A Good Day to Die Hard – Davai Hard

Die Hard is arguably the greatest action movie ever made. A Good Day to Die Hard, on the other hand, is a soulless husk that's related to the prior entries in name only.

Certainly, the character of John McClane, Bruce Willis, became progressively more absurd with each sequel. He'd gone from isolated cop, surviving on instinct and guile, to literally a super human battling a fighter jet on a highway.

In A Good Day to Die Hard, that trend continues. Worse, though, there's just no story or a compelling villain to balance it out. The plot of this movie makes no sense—not even a semblance of it. It's so stupid, in fact, that its twists and turns will just aggravate you.

That's not an exaggeration. Everything that happens is blatantly obvious, which is a problem on multiple levels. One, knowing what's coming creates a dearth of suspense. Two, and this was mentioned above, the things that happen are utterly nonsensical.

When you factor in the lack of character development, an unending headache ensues. Jack McClane sucks. It's like the creative well of McClane kid angst was so exhausted by the prior film that Jai Courtney's Jack is just reduced to a cacophony of whining.

The same can be said for the action. There are inspired bits, to be sure, but for the most part, it's just Robo-McClane standing directly in the line of fire as he massacres the hapless Russian henchman who dare face him. It's all so ludicrous.

Critics and audiences took note of these issues. At just 15% with 231 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it's by far the worst reviewed entry. It's also the lowest grossing of the Die Hard films domestically, taking in just $67.3 million. It did make its money back overseas, but its poor critical reception doomed the franchise going forward.

Well, enough of that negativity. Sit back, pop the top on a White Russian Imperial Coffee Stout from Sun Up Brewing Co., and heartily cheer "здоровье" [zda-ró-vye]! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, Capt. Cash, and Mayor McCheese are competing for the gold in the Chernobyl Diving Championship!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – A convoluted mess, A Good Day to Die Hard shames the franchise! (00:00) 
•  Lingering Questions – After this, is it worth attempting to revitalize the character of John McClane? (54:32)
• The "Yipee-Ki-Yay Mother Russia" Trivia Challenge – I challenge the field to trivia about the Die Hard series. (1:11:26)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up, we take a break from "Hops and Bruno Flops" to discuss James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. (1:23:13)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—why Die Hard is a movie that made us and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!

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