Sometimes, movie franchises run longer than they should. Critics and American moviegoers have sent Warner Bros. the message that The Hangover Part III was at least one too many (though I disagree). You can make a strong case that the well of creativity has run dry on the Paranormal Activity and Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Creators often know when to say "We've had a good run" or "I'm getting too old for this [stuff]." There is always the slight chance, however, of renewed interest, like the atypical trajectories of Fast and Furious and Mission: Impossible. But the odds are greater for the embarrassment and brand diminishment experienced when a filmmaker overestimates the demand for a follow-up. The makers of Scary Movie 5 and The Last Exorcism Part II have likely given the subject some thought in the wake of their spring disappointments. You'd think that Bruce Willis would too after A Good Day to Die Hard easily became the lowest-grossing entry in his best-known series, but such thoughts fail to consider the film's success in international markets.

The original Die Hard, released in the summer of 1988, made Willis an instant movie star. The actor was about to begin his final season on ABC's "Moonlighting" and film was clearly in his immediate future, from voiceover work in the blockbuster comedy Look Who's Talking to the quickly-produced Die Hard 2. Willis struggled some in the wake of that hit sequel, but rebounded in the middle of the 1990s largely on the basis of Pulp Fiction and another profitable sequel called Die Hard: With a Vengeance. By the late '90s, Willis was one of the biggest stars in the business, enjoying back-to-back summer behemoths in the dissimilar Armageddon and The Sixth Sense. After a trio of strong-performing vehicles in 2000, Willis' career began to stall again, not that unusual for a two-time Razzie winner approaching 50.

At 52, Willis experienced his biggest live-action hit since the 1990s in Live Free or Die Hard. It was an unexpected revival of Willis' most beloved character and a surprisingly good one at that, despite concerns it would be diluted by a PG-13 rating. Six years later, Willis reprises John McClane once more. A Good Day lacks the novelty of Willis returning to one of cinema's great iconic action heroes after a long time away. It returns the series to R ratings but its Valentine's Day opening suggested it couldn't compete in the summer season where all four previous installments had thrived. The film was pulverized by critics and though popular established franchises tend to be somewhat critic-proof, the drubbing was followed by a pitiful, front-loaded domestic gross of $67.3 million. That was well under the film's $92 M production budget and less than half as much as every other installment's haul adjusted for ticket inflation.

And yet, somehow, Fox has already supposedly gotten the ball rolling on a sixth Die Hard movie, which Willis has expressed interest in making. That the series could live on after the poor showing of movie five is entirely attributable to foreign audiences. They contributed $237 M in grosses, barely down from the past two outings and more than three-fourths of the film's formidable $305 M worldwide haul. The budget may have to creep down some more and an international setting seems almost mandatory, but all-American hero John McClane can thank Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, and, most of all, Japan for the opportunity to die hard one more time.

Setting aside financial viability, one wonders if there are enough creative juices to fuel a worthwhile outing, as A Good Day already appears to running on fumes in that department. In the middle of target practice at the NYPD, John McClane gets a file updating him on the whereabouts of Jack (Jai Courtney), his adult son he hasn't seen or spoken to in a few years.

With that, the fearless detective is off to Moscow, where Jack awaits trial alongside a high-profile political prisoner. An explosion outside the courthouse enables the two inmates to escape and we are thrown into action sequences with almost no understanding of what's going on. First comes a long, massively complex car chase around the capital city. A chore to watch, one can only imagine the logistical nightmare it must have been to stage and shoot.

Gradually, some plot emerges to reveal that Jack is a CIA agent assigned to protect that whistleblower, Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch). Naturally, with John McClane around, that is no easy task, after Komarov's only daughter (Yuliya Snigir) curiously betrays him for a multi-million dollar payout. The whole thing leads to Chernobyl, where Komarov's beef with the high-ranking official determined to bring him down began around the time of the infamous nuclear power plant meltdown.

Good Day is spectacularly dull and tough to follow. As many lines are spoken in Russian as in English. Whatever the language, though, the dialogue in the screenplay by Skip Woods (Swordfish, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The A-Team) is severely lacking the sharp banter that has defined McClane's memorable past showdowns. In its place is a plodding thread attempting to patch up the damaged relationship between father and son.

It almost feels like this isn't a Die Hard movie at all. Sure, you've got explosions, shoot-outs, multi-story falls, shattered glass, and the obligatory "Yippee-ki-yay" (which this time is both forced and joyless), but the legend of John McClane disappears in this uninvolving espionage story. The closest we come to recalling the love-to-hate villainy of Hans Gruber and his brother Simon is a scene in which a carrot-chomping, American-hating baddie (Rasha Bukvic) reminds the McClanes that Reagan is dead and proves to them he could have been a dancer.

While this fifth film is unusually brief, clocking in about a half-hour shorter than each of its predecessors, it is also easily the most boring, colorless and uneventful episode. Until now, I had considered Die Hard 2, with its dark, snowy airport action, the weak link in the series and the only one I've got no urge to revisit. A Good Day has far less going on for it and feels like little more than a big paycheck for Willis, who doesn't even earn it with the age-defying stunts and heroics you expect. Instead of those, he spends more time asking dumb questions and lecturing his stubborn son on respect.

In terms of personnel (which hasn't been a priority for this series since Die Hard 2), Willis is nearly the only returning cast or crew member. Mary Elizabeth Winstead returns for two airport scenes and a shoehorned telephone call as McClane's daughter Lucy.

