When good sequels go bad

The regular string of summer blockbusters are dominated by sequels this year. Along with the others, Shrek The Third disappoints, but Die Hard 4.0 makes a comeback.

If ever there was a summer that showed that Hollywood was fast running out of ideas, it's this one. Jaws kicked it all off in 1976, making the summer blockbuster a standard. However, this summer, blockbusters have become exactly that - standard, par, average, same old. So far we've had Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, and Ocean's 13 – all sequels, all failing to rise to the original – and with Hostel II, Rush Hour 3 and the fifth Harry Potter on the way, the trend looks set to continue.

Shrek The Third (G) has sadly fallen into this category, which is a shame as everyone's favourite ogre is one of contemporary cinema's most loveable characters. This outing sees Shrek (voiced by Austin Powers' main man, Mike Myers) appointed king of Far, Far Away by the dying King Harold (John Cleese). Shrek doesn't want the gig and sets out on another road trip with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to find Harold's true heir, Artie (Justin Timberlake), to force him to take the throne. To top it off, Shrek finds that Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is pregnant and he's somewhat perturbed at the prospect of becoming a daddy. Meanwhile, lurking in the background is Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), who, wanting the crown for himself, gathers around him numerous fairy tale villains to carry out his dastardly plan.

The opening 15 minutes or so promised a laugh riot as jokes– including great one-liners and visual gags – came at us a mile a minute. We had a frog chorus singing “Live And Let Die”, we had a conversation that riffed on the lyrics of Dylan's “Like A Rolling Stone” and death scene that seemed to go on forever; nice to see black humour in a kid's cartoon. However, the joy was short lived and everything fell apart as the writers forgot what was funny.

So it was left to Die Hard to clench a defiant fist for the franchise, and although Bruce Willis is a little long in the tooth to be dragging his sorry ass all over New York, his McClane still has bite. This time around, McClane has a lot to worry about: he's getting on in years, his daughter is involved with a loser and, oh, there's an internet-based terrorist organisation hell bent on taking down the computer and technical infrastructure of the United States and only John, and his wisecracking computer geek sidekick Matt (Justin Long) can stop them.

Die Hard 4.0 (15A) was never going to be as good as the original, but it's far better than Die Hard 2 and edges its nose in front of Die Hard With A Vengeance. That's partly down to the inventive action scenes on show here. The audience is treated to gunfights, fistfights, high-speed chases, cars flying at helicopters, rockets from fighter jets and whatever you're having yourself (although the latter smacks of the climatic battle in True Lies). Willis seems to enjoy himself and apart from the odd clunky, self-referential line – “Have you done this sort of thing before?” – this McClane can stand on his own two feet.  

Shrek The Third **
Die Hard 4.0 ***