Live Free

So, my office closed early on Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday. And what did I do with my afternoon off? I went to see Live Free or Die Hard, the new Bruce Willis film.

Lots of explosions, some good lines, and a techy plot. All of the characters did a lot of bouncing around, running, etc. And let’s see, DC was left in chaos, a helicopter taken out by ramming a car into it, a jet was shot down as a highway burned, and the bad guys lost. Good entertainment. Who could ask for more? Right?

My main problem with the movie was two-fold. First, the techy plot was rather simple – no real twists, no shocking ending, nothing to take the story beyond Bruce trying to stop some terrorists that can control the computer networks. Secondly, the villain’s motive was a tad weak – a super-hacker has problems dealing with bureaucrats, gets his reputation a little dinged by the Pentagon, and so he decides to shut down the entire country and steal everyone’s financial records? WEAK.

But that said, it was definitely a better way to spend my afternoon than working!