I’m a sucker for a good action trailer. By which I mean I’m a sucker for having my hopes unrealistically elevated by two minutes of standout action snippets, and subsequently being wildly disappointed by the two-hour version.
When I saw the new literally explosive trailer for Live Free or Die Hard, I got a familiar frisson of excitement… familiar because every element of the coming-attraction looked cribbed from an older action trailer.
Let us count the ways:
1) Angry White Men. Timothy Olyphant is the exact same kindof calmly threatening, counter-typecast American villain as PhilipSeymour Hoffman was in Mission: Impossible 3. He speaks softly(though clichéd lines like "You have no idea who you’re dealing with"are no less cliché when they come out of the mouth of an understatedactor), grimaces when the hero undermines his plans like someone’s justplucked out a single one of his pubic hairs, and holds the hero’s lovedone hostage (While it was Tom Cruise’s wife in M:I 3, it’s Bruce Willis’ daughter here. Bonnie Bedelia — his wife from Die Hards 1 and 2 — is apparently too old to give the movie that hot-woman-in-jeopardy snuff-film thrill).
2) Trucks amok. Nothing says destruction like Willis driving a giant Mack Truck and turning station wagons into roadkill. Well, Terminator 3 said it. And The Matrix: Reloaded. But other than that, nothing!
3) Duck! Props must go to the Die Hard filmmakers forfinding a slightly new twist on a car startling the audience by flyingright at the camera. But its basic effect is starting to make me worry:this stunt recurs so much that it could be dangerous to America’spedestrians. Will moviegoers eventually become so jaded that when theday finally comes that a car actually flies at their head, they won’tduck? We have to stay on our toes, people.
4) Go Wag Yourself. The last third of the trailer’s carnageis accompanied by a Wagnerian knockoff chorale. The editors probablycongratulated themselves on not using Carl Orff’s ubiquitous Carmina Burana as well. But when it’s this similar, they might as well have.
5) Jet Fool. A fighter plane blows up a bridge, and then Willis jumps off its tail. Totally original, I wouldn’t True-Lie to you.
6) I’m gonna kick this cliché’s (BOOM!) Since record playersbecame obsolete, trailer editors have had to look for a new sound toreplace the needle scratch to cut off dialogue right before a swear isuttered. For the past decade, an explosion has worked perfectly. Hence,"Yippeekiyay, motherf—–" (KABLOOEY!) Frankly, this staple was usedto much greater effect in the trailer for Skeet Ulrich’s Chill Factor,when Cuba Gooding Jr. yells, "When this is all over, remind me to kickyour…" (KEE-RASH!) That cut-off nagged at me so much that I went tosee the movie just to solve the mystery of what Gooding would kick whenit was all over, whereas in Die Hard 4, I already know which mother Willis would like to yippeekiyay.
But who am I kidding? After all those complaints, I still oohed atWillis’ cop car smashing into a helicopter. And when it comes to actionmovies, it only takes one jolt to get me to the theater. Just because Ican spot a potential time-waster a mile away doesn’t mean I ever haveto learn my lesson.
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Actually, the trailer for me made me thinking about catching it on DVD instead of the theater. Looks a little cheesy.
I just thought I’d point out that in reference to #4, the music that plays (“Ode to Joy” I believe) was also used in the first Die Hard, so its giving us something to tie the films together. Sure, its just about the ONLY thing tying them together, but you get the point.
I have to admit I was surprised by how impressed I was by this trailer. Yes, it looks like another typical over the top action movie, but I’m glad that some of the Die Hard humor is in there (which was absent from the very first teaser), and the action, to me, looks top notch.
I make no apologies for getting pumped about wanting to watch this and “Transformers”. (it also means I should probably stop living in 1987.)
It looks great! However what I really want to see is Lethal Weapon 5.
Welcome home (action movies) Bruce!!! Where you been?
Die Hard was so simple and what made it was the claustrophobia of being trapped in a building and the cat and mouse game. This has bridges, jets in the city explosions everywhere. In other words, they totally forgot that the original film inspired so many knockoffs, this feels like something completely different and suffers because of it.
I just hope that this installmant has John McClane in a happy place in his life, so he can be a smart a$$ again. The whole “I’m sleeping off a hangover” tone of the last edition really dampened it for me. Already been done to death in Last Boy Scout, Mercury Rising, Striking Distance, Hostage…
Is it me or does he say Yippeekayay BROTHER
If the trailer is “literally explosive” doesn’t that mean that your tv or viewing device blew up?
The Wagnerian knockoff chorale you reference is actually, I believe, Ode to Joy (I think by Pachebel?)….anyways, it’s been tied to the the Die Hard movies since the original Die Hard, where it played when the safe was opened, and when Bruce Willis went for the two guns strapped to his back with packing tape.
Sorry, but that’s not a ripoff….it’s an homage to the original movies….
The Ode to Joy is from the last movement of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Bruce Willis IS Jack Bauer. Booooorrring.
bg17:
…and Sin City, and 16 Blocks…it’s kind of his thing, though, wouldn’t you say? Bruce Willis makes alcoholism hot.
To bg 17 and Jen:
Bruce Willis plays middle age, burnt out cops in many of his roles. What did you expect? (it’s not bad but it is pretty formulaic)
Just like Rocky Balboa, T3, or this upcoming Die Hard I can’t wait for it because I am tried of comic book movies and animated sequels. At least I get a movie sequel I want to see. I am counting down the days until I watch all the action cliches that have now become original after all this time.
Kevin Smith has a cameo? That’s weird. And the guy from the Mac ads is costarring? It gives me the impression they’re trying to make this Die Hard funnier. But I have my doubts.