Yippe-ki-yay John McClane, who is quite possibly the most unlucky police officer in history, is back in Die Hard 4.0 on DVD.It's been twelve years since we last saw Bruce Willis in his most famous role and in that time McClane is divorced and estranged from his children, in particular his daughter Lucy.Now McClane is living in a high tech digital environment in the post 9/11 America. But this technological boom is to be the country's undoing as cyber terrorist Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Oliphant) hacks into the financial, communication, transportation and power systems bringing the country to its knees in what is known as a 'fire sale'.In the middle of the panic McClane has to protect Matt Farrell (Justin Long), who was unwittingly hired by Gabriel to begin the fire sale, and is know on their hit list.As a rule sequels progressively get worse as they go along however, as they say, there is an exception to every rule as Everyman hero John McClane is having yet another very tough day at the office.As well as the action flick tag this is also a buddy movie as McClane strikes up an uneasy alliance with smart arse Farrell.

And these two couldn't be further apart: McClane's love of classic rock and the news make s Farrell sick and Farrell's duck and dive attitude is contrasted with McClane's shoot now ask questions later approach , whilst causing a huge amount of chaos and damage in the process.

But Farrell is the brains to McClane's brawn as he explains how he would achieve Gabriel's aim - and without this understanding mcClane would not save the day.

But director Len Wiseman must truly be congratulated for his self restraint deciding not to go over the top with the showy, there to put backsides in seats CGI. Instead we have a very uncomplicated plot, and since 9/11 the idea of technological terrorists really does work, and old school stunts that really look fantastic.

After a summer of lack luster sequels Die Hard really stood out and really was the one to watch. It's a worthy successor to the original and will not disappoint fans of the 1988 film.

Die Hard 4.0 is released 29th October

Helen Earnshaw

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