A Good Day to Die Hard - 2 1/2 smiles

Bruce Willis’s latest, “A Good Day to Die Hard,” is more engaging than Schwarznegger or Stallone’s latest attempts to re-enter the action hero scene. With his shaved head and tattered white T-shirt, there’s reason to see John McCain save the world again and re-unite with his estranged son. Director John Moore relies too much on crashing as many cars as he can, shaky cam shots and ADD editing. What really matters are the personal dynamics between John and his son. Willis and Jai Courtney make a believable fractious father and son as well as sarcastic adversaries forced by circumstances to work together. They’re also funny as they humorously bond amid flying bullets, squealing tires and chattered glass. What’s really hard to believe is everything they go through and manage to come out relatively unscathed. But I’m sure that was a notable element of the other Die Hard movies, too.

John, a retired cop, shows up in Russia uninvited to rescue his son Jack, who’s trying to protect a Russian whistleblower Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) from the lethal vengeance of corrupt politician Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). John is barely off the plane before he’s stealing cars and causing a lot of damage to Moscow’s streets. He’s also trying to reconnect with a son he now regrets ignoring for most of the past 25 years. Jack, however, isn’t buying the contrition; all he wants is for John to go home. The story gets increasingly complicated with a hidden file of incriminating information, Komarov’s sexy daughter and a trip to nuke-ravaged Chernobyl.  “A Good Day to Die Hard” is a fun, action-packed ride. 2/14/13