Live Free or Die Hard (released as Die Hard 4.0 or Die Hard 4 outside North America and also known as Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard) is a 2007 action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, the protagonist of the first three films. Other cast members included Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Maggie Q. The storyline takes place 19 years after the first film, and sees McClane face a gang of cyber terrorists. The film was based on the 1997 article “A Farewell to Arms” written for Wired magazine by John Carlin. The film’s North American release date was June 27, 2007.
After the project was initially stalled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks, production eventually began, and the film’s title was switched several times. A variety of visual effects were used for action sequences, even though Wiseman and Willis stated that they wanted to limit the amount of CGI in the film. In separate incidents during filming, both Willis and his stunt double were injured. Unlike the prior three films in the series, the North American rating was PG-13 rather than R.
The film begins with computer hackers transferring data which will enable the antagonists to pull off the Crime to an operative of a terrorist group. This leads to a breach of an FBI facility’s computer system, as the computer hackers who aided the scheme are assassinated by the terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), instead of being paid for their collaboration. The FBI, unaware of the killings, dispatches NYPD Police Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) to bring in a known hacker, Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), who has also unwittingly assisted Gabriel, as part of their investigation regarding the breach. Gabriel’s thugs attempt to assassinate McClane and Farrell, but their targets escape. McClane transports Farrell to the FBI’s Washington DC headquarters and its head, Deputy Director Bowman (Cliff Curtis), in the midst of a shutdown of the traffic system in DC. The stock market is manipulated shortly afterward, causing it to crash.
McClane is ordered to take Farrell into protective custody and Gabriel sends more thugs to kill the pair. McClane and Farrell evade their assassins again and in the process knock down a helicopter with an FBI police car, as the country’s infrastructure is threatened with a major break down, Farrell tells McClane the terrorists are initiating a “fire sale” attack, and that major utilities would be next. The detective and the hacker travel to a power hub in West Virginia to defend it, finding that the terrorists are already there. McClane battles terrorists while Farrell undoes the damage done to the computer system. They are contacted by Gabriel, who finds out that McClane has killed his lover Mai Linh (Maggie Q) and angrily re-routes gas lines to destroy the hub in a gas explosion. McClane and Farrell escape once more, and on Farrell’s advice, the pair visit his hacker friend the Warlock (Kevin Smith) for help. At the Warlock’s home, they find out about Gabriel’s background and attempt to hack into the terrorist’s systems. Gabriel contacts the detective at the Warlock’s home via webcam and shows that he has McClane’s daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as a hostage. While McClane distracts Gabriel in conversation, Warlock determines Gabriel’s location, at a hijacked Social Security Administration building called Woodlawn (referring to its location in Woodlawn, Maryland).
McClane and Farrell travel to the SSA building. The detective combats the terrorists while Farrell discovers and tries to undo Gabriel’s plan to steal backup financial information from servers in the building. Farrell is able to encrypt all of their downloaded data, rendering their downloaded financial information inaccessible, and then he is taken hostage by the terrorists. With McClane after them, Gabriel and his henchmen flee the building with their hostages. McClane manages to hijack one of the escaping trucks and pursues Gabriel and the hostages. Gabriel renders a hack to deceive the pilot of a F-35 Lightning II jet to attack McClane’s truck. The jet engages McClane, destroying much of the freeway in the process, but the detective is able to escape. He tracks Gabriel to a warehouse, where the terrorist is forcing Farrell to undo the encryption at gunpoint. McClane and Farrell are able to kill Gabriel and his men before they force Farrell to decrypt the lock, resolving the crisis. The FBI arrives shortly after to tend to the wounds of Farrell and McClane. There is also an intended Romance for Farrell and Lucy in the ambulance scene. The final shot is McClane and his daughter leaving in an ambulance.