A Good Day to Die Hard

Bruce Willis' wisecracking hero John McClane is back in action for his fifth screen outing, 25 years after the character's iconic debut

Bruce Willis' wisecracking hero John McClane is back in action for his fifth screen outing, 25 years after the character's iconic debut.

This time, he arrives in Moscow to track down his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney).

Unbeknown to dad, Jack is actually an undercover CIA spy and McClane's inopportune arrival blows his mission to whisk a Russian whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) to safety, beyond the reach of an oligarch's private army.

Naturally, McClane can't resist getting involved and is soon playing dodgems with the city's rush-hour traffic - giving director John Moore the opportunity to stage some spectacular vehicular mayhem.

Of course, father and son somehow emerge intact from the carnage and proceed to team up, bickering and bonding amidst the flying bullets as the convoluted plot sends them to an ultimate showdown with the bad guys at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

The action does get repetitive in places, but it's staged with panache and Willis still handles all the mayhem with aplomb.