Bruce Willis is back again in the fifth installation of the Die Hard film franchise that gave him his big break. Unfortunately, A Good Day to Die Hard may have been one sequel too many.

The Die Hard saga centers on Bruce Willis’ character, the rough-and-ready New York detective John McClane, who attracts ridiculous amounts of violence to himself throughout his career.

The first film of the saga pits McClane against a group of about 20 terrorists during a Christmas party in a Los Angeles skyscraper. The terrorists swoop down on the corporate event and shut it down – pissing off Maclane, who ends up killing them all.

This basic premise can be applied to each and every one of the sequels. Although it may not be in a locked down L.A. skyscraper, every film involves McClane getting drawn into a terrorist plot against his will, getting pissed off, and killing people.

In this most recent, repetitious addition to the series, McClane goes to Russia after hearing that his only son, Jack, is on trial there for murder. Before this point, McClane hasn’t spoken to his son in years.

Upon his arrival in Russia, McClane learns that his son is actually an undercover agent involved in an anti-terrorist plot.

Once again and against his will, McClane gets roped into an elaborate and violent terrorist plot, in which he ends up getting pissed off and killing everyone.

This film was just a solid C+. I like the Die Hard saga – I have seen all five. The films are reliable in that they give you an adrenaline kick, with some grin-worthy punch lines thrown in.

Too much father-son bonding in this film stopped it from feeling like a Die Hard flick. Though McClane and his son hadn’t spoken in years, there were too many scenes of them making up and patting each other on the back, its distracting.

Another thing was the film’s updated style, which is not entirely a good thing. Die Hard used to be an 80s action saga full of one-liners, cheesy action and absolutely no complicated stuff to detract from the on-screen excitement.

A Good Day to Die Hard just felt like director John Moore lost sight of what defined the saga in the first place. The series wasn’t broke, but Moore still felt the need to fix it. The end result was a C+ film.

The explosions, settings and vehicles were all bigger and badder than in the previous installments of the series, but there was an element of delicious cheesiness that was lost. This film, unlike the rest in the series, just seemed to take itself too seriously

Don’t see it in theaters, but if your friend rents it from the game room on a snowy Sunday, there are definitely worse things that you could be watching…like Hansel & Gretel.