(See Review Here: A Good Day To Die Hard)
But the comment was, well, not THAT far from the truth. I still dislike the comment, but after seeing this film after AGDTDH enable me to criticise where necessary.
First of all, the film starts Gerald Butler who I feel is a very decent actor. I do like him and ever since I saw him in 300, I thought, he is THAT guy. Going on to Law Abiding Citizen, he solidified that feeling. He plays a former US Army Ranger Mike Banning, who is the lead Secret Service Agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail for the President of the United States of America, Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart). However, due to a road accident costing the life of the First Lady, Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) where Mike saves the president instead of her, for obvious reasons, Mike is then demoted as he triggers Ashley's memories of the accident and works in the Treasury Department, within eyeshot of White House.
On the day the South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim) attends a meeting at the White House, the White House becomes under attack by Guerilla Forces, overwhelm the White House and take it over. As this is happening, Mike sees this and makes his way towards the White House and enters through the front door. Yes, he enters through the front door.
Now there isn't really anything more to say as I'm sure you are aware by now that the white house is full of goons and Mike has to save the president and stop whatever the terrorist aim to carry out. It kind of reminds me of a game in the late 80's early 90's when your character enters a building and has to clear out all the goons running and gunning, jumping vertically of course. So with that said, you already know the outcome. Predictable, yet still entertaining.
The brutality in this film I feel, separates from the Die Hard movie franchise. It's kind of hard to say, but the Die Hard movies have lots of blood, grisly deaths, bullets, more bullets, explosions, more explosions and a guy in a white vest managing to take out hordes of goons in a white vest and escaping all manor of death situations. This film on the other hand is very similar, but lacks the creativity, the death escapes and the white vest. Not to say that this is a rubbish film, it's really good, but I guess we have seen all these before, right?
Mike is a no nonsense former US Army Ranger. He gets things done with precision. Very smart, understands the minds of terrorists and is somewhat disconnected with reality. However, with this said, he knows he is able to fulfil his duties as an ex Secret Service Agent and get the job done, so he proceeds.
Anyway, I'll draw this review to an end now. The direction, cinematography and story was all excellent. Even better as the film seems more relatable right now in this current climate, but I can't help but think that maybe something else could have happened to kind of make this film slightly different in delivery. Maybe I'm starting to get bored of these types of films and actually want the bad guys to win or pull off their schemes. I mean, at least we could have some crazy sequel where everything is desecrated with little odds but still triumph. Maybe this is what the world is missing in film, Terrorist who actually win in the end, but in the long run, get trampled on. Not that I will always cheer for terrorists, but if they actually won or carried out part/most of their plan, at least as an audience we would have expected it. Other than Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with the bitter/sweet end, what other film has this kind of outcome. Anyway, watch this film and enjoy it for what it is. Superb acting from Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett by the way.
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