The action kicks off with McClane being sent to pick up a hacker that the FBI wants to talk to following a hack into the FBI's computer system. The kid (played by Justin "Hi, I'm a Mac" Long) is being targeted for termination by our criminal mastermind, since he unwittingly supplied his piece of the puzzle and is no longer needed and the loose end needs to be eliminated. It is up to our aging, smart-aleck detective to keep him alive long enough for the Feds to interrogate him. That is really all that we need to know. The actual plot is pure window dressing for McClane to march through increasingly ludicrous, and infectiously entertaining, action set pieces.
The actual terrorist plot plays out more in the background, as it should, allowing us to focus on McClane's efforts to just stay alive, keep the kid alive, and later rescue his daughter from the clutches of evil. Bruce Willis seems right at home inside McClane's skin, and although he may not lay out the f-bombs like he used to, he has not lost his dry wit and inventive use of whatever is at hand to be used as a weapon. I also loved how they worked McClane's aging hero into the story, referring to him as a "Timex in a digital age." It implies that the old ways are no longer able to stand toe to toe with newer ways of waging war. The relic that is McClane goes to great lengths to prove that the old ways are just as effective in the ever-changing face of war: "I'm still alive, aren't I?"
Willis' interaction with Justin Long is good, there is a chemistry to them, as they navigate the muscle/brains relationship in dealing with the threat. Add Timothy Olyphant (who I initially mistook for Josh Duhamel) to the mix, and you get some nice verbal sparring, not to mention the clever bit part played by Kevin Smith. All of the performances worked; Mary Elizabeth Winstead is quite good as McClane's rebellious daughter, who has a bit more of her father in her than she would initially like to admit.
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