Movie Review: Die Hard IV or Live Free

Movie: Live Free or Die Hard 4 (2007)
Cast: Bruce Willis
Director: Len Wiseman
Genre: Action / Adventure / Crime

I watched this movie few months ago in India but thought I'd write a review on this when I saw it again on DVD here. I guess this movie did better than Rambo IV hence this can be considered as more popular and better than the Stallone starrer. One of the major flaws in this movie is that an older and more tired Bruce Willis is shown as physically stronger and immune to pain. That is quite absurd in my opinion.

Anybody who has seen the Rocky series of movies starring Sylvester Stallone can easily relate to Die Hard 4. The first movie of this series was released over a decade ago in 1988 and it was a blockbuster globally. I really liked the 1988 movie and the action by Bruce Willis looked realistic and convincing of a New York City detective John McClane, who works by his own rules and not that of the state.

I guess it was the phenomenal success of the first movie that led to the making of sequel after sequel featuring more or less the same characters. But the latest movie the fourth part was something of a disappointment to me. The movie tries in vain to combine hard macho action with high-tech weaponry and warfare methods and fails to a large extent. The villain played by Timothy Olyphant as Thomas Gabriel, whose sole aim is to reduce United States into a nation of chaos and anarchy using his strong computer software skills and teams of freelance hackers across the country.

Enter McClane quite by accident as he gets caught in the crossfire while transporting prisoner Matt Farrell (Justin Long). The latter is a handsome geek who can hack anything from police networks to mobile phones to computers. Matters get complicated when the villain kidnaps McClane's daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and our macho cop goes into a frenzy, destroying everything that comes between and his daughter’s safety.

Laced with sarcastic dialogues, unbelievable action sequences, which portray McClane and Farrell as invincible characters, the story moves along quickly. Directed by Len Wiseman of the Underworld fame, the plot is based on John Carlin’s article A Farewell to Arms (1997). Though the action scenes and stunts look very exciting and ensures that you sit at the edge of your seat in anticipation, they fail in reality.

In the original Die Hard, McClane gets badly wounded and he portrays real pain through his facial expressions and actions. One of the scenes that is etched in my mind is the limping and almost-at-tears expression as he walks across shards of glass in padded feet. But in the latest movie, he is portrayed as someone who can fight everything human or machine and not feel any pain or hurt at all. McClane crashes his car against helicopters, crashes big trucks and even fights with a sexy computer geek who is also a trained ninja fighter. Despite all the injuries, beatings etc McClane doesn’t even groan or wince from pain, isn’t it ridiculous. A decade later I would have presumed that McClane would have matured and become more wiser, but only his body seems to have become stronger because in this movie his bulky structure takes far more abuse than in the first movie.

The movie starts hotting up when McClane goes to arrest and bring in hacker Justin Long for questioning. Like in most movies, the villains use more sophisticated weapons and are smarter than cops. In this the cyber-criminals use deadly computer viruses to disable financial markets, traffic, government institutions and virtually everything. Most part of the movie goes off in showing off the technological prowess of the villain and the machoistic tendencies and power of the good cop, McClane.

I would say that this movie is to be watched purely for entertainment and I would recommend it only to action and stunt lovers. People who don’t like to see destruction, blood and gore on screen better not go to this movie. It is seriously violent movie with a teeny-weeny share of humour.

Trailer of the movie

A poem on the occasion of EARTH DAY

My experiments with poetry continue and I wrote this after participating in the colourful Earth Day celebrations at college. I hope you will enjoy it. Your comments will be appreciated.

Nature

Nature is beautiful
Nature is enticing
Nature is fun and exciting

We can only love it's
wonderful diversity
stunning imagery and
panoramic scenery

Nature is god's gift
which we must cherish and protect
But in the name of development
We have started to demolish and destroy

Nature is tolerant but
beyond a point nature retaliates
with floods, hurricanes and tsunamis'
causing destruction and wrecking havoc.

If we can't live in harmony with nature
We will perish for sure.

An India-Phobic Panel Discussion

Today I attended a panel discussion titled "Who gets the fuel? Us or them?" at the Preston Ridge Campus of the Collin County Community College, where I am currently taking a course in Business Mathematics. This panel discussion was conceived and organised as part of the college's "Earth Day" celebrations. There were different activities in the college all related to environment in some way or the other. There were stalls of Animal Shelters, Electricity Companies, Eco-friendly tattoos, a flute recital etc.

The panel discussion was the grand finale of the event. When I came to know about the discussion couple of weeks ago I felt both outraged and hurt. These people are accusing India of competing with them for fuel. I am pretty sure that more than half of Americans have never been to India and would never visit our country at all. They have so little knowledge about the country but they want to point fingers. Hence I did some research about petroleum consumption and after carefully making notes I went to the discussion to make my point.

