Went to see Die Hard 4.0 last night. I was surprised it wasn't a complete abomination, as some of the reviews had suggested as much. I'm still disappointed though that they shot for a PG-13 (bizarrely it was rated M here though). It's a Die Hard movie, so you expect buckets of blood, and swearing, and violence. Bloodless violence seems a bit pointless, and John McClane is supposed to swear like a sailor, so the character didn't seem the same - more sorta generic cop. Otherwise, the film was fine. The story wasn't as bad as everyone made out, although I think it lost a lot of tension by having the characters roaming about over such a large area - it wasn't as intimate as having McClane in a building with terrorists, or the airport even. There's a lot of travelling from A to B to C, something happens, move to E. Still the action sequences are pretty amazing, although they skirt the line of believability a few times. Overall, I could recommend it. It's entertaining enough, but I'll be waiting and hoping that the DVD comes out with an R-rated adult cut containing the swearing and blood that it so rightly deserves to be included in this series.

Plot Synopsis:

A diverse group of hackers are employed by a group to run "testing" on the national infrastructure. After there work is completed they are eliminated by their employers. John McClane is asked to pick up a hacker who is wanted for questioning by the FBI. He arrives to find Mathew Farrell, but comes under fire from the hit squad sent to eliminate Farrell. They escape after a short fight.

The next day, America comes under attack by the employers of the hacker team. The cause city wide traffic problems, disrupt the infrastructure and cause terror across the country. McClane makes contact with the FBI, but by this point, they're too busy to deal with Farrell. They ask him to transport him to the FBI building for interrogation. McClane comes under attack again by the terrorists who have been monitoring communications looking for Farrell. The terrorists chase them into a city tunnel, then they cause traffic chaos by diverting traffic into the tunnel and directly in McClane's path. John destroys the hit squads helicopter with his police car.

They go on the run, then McClane and Farrell start to screw up the terrorists plans, confronting them at a power station. They figure out the terrorists plans, and after a visit to Warlock's command center (another hacker), they capture a video link image of the mastermind behind the plot; Thomas Gabriel, who was an ex-hacker who worked for the US Government. He told the officials that the system was vulnerable to interference, but they wouldn't listen and destroyed his reputation. He plans to rob the US Data Repository of all financial data, so he can hold the city to ransom.

Gabriel kidnaps McClane's daughter Lucy, after John kills his girlfriend at the power station. McClane confronts the terrorists and interferes at the data store, but Gabriel escapes with the data and Lucy. John pursues them in the terrorists truck, but they divert an F-35 and use it to attack the truck. McClane manages to destroy the plane, and catches up with Gabriel. During a confrontation McClane is shot but kills Gabriel, and Farrell heroically helps save the day too.