly fitting cameo. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Sorry, boys. After two decades, the first film still does more with one skyscraper than Live Free or Die Hard does with an entire country. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: That this implausible stew works as well as it does is in part a tribute to the unlikely but enjoyable rapport that forms between old school McClane and his youthful computer-savvy companion. Read more

Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle: Live Free or Die Hard is the most creative and exciting Die Hard film since the original, though it's hardly the original's equal. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Easily the best in the series since the first one. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The most perfect protagonist is always the imperfect protagonist. Leave it to John McClane to bring back the action hero. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: An enjoyable pop projection of post-9/11 anxiety. That said, it also makes you nostalgic for the days when irresponsible action movies didn't have to deal with it. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Movie characters like McClane are the Paul Bunyans and John Henrys and Pecos Bills of our age, the stuff of tall tales spun with the technology of an age whose campfires are found in multiplexes with stadium seating. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: If this is living free, you might consider pulling the plug. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Willis has a firm grip on what has made his character popular for nearly two decades, and maintains a firm hand on the wheel. Like almost everything he drives, he keeps the movie airborne. Yippee-ki-yay. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: As long as you understand that [LFODH] is nothing more or less than a three-ring festival of intricate stunts and pyrotechnic effects, punctuated with clown routines, you may not mind that it's about a half-hour longer than it needs to be. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: There's no point in whining that Die Hard is mindless. That's like complaining about the sound of people eating popcorn in the theater. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: It's not remotely plausible, but with Willis' McClane leaping onto the tailfins of passing jet fighters and bringing down helicopters by launching police cars at them, there's enough stuff blowing up that action fans won't mind much. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The action in this fast-paced, hysterically overproduced and surprisingly entertaining film is as realistic as a Road Runner cartoon. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Mostly, the flick relies on old-school stunt work rather than computer generated effects. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Willis should not be the victim of facile stereotyping. He brings more heart and humor to apocalyptic pulp fiction than any other actor I can think of offhand. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a pulse-pounding, bad-guy-pummeling exercise in action excess, peppered with bad, bad dialogue. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's the movie equivalent of a cop on the eve of retirement: he knows what he has to do, and he gets it done. But his heart isn't really in it anymore. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Live Free or Die Hard may work better for an audience that doesn't know much about the series than it will for Die Hard die hards, who will be wondering who that impersonator is and what he did with the real John McClane. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: The post-9/11 techno-terrorist stuff works, the fights are creative and funny, and Willis is in top form in his career-defining role. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Willis' John McClane, with that sly, sideways smile, is like an old acquaintance you don't mind running into. He may be older and balder, but he's none the worse for the wear. And he can still take a punch. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: This time the hype is real. The latest Die Hard film, the first in a dozen years, is the best in the series, an invigorating return to the style of blockbuster that dominated summers back in the early 1990s. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It has enough mind-blowing stunts to leave audience members walking out and inventing obscenity-laced catchphrases of their own. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: This paradox comes with an attendant fallacy: that the best way to solve the static problem is to make the stunts even larger, the bangs even bigger. Wrong: More action just stops the film longer. Read more

Rob Salem, Toronto Star: Live Free or Die Hard is indeed a worthy successor to the original -- not perhaps quite as good, but close. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: It is a movie born to be forgotten-except as something that against your better judgment, you had a pretty good time watching back in the summer of '07. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: Len Wiseman handles many of the set-pieces with flair and tension. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The rookie mistakes are legion. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This fourth installment in the franchise delivers when it comes to kick-butt, action-packed mayhem but bogs down focusing on key characters staring at computer screens, typing madly on keyboards or spouting techno-babble. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Tone careens madly from serious peril to action camp and everything in between, but the sheer quantity of often outrageous stunts should help overcome franchise mustiness. Read more

Rob Nelson, Village Voice: The real intrigue has to do with whether McClane -- 'a Timex watch in a digital age,' per the lead baddie (Timothy Olyphant) -- can log in to 2007. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: At a time when the action genre has come to be dominated by sleek, matte surfaces and set-'em-and-forget-'em computerized effects, Live Free or Die Hard seeks to remind viewers of the simple, nostalgic pleasures of watching stuff get blown up. Read more