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A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARDMovie Reviews
Action adventure about John McClane's trip to Russia to help his seemingly wayward son, who is really a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear arms heist. Cast:Bruce Willis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jai Courtney, Patrick Stewart, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Yuliya Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Anne Vyalitsyna, Sebastian Koch, Nikolett Barabas, Attila Árpa, Mike Dopud, Pasha D. Lychnikoff, Radivoje BukvicDirector:John MooreRelease Date:February 14, 2013DVD Release:June 4, 2013From:20th Century FoxRating:RLength:2 hr. 0 min.
A Good Day to Die Hard opened to weak reviews. • Curt Holman wrote in Atlanta Creative Loafing, "Forget quality -- at 97 minutes, it doesn't even deliver the expected quantity of big dumb action scenes.... Willis never makes much of an effort..." • And Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone, "...total crap.... Willis' one-liners are cringe-inducing..." More Reviews Below...
A Good Day to Die Hard Positive Reviews (50 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "John is still drily funny, the stunts are so ridiculous you'll laugh, and Jack grows on a person.... The old man still has plenty of fight left..."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 222 words, 02/14/13
Richard Corliss, Time: POOR "...if you mistakenly think you're buying a ticket to a demolition derby instead of a night at the movies, you'll feel right at home.... Everyone shoots at everyone else..."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 959 words, 02/15/13
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: POOR(cg) "It's supposed to be a parody of itself, right?... ridiculously over-the-top, repetitively numbing... even the obligatory 'yippee-ki-yay' line feels phoned in."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 539 words, 02/13/13
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: MODERATE(cg) "...leaves room for McClane to make a few jokes about his thinning hair and to rue that he wasn't a better father when his kids were growing up. Oh, boo-hoo."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 199 words, 02/15/13
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: POOR(cg) "...total crap.... it's impossible to know where you are at any given time or why you should give a damn.... Willis' one-liners are cringe-inducing..."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 204 words, 02/15/13
Claudia Puig, USA Today: WEAK(cg) "...a feeble attempt to rehash action-hero glories.... obnoxious, over the top and often dull.... the humor here isn't cheeky fun. The jokes are repetitive and mostly unfunny."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 561 words, 02/14/13
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: WEAK(cg) "It's not Willis' fault. At least not entirely.... he's failed by pretty much everyone behind the cameras, and much of his supporting cast, too.... I'm a Bruce Willis fan..."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 574 words, 02/13/13
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (14 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...an off-the-shelf blend of car chases, fireballs and the rat-a-tat, thunk-a-thunk of automatic weapons fire... a simple-minded plot and a handful of half-clever lines..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 697 words, 02/14/13
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: POOR(cg) "...never lets McClane be McClane. Gone is his taunting snark and quick-witted preparedness; instead he seems like a jerk with a thing for guns. Willis looks bored..."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 393 words, 02/14/13
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hardware is one thing but inspiration is something else... the sense of exhilaration and fun that marked the best of the series has gone unaccountably AWOL."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 678 words, 02/14/13
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: POOR(cg) "...what stinks is the script -- which is woefully lacking the kind of one-liners and memorable bad guys that helped make working-class hero McClane so iconic..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 610 words, 02/14/13
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: WEAK(cg) "...lousy... Willis looks pretty bored.... Director John Moore leaves nothing to the imagination, unimaginatively, and with a misjudged reliance on absurd digital effects."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 603 words, 02/14/13
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: WEAK(cg) "...an ancient throwback, with sneering Russkis, weapons-grade uranium, even a showdown in Chernobyl... so dated, its climactic explosion engulfs a statue of Lenin."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 298 words, 02/14/13
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: POOR "...has no good lines, no crackerjack fights, and only one mildly orgasmic revenge killing. It will satisfy no one... 'Die Hard' is finally in its death throes."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 870 words, 02/15/13
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: WEAK(cg) "Like the Bond movies, the 'Die Hard' films thrive on brilliantly wicked villains. In this edition, we barely know which bad guy is the main bad guy."(See all of Richard Roeper's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 839 words, 02/14/13
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...time and indifferent scripting have streamlined John McClane for nothing but brute, relentless motion, leaving us with an engine part we may as well just call Die Hard..."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 02/13/13
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...there is wisdom behind this franchise folly, and a reason to see Bruce Willis and his tattered white T-shirt save the world yet again."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 649 words, 02/14/13
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Willis' look alone is sufficient to prompt this memo from the Department of Faint Praise... the film continues the franchise without undue embarrassment."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 02/14/13
Josep Parera, La Opinion: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...no hay nada original o nuevo en 'A Good Day to Die Hard.' Tan solo la presencia carismática de un impecable Bruce Willis..."(See all of Josep Parera's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 616 words, 02/15/13
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "...decency prevents me from spoiling the ending... well, let's just say it turns out the line between 'preposterous' and 'outright stupid' ain't that fine after all."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 301 words, 02/14/13
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...directed by John Moore with keen attention to the action and little to anything else... fails to top its predecessors, it also forgets the basic 'Die Hard' rules."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 493 words, 02/15/13
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: WEAK(cg) "If Harvard Business School wants to do a case study on how to debase a once-respected brand, they needn't look any further... a good day to call it quits."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 533 words, 02/14/13
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: MODERATE(cg) "...rather lackluster.... Unfortunately, the bad guys are too nondescript. Not everyone can measure up to Alan Rickman in the original 'Die Hard.' Few can, in fact."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 532 words, 02/14/13
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: WEAK(cg) "As always, the cars and choppers and buildings blow up real good. Yippie-ki-yay and all that. But with 'A Good Day to Die Hard,' this franchise dies with a whimper."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 507 words, 02/14/13
