I'm pretty ambivalent about the movie. For every good thing about the movie, there's a pretty disappointing one. It's got some trademark McClane jokes but they don't always go well with the mostly humorless cast of characters. Justin Long sounds overly deadpan and his attempts at humor come out weird, like nervous giggles spilling out of the mouth of some guy who didn't took his medication. It's got the right amount of action scenes but some are - incredibly for the series - too over the top (
). The terrorists are pretty forgettable, all of them: no humor, no character. I can still recite most of Hans Gruber's lines from Die Hard thanks to Alan Rickman's good acting and character development. You really wanted to hate Gruber sometimes, or even smirk at how much of a nuisance Simon was turning out to be even if those Bioware puzzles at the park were stupid. Here, you're looking at a wall. There are no quirks, no character flaws, nothing that would make him a likable villain. The only way he stands out is being a worse character than Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2. And don't get me started on how the asian asskicker cannot tell how an injured and slow McClane isn't running against her, despite his heavy footsteps.
It was fun but not always or not always in the right way. If this sparks interest in the Die Hard franchise, I hope someone more qualified for the job can write a better sequel.
Also, saw Jarhead recently. Interesting portrayal of how war can influence soldier's minds but I've been spoiled after Apocalypse Now.