Earlier this month, we received the first official photo from the upcoming A Good Day to Die Hard. The following day, filmgoers got their first glimpse at footage of the film in the form of a teaser trailer. Now, weeks later, we have the first of what one assumes to be many posters via First Showing.
While it appears to be trying to be clever, it succeeds only in drawing further attention to the sad fact that leaves fans of the series rather disinterested with the upcoming film: the repeated butchering of the series’ quintessential catch-phrase: “Yippee ki-yay, mother fu**er.” In Live Free or Die Hard, it was censored by way of gunfire. Here, they go the way of puns.
It speaks to a larger issue, that being the move of the series to PG-13. For the sake of bigger box-office numbers, it looks like that rating is here to stay, resulting in sequels that just seem to lack that grit, that edge that marked the series’ earlier efforts. On top of that, you have an actor whose heart doesn’t quite seem to be in it anymore.
Watching Live Free or Die Hard, I was taken aback by how tired Bruce Willis looked in the film. It wasn’t that he didn’t still have it in him, as Looper stands as proof to the contrary, but that the spark was dissipating for both him and the films. Now, looking at A Good Day to Die Hard‘s first poster, I get that same impression. Inside my head, I can almost hear Willis saying the cliched line “I’m getting too old for this.”
One doesn’t judge a film by its poster, however, and this goes to show why. Though the poster is undeniably lame, the teaser trailer on the other hand is not. So, for the time being, I think I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Bruce Willis returns in A Good Day to Die Hard as John McClane, the NYPD cop with a bad attitude and an affinity for taking down the bad guys. When his estranged son John Jr., played by franchise-newcomer Jai Courtney, is caught up in the escape of a rogue Russian leader, father and son must work together to keep each other alive and to keep the world safe.
Directed by John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines), the film also stars Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Anne Vyalitsyna.
A Good Day To Die Hard opens February 14th, 2013.
Check out the poster below and make sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
