Live Free or Die Hard (Film)
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| Live Free or Die Hard | ||
| Theatrical release poster | ||
| Directed by | Len Wiseman | |
| Produced by | Michael Fottrell | |
| Screenplay by | Mark Bomback | |
| Based on | "A Farewell to Arms" by John Carlin Characters by Roderick Thorp | |
| Starring | Bruce Willis [Justin Long]] Timothy Olyphant Mary Elizabeth Winstead Maggie Q Kevin Smith | |
| Music by | Marco Beltrami | |
| Cinematography | Simon Duggan | |
| Edited by | Nicolas De Toth | |
| Production company | Cheyenne Enterprises Dune Entertainment Ingenious Film Partners | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox | |
| Release date | June 12, 2007 (Tokyo) June 27, 2007 (United States) | |
| Running time | 129 minutes | |
| Country | United States | |
| Language | English | |
| Budget | $110 million | |
| Box office | $383.5 million | |
Live Free or Die Hard (released as Die Hard 4.0 outside North America) is a 2007 American action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. The film's name was adapted from New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die".
McClane is attempting to stop cyber terrorists who hack into government and commercial computers across the United States with the goal to start a "fire sale" of financial assets. The film was based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin. The film was released in the United States on June 27, 2007.
The project was initially stalled due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and when production eventually began, the film's title was changed several times. A variety of visual effects were used for action sequences, even though Wiseman and Willis stated that they wanted to limit the amount of CGI in the film. In separate incidents during filming, both Willis and his stunt double were injured.
Reviews were positive with an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 69/100 score from Metacritic. The film earned total international box office gross receipts of $383.4 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the Die Hard series. It debuted at #2 at the U.S. box office.
Unlike the prior three films in the series, the U.S. rating was PG-13 rather than R. An unrated version contained more strong profanity and violence not shown in the theatrical version, and was included in the DVD release. For the DVD release, 20th Century Fox pioneered a new kind of DRM, Digital Copy protection that tries to weaken the incentives for consumers to learn how to rip discs by offering them a downloadable version with studio-imposed restrictions. The score for the film was released on July 2, 2007. The fifth film in the series, titled A Good Day to Die Hard, was released on February 14, 2013.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Cast
- Bruce Willis as Detective John McClane
- Justin Long as Matthew "Matt" Farrell, a computer hacker from Camden, New Jersey
- Timothy Olyphant as Thomas Gabriel, a former U.S. Defense Department analyst who leads a group of cyber-terrorists systematically shutting down the entire U.S. infrastructure. Olyphant filmed his role within three weeks.
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy Gennero-McClane, McClane's estranged daughter. The inclusion of McClane's daughter was previously considered for the third film, and she was in the video game Die Hard: Vendetta. It was speculated that Willis' real life daughter Rumer, who was born the same year that Die Hard was released, was a prime candidate for the part of McClane's daughter. Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, and Taylor Fry, who played McClane's daughter in Die Hard, had all previously auditioned for the role.
- Maggie Q as Mai Linh, Gabriel's primary accomplice and love interest
- Kevin Smith as Frederick "Warlock" Kaludis, Farrell's hacker friend. Smith, a noted screenwriter and film director, made uncredited rewrites to the scenes in which he appears, as Willis and Wiseman thought the dialogue and exposition "didn't make sense".
- Cliff Curtis as Miguel Bowman, Deputy Director of the FBI's Cyber Crime Division
- Jonathan Sadowski as Trey, Gabriel's main hacker
- Edoardo Costa as Emerson, Gabriel's main henchman
- Cyril Raffaelli as Rand, Gabriel's henchman
- Yorgo Constantine as Russo, Gabriel's henchman
- Chris Palermo as Del, Gabriel's henchman
- Andrew Friedman as Casper, a computer hacker who is working with Gabriel
- Željko Ivanek as Agent Molina, Bowman's assistant
- Christina Chang as Taylor, an FBI agent working for Bowman
- Sung Kang as Raj, an FBI agent
- Allen Maldonado as Goatee
- Tim Russ as Agent Summer
- Matt McColm as Gabriel's henchman (uncredited)
