"Yippee ki yay . . ."

For those who found the unrelenting realism of John McClane's exploits to thwart Hans Gruber's escapades in the Nakatomi building too much to handle, never fear, the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise gives the occasional nod to reality, but doesn't let it interfere with telling its story.

As usual, McClane's personal life is in shambles--this time the focus isn't on the disintegrating/disintegrated marriage with Holly, but on the strained relationship with his daughter. I really liked the interaction between McClane and the girl--I thought her change in attitude was a bit on the quick side, but eh...trama does things to people. Serves as a decent B Story.

The A Story is what it should be--some terrorist-y types wreak havoc, in this case it's a group of hackers bringing the entire country to its knees. But, since this is a Die Hard film, it's not really about the terrorism. McClane is brought into all this by chance, having to pick up a hacker for questioning about the early stages of the terror. This hacker is played by the always reliable Justin Long--who gets some of the best lines of the flick.

Have to mention Kevin Smith's two scenes--Smith plays an ubernerd/uberhacker living in his mother's basement (which he insists on calling his "command center"). Smith got great reviews for the role, but I'm not sure why. He was decent, but I know he can do better--and given the character, I expected a bit more from him. But at the end of the day, he's still Kevin Smith, and I can't help but grin when he's on screen.

Good action film, some great stunt sequences (could've lived w/o the jumping on to the jet myself), some good laughs. Well worth the time if you like the genre. Pretty sure this is the only one of the 4 in the series that TLomL has watched in its entirety with me, so that's saying something...