Best Movie of Summer (So Far): Awesome "Live Free or Die Hard" Defies Expectations

["Brian Loe" <knobdy () gmail com>]

Cyber security mentionings...no doubt over the top, but what the hell. No
spoilers here...


From: Debbie Schlussel
Posted At: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:55 AM
Posted To: Debbie Schlussel
Subject: Best Movie of Summer (So Far): Awesome "Live Free or Die Hard"
Defies Expectations

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/06/best_movie_of_s.html

By Debbie Schlussel <http://www.debbieschlussel.com>

I went to last night's screening of Bruce Willis' "Live Free or Die Hard"
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337978/>  expecting to hate it. And I was
pleasantly--shockingly--surprised. I loved this movie.

It's hard to believe this third sequel to 1988's "Die Hard"
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/>  is the fourth in a series. The movie
is the best movie of the summer, so far, and it makes my Top Ten movies of
the year at this point, half way through 2007. I loved it. It's pure
non-stop action, filled with excellent special effects, great lines, lots of
humor, and a very viable terrorist threat that can very easily be
perpetrated on America, thanks to the do-nothing Departments of Homeland
Security and Energy and the FBI.

 livefreediehardmovieposter.jpg
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/livefreediehardmovieposter.jpg>

This is what summer action thrillers are supposed to be about. And this is a
great prelude to the Fourth of July. The audience clapped at the end, and
when you see it, you'll no why. A great return to the Hollywood action
thriller. I expect I'll only like "Rescue
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/06/rescue_dawn--th.html> Dawn"
as much as this one.

This time, Bruce Willis' NYPD Detective John McClane teams up with Keanu
Reeves lookalike Justin Long, a hacker who helps Willis stop cyber-terrorist
Timothy Olyphant, who plays a former high-ranking government cyber-security
official, who was ruined by the federal government, after he exposed and
complained about holes in America's national security post-9/11. (I
personally know people who've complained about similar security post-9/11
and have had their reputations pillaged by the feds, so that's legit.)

Olyphant conducts a "fire sale"--where the entire country is taken off the
grid: All computer, electricity, and everything that operates on a cyber
basis is taken out of commission. That means traffic lights, utilities,
everything is undone. And the whole country is put into chaos. It's called a
fire sale because "everything must go."

And as in real-life--where then-Bush Energy Secretary and Pan-Islamist
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2003/08/by_debbie_schlu.html>
Arabist Spencer Abraham did nothing after the Blackout of 2003 to ensure it
doesn't happen again (and he's now a high-paid
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2005/10/spencer_abraham.html>
lobbyist for Islamist states)--America remains vulnerable to attack.

A "fire sale" attack could definitely be perpetrated upon America in real
life. As we know from testimony in the past week, there have been 800
hacking attacks into Homeland Security computers at the highest levels. What
has Michael Chertoff done about it? Nada. Zippo. Osama Bin Laden took credit
for the 2003 Blackout, and even if he wasn't responsible, it's very
conceivable a cyber-terrorist attack on a fire-sale scale could certainly
happen. Islamofascists are very tech savvy, even as they hate the Westerners
who created it.

As readers know, I've been down
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/05/the_gops_wood_a.html> on
Willis for a number of reasons and down
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/05/the_gops_wood_a.html> on
this movie because its cyberterrorists are not Muslim. I remain steadfast in
that reservation and note that this movie would have been even more fabulous
if they were. The identity and motivations of the terrorists in this one are
harder to buy into. And, yes, some of the death-defying scenes in the movie
are too incredible to be believed, especially with 52-year-old Willis
(though he's in better shape than many 40-year-olds).

Still, it's a great movie. And I recommend it highly. Guys, you will love
this. It's a man's man's man's movie in the tradition of some of the great
action thrillers of the 1980's and early '90s with much updated technology.
Think "Enemy
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/05/enemy_of_the_st.html> of
the State" mixed with "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It's not for young kids
though. This one is very bloody and violent and lots of people are killed,
though usually they are bad guys knocked off by the good guys.

Another bonus: This movie shows how incompetent the FBI, DHS, and NSA are
when it comes to cybersecurity. Aside from the Congressional testimony about
DHS hackers and the repeated FBI loss of computers containing classified
info, we know that in many of the important terrorist cases, NYPD
officials--like John McClane--have stopped attacks (like
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/05/muslim_nyc_subw.html> an
NYC bombing plot during the 2004 Republican National Convention), where the
FBI has been impotent.

This isn't a spoiler, but I loved it at the end of the movie when the FBI
agents finally show up and rappell down from helicopters, after John McClane
and his allies have already saved the day and themselves from impending
death. America knows this ain't fiction, as evidenced by the audience (with
whom I saw this flick), who booed the FBI agents.

"Would you go home, FBI?! You're too late. Too late." That's what a
moviegoer behind me shouted to lots of applause. If only that were strictly
fiction and not--as it is far too many times--fact.

Just ask Special Agent Harry
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/03/special_agent_h.html> Samit
(see here
<http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/03/fbi_love_story.html>
also).

Go see this. You'll thank me.

Related...
<http://services.newsgator.com/subscriber/Related.aspx?relurl=http%3a%2f%2fw
ww.debbieschlussel.com%2farchives%2f2007%2f06%2fbest_movie_of_s.html>

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