A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
* out of ****

In spite of favorable critical reviews, fanboys bemoaned Len Wiseman's LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007), largely for its "watered-down" PG-13 rating.  I didn't think it was a bad movie; it wasn't the best of the series by a long shot, but in any case, it was entertaining and I enjoyed it more than DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER, which, in spite of its hilariously awesome title, was a shameless and uninteresting retread of the classic original.
For A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, directed by John Moore (MAX PAYNE and the 2006 remake of THE OMEN), we get back the R rating, but we don't get Die Hard.  Sure, Bruce Willis is present, bearing the John McClane monicker, but this is no Die Hard movie.  Die Hard movies are laced with wit; this has none.  John McClane fights terrorism in "wrong place, wrong time" situations on the homeland; this John McClane goes to Russia to wreak destruction while getting to know his uninteresting son, Jack (Jai Courtney of Starz's SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND).
Nearly the whole product is a mix of  the ugly and the uninteresting.  The characters are very boring, the only one possessing any substance is McClane, but all of that is just whatever is left over from the previous films, but without familiarity to those, the viewer would probably think him just as vapid as the rest.  The script is the weakest element of all, utterly lacking in substance.  At 97 minutes long, it's the shortest DIE HARD movie by far, but it does feel long, and even still, feels feather-light, and at the end, I was left wondering what just happened, like, what was the point of anything that just happened?
The cinematography and scenery is all very unappealing.  I'm sure Moscow isn't so gray, decrepit and smoggy throughout as it is here, and the cinematography seems to be aiming for a raw look, diverting from the other films in the franchise, with shaky camera work and a frequent lack of clarity.
Yeah, the violence is bloodier than the previous film, but most of it is crappy post-production CG blood, and you get the occasional f-word, but without the wit of the earlier films.
This seems to be the death of the franchise, and if it's not, maybe it should be anyway.
 Directed by: John Moore
Starring:  Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
R for violence and language.

If you like A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, you may like:  LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, MAX PAYNE, JACK REACHER