When high-tech "virtual terrorists" hijack the government's computer networks and wreak havoc on the U.S. infrastructure, old-school New York City cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) is conscripted to transport young New Jersey computer programmer Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to the Feds in D.C. to be questioned before heavily armed assassins can take him out. On their journey to the besieged capital, brawny John and brainy Matt dodge bullets and trade insults. The chemistry of Willis's cocksure wit against Long's stuttering cynicism works nicely, serving up enough clever one-liners to warrant later dorm-room or barroom recitations. But it's the over-the-top action that distinguishes Live Free or Die Hard. This 10-ton stunt movie is often reminiscent of the first Jurassic Park, with its seamless special effects and spectacular attention to technical details that give the movie a thrilling you-are-there point of view. A steel-crushing automobile pile-up in a D.C. tunnel and a scrappy brawl in an upended SUV as it tumbles down an elevator shaft are both particularly memorable. Relentless French assassin Rand (District B13's gravity-defying Cyril Raffaelli) -- dubbed a "hamster" by John McClane -- calls to mind the best acrobatic work of Jackie Chan and Tony Ja as he bounds walls and scales buildings like he leapt out of a videogame. Lethal and lithe Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) is particularly fierce as the crew's hard-kicking, bone-breaking "technical support." The original Die Hard, with its wry dialogue, well-defined boundaries and a ticking clock, is arguably the contemporary action movie by which all followers should be compared. Live Free or Die Hard is not so structurally tidy, and the lead bad guy here (Deadwood's suave Timothy Olyphant) lets his henchmen do the heavy lifting. Still, you'll be hard-pressed to find an action flick that packs a better punch than this explosive crowd-pleaser.