(2007) When the FBI Cyber-Security Division experiences an attempted breach of its computer-system's security, the agency orders a sweep of suspected hackers. Among law-enforcement personnel requested to assist in rounding up the suspects, NYPD detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is contacted to bring in Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) from his apartment in Camden, NJ.

McClane arrives just in time, rescuing the brilliant hacker from the same fate as his seven competitors during the past 24 hours. "Why would they want to kill me?" They are a group of evil, greedy computer whizzes under the direction of Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) with foreign thugs, of whose weaponry Gabriel says to his geeks: "Think of them as hardware to your software."

Disgruntled for having been ignored by his former employer, the federal government, when he warned of vulnerabilities in the nation's computer networks prior to 9/11, Gabriel shut down NORAD with a laptop to prove his point; for this he was fired, resulting in his now getting back with "virtual terrorism."

In bringing Matt (who has most of the best snide lines) to FBI Deputy Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis), McClane first gets stuck in a massive gridlock of traffic (all the traffic signals have turned green); when they arrive, federal buildings in DC are being evacuated under threat while all TV stations broadcast the same montage of US presidents (from JFK to George W. Bush) addressing an audience of panicky citizens. Matt, who denies being "an accessory to Armageddon," recognizes a "fire sale" developing, which involves three stages of taking down the entire country's networked computer systems (first transportation, second financial institutions, and third utilities), theoretically leading to a state of no recovery.

A violence virus has infected this movie from director Len Wiseman, based on an article by John Carlin, "A Farewell to Arms." Emerging from a tunnel in which traffic has come at him from both directions, McClane, who does a lot of falling down hard, takes out a helicopter with a cop car. Unbelievable! Later behind the wheel of a semi-truck with trailer, he battles with an F-35. What?! He climbs onto the jet's wing. Come off it! No way!

"What if help will never come?" ask the television screens. On their way to the eastern power hub in Middleton, WVa, in an attempt to prevent Gabriel's Asian ninja chick, Mai (Maggie Q), from eliminating electrical power along the Eastern seaboard, McClane says to Matt that being a hero means getting shot at, divorced, and having a daughter - Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winestead) - who won't talk to him: it's just a job no one else is willing to do.

With options running out, Matt says: "We gotta go see the Warlock" - who, aka Freddy Kauldis (Kevin Smith), resides in Baltimore in the only house with lights still on - "It's our only hope." Sizing up the situation, preferring hardware to software, McClane expresses his plan of attack: "Find Lucy, kill everybody else."

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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