LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

RYAN: Now I know why “Live Free or Die Hard” had to come out thirteen years after the last “Die Hard” movie.

CAROLINE: Wow. They were building up for a big one – and it really delivers.

RYAN: Yes, but also it was integral to the story that John McClane, Bruce Willis’s character, has a young adult daughter.

CAROLINE: Ah yes, this is true. She had to be hot and teenaged in order for this movie to work.

RYAN: You’re gonna want to run out and see this film. We were thrilled by it.

CAROLINE: Finally a summer blockbuster worth getting excited about! The action sequences are awesome and the beginning is fabulous, second only to the opening scenes of “Casino Royale” last year.

RYAN: “Live Free or Die Hard” is definitely taking the place of an action-packed “Mission: Impossible” this summer. This is a film that would make even Tom Cruise envious.

CAROLINE: Bruce Willis still kicks ass!

RYAN: Hard.

CAROLINE: Who knew? He looks great, he’s got awesome one-liners and he totally holds his own. There was only one scene where I was like, “I don’t think old boy Brucie would have survived that fall,” but for the rest of the movie, I totally believed him as an action hero.

RYAN: This movie brings him back to the energy of his heyday. This is totally gonna revive Bruce and put him back at the top.

CAROLINE: And his sidekick in the movie, the Mac kid Justin Long, is great comic relief. I thought he would annoy me, but I loved him.

RYAN: He had some surprisingly serious moments too, and I was impressed by what a good actor he is. However, there is one casting debacle in this movie, which we must point out. It’s the guy who plays the bad guy.

CAROLINE: His name is Timothy Olyphant and we hated him in “Catch and Release” earlier this year too. He’s homely and a horrible actor.

RYAN: He’s pretty boy ugly. And he’s such a terrible actor. He didn’t have one “real” moment onscreen. You can tell he’s always thinking, “Where’s my lighting? Where’s my camera? I don’t know how to deliver this line in a natural way to save my life.”

CAROLINE: It was painful to watch.

RYAN: Also, to add an embarrassing factor to this film, there is not one but several old kung fu movie moments where the words you hear don’t match the lip movements of the actors. The sync was totally off, and I was like, “Are we seeing a rough cut or did they let this go to print?”

CAROLINE: The looping was very bizarre. Look for it, especially with Justin Long, in the scene with the gas leak. After they get out of the van, you will see the him freaking out and what he’s saying is completely different from how his mouth is moving. Very strange.

RYAN: It’s jarring. We looked at each other incredulously when it first happened, and then it continued to happen three or four more times. Someone got really sloppy in their editing toward the end.

CAROLINE: They just wanted to get it out by June 27th apparently. But we are willing to overlook that, because the rest of the movie is thrilling, and only about fifteen minutes too long.

RYAN: It’s a real adrenaline-pumper and edge-of-your-seater. You’re always excited and nervous about what’s going on, and the music is great too.

CAROLINE: Bottom line?

RYAN: We are recommending this film.

CAROLINE: Highly.

RYAN: It’s incredibly entertaining and even though I’m not the biggest Bruce Willis fan, this movie will make you love him all over again.

CAROLINE: Just like it was 1988…

RYAN: And he was fresh off “Moonlighting.”

CAROLINE: I do like Bruce Willis, actually. He was so great in last year’s “16 Blocks,” which no one saw. He still holds his own as an action hero, and “Live Free or Die Hard” is so much more fun than I thought it would be. I did think it started to drag after about ninety minutes, but for a summer action flick, it doesn’t get much better than this.

RYAN: Yippee Ki Yay!