A Good Day to Die HardMovie Reviews


No
Avg. Critic Score: 28 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 63
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | Rick Groen

    Far more than most action stars getting on in years, Bruce Willis has aged nicely into the role. Maybe it’s that shaved pate of his, a bullet-head that still looks primed for any chamber. Read full review

  • 50
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    For all its mayhem, for all the smashing windows and kabooming fireballs, the grenade launchers and giant helicopters, A Good Day to Die Hard not only fails to top its predecessors, it also forgets the basic Die Hard rules. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    In the way of workaday flicks built around long-in-the-tooth badasses, Die Hard 5 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. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    There are two problems with A Good Day to Die Hard: It’s terribly filmed and nothing in it makes any sense. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The best thing about A Good Day to Die Hard is its title. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy

    Unfortunately, John Moore has directed these sequences in a way that makes the incidents look so far-fetched and essentially unsurvivable that you can only laugh. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It has a weak story that provides no tension, feeling or interest. Its opening action sequence is just a long, drawn-out dud, filmed by director John Moore in the worst modern style of quick cuts and smeary, jittery photography. Read full review

  • 25
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Ah jeez. I actually wanted this one to be good. Or at least decent. Or at least a reminder of what got us all fired up about the first Die Hard in 1988. But A Good Day To Die Hard, the fifth in a creatively exhausted series, is total crap. Read full review

  • 20
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    Ultimately, even more than 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard,” “Good Day” 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. Read full review

  • 10
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    For anyone who remembers the "Die Hard" adventures at their vital and exciting best, this film feels like a near-death experience. Read full review

View more reviews for A Good Day to Die Hard on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Fifth in violent action series is also least entertaining.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that A Good Day to Die Hard is the fifth -- and least entertaining -- of the action-heavy Die Hard series. The attempt to tone down the previous entry, Live Free or Die Hard, for a PG-13 rating for has been abandoned this time out. Big, explosive action violence is evident throughout, with characters shot and killed (some with sprays of blood), huge crashes and explosions, and falls from heights, all without consequences. Language is also strong, with more than one use of "f--k," many uses of "s--t," and more. One female character's sex appeal is played up (she's shown in alluring outfits), bad guys are shown smoking briefly, and some brand names are shown and/or mentioned. But ultimately the biggest issue is the vigilante justice dispatched by the heroes; bad guys are killed without remorse or consequence.
  • Families can talk about A Good Day to Die Hard's over-the-top violence. How does its impact compare to what you might see in a horror movie? Or a more realistic drama?
  • Why are the main characters allowed to simply kill bad guys, rather than bring them to justice? What differentiates the "good guys" and the "bad guys"?
  • How did you feel about the "tough love" relationship between the father and son? Why did the father ridicule his son for having feelings and weaknesses?
  • How does the Die Hard series strike you as a whole? What's John McClane's appeal? Is he a role model?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The "good" guys think nothing of simply shooting and killing all bad guys, with no consequences. At one point, the main character even brags that having a son in the CIA will get him off the hook, no questions asked. Also, the father character practices "tough love" with his son, ridiculing him for having weaknesses and feelings. That said, they eventually do get closer, and McClane is persistent, if nothing else.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: John McClane is still a vigilante, operating outside the law, stealing cars, and killing bad guys, justified by the notion that he's protecting the free world. His son is very similar. But they're both dedicated to their jobs and what they see as their duty.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Constant, over-the-top action violence and destructive mayhem, including car crashes and helicopter crashes, falls from heights, hails of bullets, huge explosions, and dozens of dead bad guys. Some characters are shot graphically in close-up, sometimes in the head or other vital organs, with sprays of blood. Strangling, punching, helicopter battles. The "good guys" kill any and all bad guys without consequences. They're covered with bloody cuts and scratches throughout. One character removes a metal bar from another character's abdomen after he's been stabbed by it.
  • sex false1 Sexy stuff: One female character's sex appeal is played up. She wears a leather motorcycle outfit in one scene and alluringly unzips the jacket. (No nudity shown.) A man caresses and nuzzles her while both are clothed. One scene takes place in a nightclub, with some dancing girls in skimpy outfits shown in the background.
  • language false4 Language: "F--k" and "motherf----r" are used several times, as is "s--t." "Damn you," "Jesus Christ," "goddamn," "jerkoff," "a--hole," "ass," "crap," "scumbags," "bastards," "goddamn," "oh my God," and "hell" are also used. A grown son tells his father to "shut up."
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: In Moscow, Pepsi and Heineken signs are visible. Mercedes vehicles are prominent. A character mentions Bosco brand chocolate syrup.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some bad guys are seen briefly smoking cigarettes. One scene takes place in a nightclub, with some background drinking suggested.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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