A Good Day to Die Hard
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: February 14, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
28
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
16
Negative:
24
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenFeb 13, 2013
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
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 28, 2017
Willis himself could not appear less enthusiastic in the role, and doesn’t phone in his performance here so much as clip it to a nearby pigeon and hope for the best. Yet perversely, his apparent lack of interest works rather well: McClane, after all, is now a grizzled back-number who has bumbled his way into a younger man’s action movie. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 14, 2013
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
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 14, 2013
We have entered generic action movie territory and the idiosyncrasies that made the series special at the outset have been leeched out, papered over, or turned into obligatory inserts. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 14, 2013
If there is to be a sequel to this thudding slab of cacophony, why not just go all the way and make John McClane a superhero? Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 13, 2013
Willis still packs that rapscallion charm, balancing his wisecracking, reluctant-hero shtick with the unstoppable, all-American quality that earned the original film its title. But the chemistry between him and Courtney is nonexistent, with the younger thesp, who makes co-star Cole Hauser look expressive, adding so little to the equation, one can only hope the studio doesn't plan to pass the franchise on to him. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumFeb 13, 2013
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
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 13, 2013
To paraphrase a classic of Reagan-era cinema, A Good Day to Die Hard is a bad day to stop sniffing glue. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 13, 2013
While some of the sequels have been entertaining enough, A Good Day to Die Hard signals that it may be a better day for John McClane to retire. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyFeb 16, 2013
At this point, "Die Hard" no longer describes the franchise. It describes the fans who are still willing to turn out for the noise and nonsense. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasFeb 13, 2013
Until now, the sequels have gotten away with the cynical franchising of John McClane, but A Good Day To Die Hard, the worst entry in the series by far, exposes the hollowness and stupidity of McClane 2.0. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 13, 2013
The fifth edition of the franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard, is the brawniest and most brainless of the bunch. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 18, 2013
I hesitate to ask, but did anyone actually tell McClane, before he arrived, that the Cold War is over? Read full review
40
The GuardianXan BrooksFeb 14, 2013
I don't think it knows where it's going. I'm not even sure it cares. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithFeb 14, 2013
“That was exciting!” says Willis after he and Courtney survive a 20-storey leap through a plate glass window. “Want to go again?” Frankly, Bruce, we’re fine to leave it here. Read full review
40
EmpireKim NewmanFeb 14, 2013
A few reasonable action sequences are mired in family soap, making this A Good Day To Call It Quits. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackFeb 13, 2013
Australian actor Courtney does the honors as the younger McClane, skillfully matching Willis in action sequences, one-liners, and more extended repartee. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 14, 2013
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
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 13, 2013
Like the Bond movies, the "Die Hard" films thrive on brilliantly wicked villains. In this edition, we barely know which bad guy is the main bad guy. The script is filled with heavy-handed dialogue about parents and their children, framed by well choreographed but generic action sequences. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 13, 2013
The best thing about A Good Day to Die Hard is its title. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 13, 2013
Isn't just the weakest of the "Die Hard" pictures; it's a lousy action movie on its own terms. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreFeb 13, 2013
Loud and tedious, “Die Hard 5” is a shaky-cam/Sensuround blast of bullets and bombs, digital explosions and death defying feats of defying death. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 14, 2013
Both assaultive and tiresome, A Good Day to Die Hard barely registers on the action movie Richter scale. It goes bang, it goes boom, and then it blessedly goes away. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezFeb 13, 2013
A Good Day To Die Hard isn’t dead on arrival because that would suggest it has a pulse. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensFeb 14, 2013
The absence of a single noteworthy villain is perhaps this movie’s most salient flaw (along with the jumbled, barely coherent editing of a seemingly endless chase through a Moscow traffic jam). Read full review
30
TimeRichard CorlissFeb 13, 2013
It’s the lamest and most vacant of the quintet — though if you mistakenly think you’re buying a ticket to a demolition derby instead of a night at the movies, you’ll feel right at home. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 13, 2013
A Good Day to Die Hard plays like an extended victory lap for star Bruce Willis and the entire "Die Hard" franchise. Not surprising, but not overwhelmingly entertaining either. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyFeb 13, 2013
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
30
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 13, 2013
Everything that made the first “Die Hard” memorable — the nuances of character, the political subtext, the cowboy wit — has been dumbed down or scrubbed away entirely. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezFeb 14, 2013
Time to give the shoot-’em-up thing a rest, guys: It’s tired and played out, and so are you. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 14, 2013
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
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 13, 2013
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
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 13, 2013
Actually, Bruce, what stinks is the script — which is woefully lacking the kind of one-liners and memorable bad guys that helped make working-class hero McClane so iconic he’s still around after 25 years. Even the action sequences are pretty much by the numbers this time. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineFeb 13, 2013
The film feels like it was reverse-engineered from its "Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Russia" tagline, a wholly generic international actioner barely distinguished by the presence of Bruce Willis's banner hero. Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 15, 2013
A Good Day to Die Hard is the opposite of a labor of love. It has no good lines, no crackerjack fights, and only one mildly orgasmic revenge killing. It will satisfy no one — high-, low-, or middlebrow. Die Hard is finally in its death throes. Read full review
20
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 14, 2013
Pretty much three well-staged action sequences strung together with the dumbest imaginable connective tissue. Read full review
20
Time OutKeith UhlichFeb 13, 2013
We’re a long way from this shoot-’em-up franchise’s John McTiernan–helmed heyday. Willis gives one of his laziest ever performances, leadenly tossing off each quip (“I’m on vacation!” is the most abused) and acting like he’s passing a kidney stone during the bathetic father-son bonding scenes. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 13, 2013
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
16
Film.comLaremy LegelFeb 26, 2013
The entire enterprise is a bewildering mess, put in place only to frustrate and alienate anyone who buys a ticket. Every action scene is telegraphed, and most of the dialogue is irrevocably stupid. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 16, 2013
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
10
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlFeb 13, 2013
The movie is constructed like a window some kid broke and then tried to glue back together. Read full review
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