Yippie ki-ay, motherf...you know the rest. After a 12 year absence, John McClane (Bruce Willis) is back in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise. In a series renowned for its over-the-top action, witty one-liners and extremely likable protagonist, the next installment was met with a modicum of detractors before the film was even released. The seeming overuse of CGI in the trailers (such as one ridiculously overblown stunt), combined with a decidedly average director attached (in Len Wiseman, director of the Underworld films), as well as the lack of violence and swearing (due to the PG-13 rating) made many feel that this would be a watered down Die Hard.

Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free or Die Hard, a far better title, as it is known elsewhere) opens with computer hackers attempting to systematically bring down the United States. At first, the film is not far removed from the recent spate of technology-driven films accompanied by reams of indecipherable techno babble, but alas, once John McClane shows his face, all fears are allayed. Soon enough, he's shooting baddies, blowing up fire extinguishers, launching men out of windows, running them over with cars, and, even in one instance, feeding them into grinders. Whilst not as violent as the previous three, if anything, this film is action-packed, and certainly pushes the American PG-13 rating to its threshold.

As with the previous installments, McClane has a buddy along for the ride, in computer hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long), who he must protect in the hope that Farrell can stop the terrorists. The rapport McClane and Farrell strike up, whilst nowhere near as entertaining as that from the previous installment with Samuel L Jackson, is certainly kinetic, and the two actors play off of each other very well.

The supporting cast also adds a lot to the film - Timothy Olyphant makes an appropriately threatening villain, surprising considering his days as the moustache-twiddling Sherrif on the HBO series Deadwood. Crafted with greater care and attention than most blockbuster villains, his persona, whilst menacing, is not composed without moral considerations. Maggie Q joins him as a sexy computer hacker, and as well as being incredible eye candy, she has a fantastic (and violent) scene with Willis that is among the best scenes in the film.

Die Hard 4.0 certainly isn't original, but there's something immensely entertaining about watching a man drive a car towards a helicopter, and dive out mere seconds before it crashes into a parking pillar and catapults into the helicopter, turning it into a fireball. Action scenes such as this and others are gloriously overblown (given that we have no idea how the car kept accelerating), but in the best way possible. The majority of the action is wire-work and stuntmen as opposed to CGI, and the one instance where the CGI is very noticeable; there was pretty much no other way to create this scene (you'll know it when you see it).

The only concrete complaint that can be leveled is that the film is somewhat watered down compared to the previous entries into the series. The executives at FOX, concerned with box office receipts, enforced a PG-13 rating, although it certainly leans on the grittier end of the spectrum, and this is clear by some of the film’s violence (particularly against women). Any self-respecting Die Hard fan was hoping that Willis would yell his signature war cry, but alas, it only appears in the theatrical cut in muffled form (check out the unrated cut for the uncensored yelp, among other goodies). Furthermore, there's a situation at which Willis is faced with a downed baddie, and rather than murder him, he actually lets him go, which seems extremely un-McClane like.

Die Hard 4.0 is a solid action blockbuster that will likely top (or simmer around the top) of the films we'll see this summer. It has more action than you can shake a stick at, some hilarious lines, and a surprising chemistry between Long and Willis. Against the considerable odds of a sizable fanbase spanning two decades, Len Wiseman has crafted a film that is worthy of the Die Hard name. It doesn’t give the first or third films a run for their money, but it certainly bests the second film. Kudos to all involved!