John McClane’s back! Though, if you’ve followed news on upcoming movies, you’ll have noticed that certain other action stars are back too: Stallone to reprise John Rambo, and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Long in the tooth, most of these heroes could be my grandfather. But charismatic icons are hard to find – which is why, in 2007, so many follow-ups are following follow-ups.

“A follow-up?” you groan. “A follow-up to a follow-up?” Another movie to rush to, expectations high, still tipsy from the last episode: two hours half-asleep in uncomfortable seats, popcorning other viewers, imagining what you could have spent ten euros on instead?

Not this time. If ever property damage and killing was sexy, Die Hard 4: Live Free Or Die Hard is pure libido. Willis could double as my grandpa, but looking like this, I wouldn’t kick him off the rim of my bed if the world depended on it. This is McClane as we know him; loosing his shoes, shirt, and several pints of blood; sporting the smudgy bald head that’s had women breathless since 1988.

In this latest reincarnation – DH3 saw McWillis rushing around defusing bombs, and DH2 him fighting mercenaries in an airport – criminals attack the ‘entire computer structure that supports the economy of the United States.’ Not only that, the main bad guy, played by Thimothy Olyphant (Marshall Seth Bullock in Deadwood), kidnaps McClane’s daughter Lucy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Bobby, The Ring 2).

Luckily our old-school hero’s on the spot to save his daughter, America, and our evening. Die Hard4’s a welcome throwback to old-fashioned, eighties bonehead violence. It offers a little bit of story, a lot of action, and a lot of sweating Willis and bad guys. Noone takes a punch, kick, elbow, or bullet quite like McClane.

Of course, just as in DH3 the veteran cop was teamed up with Samuel L. Jackson, he now has additional help from a young hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long). Fusing the digital world and the real, Farell is likeable and boyish with thick eyebrows and a friendly smile – though a definite sidekick, not a copilot.

Just as obviously, when they finally catch up with Lucy, Farrell is attracted to her. But never fear, this is action, not romance. Yippee-Ki-Yay!