Fox recently brought A Good Day to Die Hard to home video in time for Father's Day in a single-disc DVD and the two-disc Extended Cut Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy combo pack reviewed here. The unrated extended cut runs 3 minutes and 32 seconds longer. The difference is the result of both addition and subtractions. For instance, Lucy for some reason is dropped from this cut, rendering McClane's ride to the airport now an unseen mystery man.

Blu-ray & DVD Details 1.85:1 Widescreen (DVD Anamorphic) Blu-ray: 7.1 DTS-HD MA (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, Spanish, Descriptive Video Service) DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Descriptive Service), Dolby Surround 2.0 (Spanish, French) Subtitles: English for Hearing Impaired, Spanish Extras Subtitled in English; DVD Closed Captioned Release Date: June 4, 2013 / Suggested Retail Price: $39.99 Two single-sided, dual-layered discs (1 BD-50 & 1 DVD-9) Eco-Friendly Blue Keepcase in Foil-Faced Cardboard Slipcover Also available on DVD ($29.98 SRP) and on Amazon Instant Video

VIDEO and AUDIO

A Good Day to Die Hard is the first film in the series to utilize the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, a curious choice that defies the industry's prevalent use of 2.40:1 especially for big budget action. The visuals are often quite dark and shaky, but they seem to meet the high standard of 1080p video which major new studio films are held to. For the way in which it distributes action effects, the default 7.1 DTS-HD master audio mix is easy to appreciate. On the other hand, its muttered dialogue is often difficult to discern. The plentiful Russian dialogue, meanwhile, is cleanly translated by small player-generated subtitles.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN

The Blu-ray's all hi-def bonus features, which are given the English subtitles Fox has long denied them, begin with seven deleted scenes (14:28). They include more screentime for Cole Hauser, an alternate John McClane introduction, McClane's flight to Moscow, a gun-purchasing scene, and a parking lot fight with Russian thugs.

"Making It Hard to Die" (1:00:22) is a thorough making-of documentary, or if you prefer fifteen featurettes, taking us through the film's production and postproduction. Covering such topics as weapons, stunts, and shooting in Moscow, the abundance of behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew reflections prove that a lot of time went into making this movie, something the lackluster results lead you to doubt. Though the access and thoroughness is appreciated, few making-of documentaries are as much of an endurance challenge as this one, as it delves deeply into such topics as color grading, reshoots, and digital visual effects.

"Anatomy of a Car Chase" (26:12) dissects the film's first big action sequence, detailing the different layers that went into the Garden Ring set piece, including vehicles, villains, and stunts.

Shorter features follow. "Two of a Kind" (8:00) considers the father-son relationship, largely in terms of casting Jai Courtney and his chemistry with Willis. "Back in Action" (7:06) places this film in the series' context, ruminating on John McClane's latest adventure and what it demands of him. "The New Face of Evil" (6:57) pays notice to the Russian antagonists, with comments from the supporting cast on their characters.

Subtitled "Pre-Vis" CG animatics (11:36) are provided for three action scenes, two of which didn't actually make the film as far as I can tell. Sixteen silent "VFX Sequences" (5:35) briefly break down the layers of CGI and photographed elements applied to as many effects-heavy shots.

Two image galleries can be enjoyed with manual or automatic page advance. Storyboards are provided for five sequences, with a total of 85 pages (most of them consisting of three-frame panels) plotting out action scenes. Six sequence-specific concept art galleries supply 128 pre-production illustrations anticipating the desired look of certain shots and sequences. Again, it's staggering to think just how much time was spent making this movie.

A theatrical teaser (1:05) and trailer (2:23) are included for A Good Day to Die Hard, each utilizing alternate takes and setting action scenes to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." No trailers for any other Fox films are found on either disc.

An audio commentary by director John Moore and first AD Mark Cotone joins the extended cut. They are hard to dislike, as they provide basic making-of information with screen-specific reflections on their experiences. Needless to say, though, it's not a terrific use of your time to hear them discuss Moscow toilet paper and the bottle of blood Bruce Willis always keeps at arm's reach, while not shedding light on why Mary Elizabeth Winstead is cut from this version.

Finally, "Maximum McClane" (3:16) creates a nifty montage out of highlights from the first four films in the series.

Not the same DVD sold on its own, which includes all of the deleted scenes, this combo pack's secondary platter strips those away to accommodate a transferrable digital copy. It still comes up more than 1 GB under dual-layered capacity.

On both discs, the menu simply places listings over screen-filling action clips. Superbly authored, the Blu-ray kindly supports bookmarks on the film, flawlessly resumes playback of everything (even just the menu), and implements pop-up menus across the board.

The eco-friendly keepcase is topped by a foil slipcover. An insert provides your unique redemption code to unlock both a digital copy and an UltraViolet stream of presumably the theatrical cut.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

You needn't be a huge fan of the Die Hard series to be let down by its fifth installment. A Good Day to Die Hard is a lifeless entry to the franchise which strings together costly practical set pieces hoping you won't notice there's nothing coherent or compelling holding them together. It isn't surprising to see Bruce Willis making a subpar action movie, but him dragging down his most beloved brand in the process is both a surprise and a disappointment.

Sporting a fine presentation, two cuts, and an extreme abundance of extras, Fox's combo pack should appease those who enjoyed the movie or are die hard Die Hard completists, but that is sure to be a small demographic.

Buy A Good Day to Die Hard from Amazon.com:
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy / DVD / Amazon Instant Video