To say Bruce Willis is an analog hero in the digital age, is to say we live in an age when terrorists (as well as rouge government agents) are more likely to be foiled by striking at their hard drives as opposed to their faces. If this is indeed the age we live in, then let me be the first to say it... This age blows. It’s been a while, but thankfully John McClane (not to be confused with John McCain…one’s a republican) is back, looking chiseled, bald, and free of the lunacy that was Demi Moore, and is here to save us from…ourselves? Wait, where did the late 80’s/early 90’s go? It appears McClane is, once again, plopped into the center of another elaborately unfolding incident and must extricate himself using the proper amount of sarcasm and blunt force trauma (plowing SUV, anyone?). This time McClane is forced to flex his biceps for scorned government programmer Thomas Gabriel, played with the appropriate amount of irritation and awe by (Deadwood’s own) Timothy Olyphant (more on him on Wed). Events take their usual high-impact turns (a DC tunnel, a plant in West Virginia, a spiraling interstate ramp to nowhere) as McClane throttles his way through a masochistic orgy of personal injury in order to thwart Gabriel's plans to zip away with the wealth of America downloaded to his laptop (if only he had waited for the new iphone!), and America is again saved. From what, though?
A recent subscription to Netflix (definitely more on this at a later date) has aided me during a re-discovery period regarding all things McClane (and Bourne), and what I’ve come to realize is how susceptible Americans are to labels (shocker!) and how the 70’s changed movie villainy. Regarding the later: the 70’s was the decade of hostage taking, as well as the rise of fundamentalism, all egged on by the dynamic Cold War duo that was the United States and the Soviet Union. To Americans, if they weren’t Russian and carried a gun while speaking a funny accent, they were terrorists (thanks for that simplification by the way!). What does this have to do with John McClane? Funny you should ask. As much as the Die Hard films are retro shout-outs of old Hollywood cowboyism during the PC age, the one thing they have not been, despite the consistently lazy assessments of critics and moviegoers (myself included), are films about terrorists (well, except for maybe the second one, but that was directed by hack actionteur Renny Harlin, so let him bear the responsibility for that mess). The McClane films are, at their best, elaborate heist flicks, where the subtly of a well timed switch has been replaced by the cacophony of a well placed pack of C-4. Terrorism has always been the McGuffin of the McClane films, generally used to cause disharmony and panic among the rank and file so that the criminal genius and his mercenaries can scoot off with the loot—well, at least until McClain gets dragged into the plot (Wrong place wrong time? Word!). Think back to the first film’s Hans Gruber (the iconic Alan Rickman) who, when talking to the police and demanding the release of a number of terrorist “brothers”, including members of the “Asian Dawn”, acknowledges the look of bewildered subordinate and, shaking him of with a smirk, says, “I read about them in Time magazine.” Or Die Hard with a Vengeance’s equally gamey Jeremy Irons (Hans Gruber’s brother! What are the odds!), who leads McClane (and Samuel Jackson!) on a wild goose chase around New York in an effort to steal a large stockpile of gold. You can’t get more Western than that. The fourth film’s Olyphant is no different (outside of being American), using images of an exploding capitol to incite panic, all so he can download that awesome MP3 (or, as the film would have you believe: the accumulated wealth of every American individual and business). These men aren’t terrorists, they're Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West, charismatic Hank’s, only with bigger budgets and—yes—computers. The parallels between today, as well as the completely unintentional commentary on display in the Die Hard films, is uncanny. A big intimidating man shouts “terrorism, terrorism”, all for the pedestrian goal of lining his pockets. I know, hardly sounds like Osama Bin Laden. Hmm, I wonder…
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