Live Free or Die Hard Review

Here is the thing with sequels: They have a stigma of being a rehashed plot created by a movie executive/producer/writer who does not have any better ideas. It only gets worse the farther you go, which is why some people won't go see a movie like the 4th installment of Die Hard because they just assume it is going to be bad. I think that is a little short sighted thinking and if your only reason for not going to see Live Free or Die Hard is because its the 4th installment in a great movie franchise, well you need to get off your high horse.

The movie is based off an article by John Carlin called "A Farewell to Arms". So basically someone read the article and said "you know what, this is cool but what if John McClain was somehow involved". Personally, I think that is awesome. Who hasn't sat around and randomly wondered what John McClain would do in a certain situation and thought it would be a good movie. The movie is pretty simple, a hacker tries to systematically shut down the entire United States computing systems. McClain, with help from his little hacker friend (Justin Long), spend two hours trying to stop it. What do we get for those two hours? John McClain kicking ass and taking names. Its basically: Intense action scene, followed by McClain ending it in some super cool way, followed by McClain making a smart ass comment that you can't help but laugh at. It makes for an entertaining two hours.

The plot is interesting but its nothing special. It is two straight hours of pure fun. So relax, don't worry that its the 4th installment of a series, don't worry that no matter how many times he can get hit McClain doesn't seem to die, don't worry about any of it! Just enjoy yourself, because the movie is pretty fun to watch.

P.S. The movie contains one of the coolest ways I've ever seen anyone die, but I won't spoil it for you.

Grade: B

Transformers Review

I was never really into Transformers growing up so I don't have any real idea of the history or actual story, therefore there was no way the movie couldn't "be true to the story to me" because I do not know the story. If they left out certain transformers or one transformer didn't transform into what he did in the cartoon, well I didn't know and that wouldn't hinder me from enjoying the movie. That being said, its time to review:

Transformers is about a race of giant alien robots that can transform into things. The Autobots are the good guys and the Decepticons are the bad guys. The Decepticons come to Earth looking for the All-Spark, a cube like power source that can create their electronic life. If they get their hands on it they will end human life so it is up to the faithful Autobots to fight them. The 1st half of the movie basically centers around Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) and his run in with Bumblebee, a transformer that turns into a Camaro, and Jon Voight who is the Secretary of Defense of the United States (I personally would have liked to have seen Jon Voight have a LeBaron that transformed into something to pay homage to that great Seinfeld episode!). The 2nd half of the movie is all action as the good guys battle the bad guys.

A good summer blockbuster needs a four things: Cool action, awesome special effects, humor to offset the action and hot girls. Transformers delivers on all of them. The first half of the movie is pretty funny but then it seems to hit a point about an hour and a half in that they stop doing anything funny altogether. Shia LeBeouf doubles as the main character and the comedic relief. His girl in the movie, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), is all kinds of hot. Jon Voight is awesome in any movie where he plays a high ranking authority figure. Rachel Taylor plays Maggie Madsen, a smoking hot, young NSA hacker (suspension of disbelief). Anthony Anderson plays another hacker in the perfect role for him, a bit part in a serious movie. Anthony Anderson is funny, but he can't carry movies. The special effects are awesome and the transformers are pretty damn cool. Even the product placement is cool (an Xbox 360 transformer!) The two faults I could find it in were that it was a little too long and it can get overly cheesy. This movie is all you can ask for out of a summer blockbuster.

Grade: A