"Sometimes you just want to blow the crap out of something." -- Mulder to Scully in the episode First Person Shooter.
This is the sentiment that drives people to movies like Live Free or Die Hard, and it's perfectly valid -- as long as the crap being blown up involves special effects and not your next-door neighbors. As a firm believer in this principle, I can say that I truly enjoyed Bruce Willis'...
...return as NYPD officer John McClane, caught once again in some mega-terror plot simply because he's doing his job. LFDH is a wild ride that starts in Camden, NJ, and barrels through Washington, DC, and elsewhere, with a devil-may-care attitude to life, limb, fine automobiles, taxis, buses, 18-wheelers, helicopters, and, yes, a fighter jet and a highway overpass. Willis is older and crankier, but just as funny, and his interactions with his "sidekick" -- a hacker named Matt that he's been assigned to pick up in Camden, played by Justin Long (from the "I'm a Mac" commercials) -- are pitch perfect. In fact, I'd love to see another movie pairing of those two. The terror plot involves a lot of technobabble, but here goes: some disgruntled NSA computer genius (Timothy Olyphant) -- possibly cinema's first full-bore metrosexual evildoer, what with the black shirts, gelled hair, and slightly whiney, injured tone -- decides to get revenge by taking down all of America's computers. (Not sure what a metrosexual is? Meet LA's newest one here). To do so, he's hired a bunch of unawares hackers, and then is bumping them off when their work is done. McClane arrives to pick up Matt just as an attempt is made to whack the hacker; in his true good-guy mode, McClane of course torches half the East Coast to stop the plot and SAVE THE KID. And his daughter, who somehow is kidnapped by the metrosexual's henchpersons.
The movie is funny, fast-moving, coherent, and never takes itself too seriously. The mayhem is massive -- you have to know that going in -- but not sadistic. It's good, clean, American fun. Which may seem crazy, but there you have it.
In this vein, it's time to review Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg, and recently playing on your cross-country United Airlines flights (an odd choice, in my opinion, what with all the, I don't know, shooting). This is another feel-good movie where massive destruction takes place... in the name of justice. Wahlberg, an actor who I really, really like, plays Bobby Lee Swagger, a retired Army sniper who's recruited to help foil a plot to shoot the president. Only problem is, he ends up being framed for the crime. In 2 hours of impressive ingenuity, he evades capture, finds the real criminals, and exacts revenge. It's awesome.
At one point, Walhberg as Swagger has been shot in the leg; he steals an FBI agent's car, and escapes detection from helicopters by driving in to a carwash, where he proceeds to cut through the back seat, retrieve the first-aid kit in the trunk, and dress his own wounds, all while getting the hot wax on the vehicle. My movie friend and I just sat there, agape, like, "Wow. I've got to meet a guy like that." Really, he's impressive.
Director Antoine Fuqua knows how to keep the action going without losing his characters -- he directed Training Day and King Arthur. There's some clunker dialog (I mean, look at the guy's name: Swagger), especially from the jaded old politicos, but it didn't ruin my enjoyment. Kate Mara turns in a fine performance as Wahlberg's friend, and old hands Danny Glover and Ned Beatty are over-the-top (in a good way) as greedy government hacks who no longer believe the law applies to them. Do I have to say it? Swagger shows them that Justice may be blind, but, man, she's a good shot and -- at least in movies -- doesn't miss the bad guy.