Die Hard is considered by many film buffs as the greatest action movie ever made. There is just something about the character of John McClane that attracts movie goers. Is it his spunky attitude or is it the fact that he is known for having really bad days? It's both. There have been action franchises that have run out of steam in the past, but all three Die Hard films were great fun. Usually I'm not a fan of dipping into the well one too many times, but if Batman Begins and Casino Royale were able to re-spark the magic then why not give Die Hard another go?

Live Free Or Die Hard takes an old fashioned cop and throws him out of his element, which leaves room for a supporting character. Justin Long steps in as McClane's frazzled and tech wizard sidekick. Timothy Olyphant plays a cyber terrorist who decides to shutdown the entire nation in order to systematically collect hundreds of millions of bank account numbers in order to show the government that the system can in fact be broken. Now it's up to John McClane and his sidekick Matthew Farrell to save the day.

What follows is high octane action that one expects from a Die Hard movie. An important thing to point out is how director Len Wiseman stayed true to the Die Hard style and kept CGI to a minimum. Die Hard movies were great because they did action using real stunts and real explosions. The one thing I was afraid of was that this new Die Hard would go with the trend and use CGI as a crutch when in fact it used it as a tool. There are plenty of stunts that are real sets and real explosions. A few scenes fallback on CGI, but only because doing them for real just wouldn't work. Bruce Willis also keeps the spunk that is John McClane. You'll laugh at the one-liners and the witty remarks that Willis adds in the tensest situations and of course Justin Long is just great with sarcasm. They make a great on-screen duo. I also think that the humor in the Die Hard series is what makes it such a great action series. It's the fact that the filmmakers realize they are making an action movie; a movie in which nothing could ever happen in real life. Lots of action movies take themselves too seriously and they become laughably bad, but Live Free Or Die Hard keeps that spunk that makes it laughably enjoyable. Don't get me wrong though; there are some amazing action scenes that will make you tense up. This is by no means a comedy. The elevator shaft scene was one that stood out and reminded me of the trailer hanging off the cliff in Spielberg's The Lost World.

Moving onto the score this brings up Marco Beltrami. I can state here that I am not a Marco Beltrami fan. The only score of his that I liked was his score to The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada. I always feel like he never does anything thematic at all and which is why I was worried when he was selected to fill Michael Kamen's shoes. Michael Kamen was the composer of the first three Die Hard films, but sadly he passed away in 2003. He was a greatly respected composer and his work on the first three Die Hards were iconic. Thankfully Marco Beltrami rose to the occasion and did a wonderful tribute with his score to Live Free Or Die Hard. He touches on some themes that Kamen wrote and gives it that Die Hard feel and atmosphere.

Overall this movie was great. I had a great time watching it and felt like it was better than most of the high budget stuff I've seen this summer so far. Sometimes we need to go back to the basics to remind us why we love what we love. The reason why we love action movies is because of Die Hard and it was great fun seeing McClane back in action.

Live Free or Die Hard is out June 20, 2007.