Battling Bruce is still one hard act to beat

Die Hard 4.0**** (Cert 15; 129 mins)

How many times can one man be in the wrong place at the right time? If you are world-weary, battle-hardened detective John McClane then it’s all just part of the job. In the long-awaited Die Hard 4.0, he only has to escort a suspect into custody and before you know it he’s called upon to save the world. Again. There’s a fiend plotting mass panic and the complete destruction of the American way of life. Now, he’s not about to stand by and let that happen is he?

Twelve years after Die Hard: With A Vengeance, Bruce Willis makes a triumphant return to his signature role of McClane. Absence has made the heart grow a little fonder of the indestructible cop with a gung-ho, John Wayne attitude to getting the job done. If you were stuck in a tight corner then there is nobody else you would want racing to

your rescue.

In a world of grim headlines and tragedy, his old-fashioned, cartoon-like good guy is more welcome than ever, even if the bad guy does dismiss him as a “Timex watch in a digital age”.

Now 52, the lean, battered Willis looks as fit as a butcher’s dog but must be feeling his age. His trusty singlet has obviously been sent to the retirement home for shopsoiled garments and doesn’t make a single appearance. He is also surrounded by a team of youthful co-stars as he settles comfortably into the role of grizzled father figure. The threat in this film comes from one Thomas Gabriel, played with a steely, square-jawed intensity by Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant. Gabriel is a terrorist but his weapons are not bombs and bullets but computers and keypads. That means lots of furious typing and fevered concentration as he hacks into the computer systems that control banking, public utilities and all the elements required for a modern society to run smoothly and efficiently.

The FBI begin the fight back by bringing a number of computer hackers in for questioning. McClane is asked to deliver Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to the authorities. The fact that evil henchmen pepper Farrell’s apartment with a barrage of bullets provides a pretty big clue that he might know something useful. Soon, McClane and Farrell are running for their lives as our favourite cop embarks on a cat-and-mouse tussle with the exasperated Gabriel.

Recognising that command centres and computers don’t deliver a lot in the way of action-packed thrills, the makers of Die Hard 4.0 appear to have blown

the budget on some amazing adrenaline-rush sequences. Highlights include the spectacular destruction of a helicopter by a flying car and a stunning log jam of crashing cars in a darkened tunnel, where both McClane and Farrell appear to be a hair’s breadth away from annihilation.

Realism is an early casualty in Die Hard 4.0. We are never entirely sure what the evil Gabriel is after and it doesn’t matter how often McClane is shot, beaten, battered, punched and wounded, we know that he will always prevail. A bullet hole is a minor scratch to him. You simply have to accept that this is a larger-than-life blockbuster that provides all the kicks that an action fan could want and a good deal of dry humour to offset the more ridiculous levels of mayhem and megalomania. A strong cast includes Maggie Q as a deadly, Emma Peel-style sidekick and Kevin (Clerks) Smith as paranoid computer geek Warlock.

It doesn’t matter how good they are or how many scenes they try to steal, Willis has an effortless cool that always leaves him as the king of this franchise. It’s good to have him back.