An Analog Guy in a Digital World

During my blogging hiatus last summer, some times I would see something that would make me want to write a post if I were still blogging. Such as the movie Live Free or Die Hard.

Bruce Willis reprises his role as policeman John McClane battling tech wizard Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) who is creating havoc by taking over various computers controlling traffic, power and the like. For such a computer-oriented theme, the movie had a retro anti-tech feel. Though McClane is teamed up with a computer geek played by Justin Long (Mac from those Apple ads), he fights back mostly by crashing cars and blowing things up. McClane's aversion to technology is a running theme in the movie, where Gabriel at one point mocks him as an analog guy in a digital world. Without spoiling too much, you can guess who wins out in the end.

The movie itself has much less CGI than other recent action movies, relying on old fashioned stunts and lots of explosives. There is an interesting theme to this movie: Even in a technology dependent world, an old-fashioned hero can still save the day and have a lot of fun doing it.