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: MODERATE(cg) "...makes 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' look sophisticated. And John McTiernan's original 'Die Hard,' and 'Die Hard With a Vengeance'? Practically Altmanesque."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 575 words, 02/14/13
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...poorly plotted, misguided, unexciting... makes the mistake of giving John McClane a brooding son, who works as a CIA agent in Moscow."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 35 words, 02/14/13
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MODERATE(cg) "...makes sure that every absurdly overblown action sequence is followed by the superficially bloodied Willis dusting himself off and complaining that he's on vacation."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 363 words, 02/14/13
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times: FAIR(cg) "Thankfully for fans slow catching on, Russians ditch the subtitles and speak English to each other when the plot requires explaining stuff."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 457 words, 02/14/13
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: POOR(cg) "...returns to its R-rated roots, primarily so Willis can spout his famed 'Yippee-ki-yay' line in its vulgar entirety. Is anyone supposed to still be excited by this?"(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 596 words, 02/15/13
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (10 Reviews)
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...time and indifferent scripting have streamlined John McClane for nothing but brute, relentless motion, leaving us with an engine part we may as well just call Die Hard..."(See all of Alan Scherstuhl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 02/13/13
Sean O'Connell, Cinema Blend: POOR(cg) "Silly, incoherent and cartoonish to a fault... foolishly one-ups the escalating chaos and wonton carnage of Len Wiseman's 'Live Free or Die Hard.' "(See all of Sean O'Connell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 755 words, 02/14/13
Jordan Riefe, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "...a movie for people who like blowin' stuff up, evidently a favorite pastime of director John Moore, whose action scenes make about as much sense as his script..."(See all of Jordan Riefe's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 134 words, 02/15/13
Scott Tobias, AV Club: FAIR(cg) "...the worst entry in the series by far, exposes the hollowness and stupidity of McClane 2.0.... Willis and Courtney come off as a couple of asshole tough guys..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 438 words, 02/14/13
Cynthia Fuchs, Pop Matters: POOR(cg) "Apart from the CIA mucking around in Russian conspiracies, the plot reprises a number of other clichés, most emphatically, explosions, shootouts and car crashes."(See all of Cynthia Fuchs's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 794 words, 02/14/13
John Semley, Slant: POOR(cg) "...wholly generic... barely distinguished by the presence of Willis's banner hero. The plot is somehow vaporously thin and needlessly dense at the same time..."(See all of John Semley's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 975 words, 02/13/13
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "...decency prevents me from spoiling the ending... well, let's just say it turns out the line between 'preposterous' and 'outright stupid' ain't that fine after all."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 301 words, 02/14/13
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "Forget quality -- at 97 minutes, it doesn't even deliver the expected quantity of big dumb action scenes.... Willis never makes much of an effort..."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 580 words, 02/14/13
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: POOR(cg) "There's no wit here. Instead of the charming wiseass New Yorker McClane once was, now he's an ugly American abroad.... The Idiocracy has descended..."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 573 words, 02/14/13
HIGHBROW PRESS (7 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...plays on the theme of father-and-son reconciliation with the finesse of a primate taught to play 'Chopsticks'.... this is the meltdown of a once-formidable franchise."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 224 words, 02/15/13
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...an off-the-shelf blend of car chases, fireballs and the rat-a-tat, thunk-a-thunk of automatic weapons fire... a simple-minded plot and a handful of half-clever lines..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 697 words, 02/14/13
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: POOR "All trace of character development has been stripped away... the film stalls in a mire of its own nonsense, leaving nothing but a strange, sticky residue of political nostalgia."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 733 words, 02/18/13
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hardware is one thing but inspiration is something else... the sense of exhilaration and fun that marked the best of the series has gone unaccountably AWOL."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 678 words, 02/14/13
Dana Stevens, Slate: POOR "...its sloppy, slam-bang visual style grabs at whatever action-movie cliché suits the needs of the moment... Jai Courtney is an inexpressive slab of manhood..."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 686 words, 02/14/13
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "Comprised of one shakily filmed action sequence after another, all of which are more preposterous than anything previously served up by the 'Die Hard' series..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,009 words, 02/13/13
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hardware is one thing but inspiration is something else... the sense of exhilaration and fun that marked the best of the series has gone unaccountably AWOL."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 678 words, 02/14/13
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: FAIR(cg) "...basically a long, long, confusing, and underwhelming car chase through Moscow and a long, long, confusing, and underwhelming shootout in Chernobyl."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 574 words, 02/13/13
A.O. Scott, New York Times: WEAK "...an off-the-shelf blend of car chases, fireballs and the rat-a-tat, thunk-a-thunk of automatic weapons fire... a simple-minded plot and a handful of half-clever lines..."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 697 words, 02/14/13
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...plays on the theme of father-and-son reconciliation with the finesse of a primate taught to play 'Chopsticks'.... this is the meltdown of a once-formidable franchise."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 224 words, 02/15/13
14.9 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
A Good Day to Die Hard's reviews are separated by an average 14.9 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
A Good Day to Die Hard (50 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:A Good Day to Die Hard's reviews cover 91.1% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 27,711 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 554 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
A Good Day to Die Hard Coverage, Volume & Length (50 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 7.8 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
A Good Day to Die Hard's reviews on average broke 7.8 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is A Good Day to Die Hard's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
A Good Day to Die Hard (50 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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