The panel comprising of four students of the college was moderated by faculty members from the Geology, Chemistry and Sociology departments. The discussion started with a presentation by the faculty members about how it would be a catastrophe if India's major car manufacturers Tata Motors released their newest car Tata Nano (650 cc) into the market. They expressed fears over millions of Indians buying the small car which would result in increased fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and pollution. One of the ideas put forth by the faculty was that "Should America exert pressure on India to ban production of the Nano Car?"

As I sat through the presentation I didn't know whether to laugh or to wring my hands in despair. They presented comparative facts about India and America which were packaged to portray as if India was a potential world polluter.

In my opinion the title of panel discussion is a big farce. It is the same as a huge elephant saying that it is not finding enough food because the little rabbit ate it all and so the rabbit should be banished from the forest.

After the panelists had had their say the audience was given a chance to speak. Though I was one of the first to raise my hand, my chance came last after all the others had had their say. Last but definitely not the least, here are some of the facts that I presented. At the end of my talk the panel, moderator and other faculty were apolegetic about some of their statements and said so.

Population Vs fuel consumption
America accounts for a mere 5 percent (300 million) of the world's population, but consumes an unfair amount of the world's total fuel production. 44 percent. On the other hand India accounts to 20 percent of the world's population (5 times America's population) and consumes only 4 percent of the world's production of fuel.

Number of Cars and other vehicles
American has over 270 million passeger cars and trucks, 12.9 million recreational boats and 6.2 million motorcycles. (833.34 cars per 1,000 people)

India has only 9.17 million passenger vehicles vehicles, a few hundred recreational boats and 7 million motorcycles. (7 cars per 1,000 people)

Average Cars
The average car in America is at least 3,000 cc and runs on a V-6 engine (6 cylinder)
The average Indian car (Maruti 800) runs on a 800 cc, 3 cylinder engine.

Average Fuel efficiency
America's vehicles return an average fuel efficiency of 17.1 miles per gallon.
Indian cars return an average fuel efficiency of 35.65 miles per gallon.

Fuel consumption
America consumes over 92,53,000 barrels per day (388.6 million gallons per day)
India consumes only 38.8 million gallons a day.

Most Fuel Efficient car in America
Toyota Prius - powered by two engines churning out a mammoth 145 horsepower, this car returns a fuel efficiency of 46 miles per gallon.

Most Fuel Efficient Car in India
Tata Nano - powered by a small 650 cc engine, churns out a decent 30 horsepower and returns a superb 54 miles per gallon.

Greenhouse Gas emission
America - 1,559 metric tonnes
India - 250 metric tonnes

Here is the biggest punch. Everyone in the world says India is a dirty country. But who generates most trash in the world? It is the world's self-appointed policeman and big brother AMERICA.

Per capita Garbage/ solid waste generated per year
US - 230 million tons (about 4.5 pounds per person per day)
India - 18 million tons of trash. If we were to calculate the amount of solid wastes generated by individuals in India it would be abysmally low.

I am really glad I attended the panel discussion and made people aware of the reality. Perhaps it will lead them to think about the future of the world and probably one of them may decide to buy a smaller car. MAYBE.... I don't know... and I wont know too.

I look forward to hearing from my blog readers about their opinions on this subject.

New sights in Arbor Hills

Last week we had been to Arbor Hills Nature preserve, this is probably the dozenth time we are visiting. But I am not bored of the place, every visit presents new sights, offers new experiences and the park unveils new facets. This time the effect of spring was shown to me in full glory. Everything that was brown, grey and appeared lifeless was green, healthy and full of life now. Numerous bushes and plants had sprouted buds and flowers sporting bright hues.

Massive tract of earth caved in along the creek due to the recent thunder storm

Of course last week's hurricane damage was also obvious for everyone to see. Several trees had been broken by the wind like little twigs. Soil erosion around the creek was vast and it appeared as if the earth had caved in completely. As I walked round the lake, it was obvious that water level had risen by almost one ft. Taking a few pictures we walked towrads the tower.

There were loads of people out there. Apparently the local Boy Scouts had scheduled their graduation ceremony in the tower area. We decided to stay back and watch the ceremony. As it became dark the ceremony started with drum beats and several older boys dressed like native Americans. I was surprised to note that, the Boy Scout movement was started in London and this chapter/ branch is in Texas, US. They have no connection with American Indians, except for the fact that the original Europeans who moved to America fought and killed the native Americans. I wonder why this Boy Scout group dressed up like them and narrated stories related to American Indians and also called themselves a tribe.

People assembled for the Boy Scout Ceremony

Anyway I found all this a farce, because there was not even one American Indian in the entire group of people assembled there. Yet these people were trying to enact an American Indian scene and relate it to the Boy scout movement. I find it so artificial and gross. Anyway it is their customs and traditions, these are only my opinions. Here are some pictures shot in the dark, not very clear, I will try to edit these pictures and post them soon.

Pictures of the Boy Scout Ceremony