Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6:18 PM
Saw Live Free or Die Hard tonight...great flick, 4/5 for sure. Great action, great pace...really entertaining.
However, what us geeks won't be able not to notice is the hilarious way technology is portrayed in the film, and the many moments that you'll be watching the movie going WTF or just laughing at the how preposterous the whole premise seems. But don't let this be a deterrent: the movie is great, but you realize right off the bat that this is a work of fiction in every sense of the word.
Basically there are cyber-terrorists that plan on holding the USA hostage by hacking into and disabling their three levels of necessity: transportation, communication, and utilities.
Apparently by using strictly code-based attacks and no social networking at all, these hackers are able to get into every single system in the USA: FBI, federal transportation, federal and local facilities, communications networks (both public and private, and including satellites)...all with some Alienware laptops and the most amazing wardriving campaign ever (or a sinister ISP that tailors service to criminals).
This hacking was not just about gaining access and information...oh no...these hackers could also PUSH video feeds with audio to EVERY TV IN THE USA, and this included all the computer monitors in the hacked-in FBI headquarters as well. Closed circuit video cameras covering, say, college dorm elevators are also at their mercy...oh those wily coders!
You see where I'm going with this...its pure fantasy and doesn't give too much merit to the idea of a "Fire Sale" attack. But it is humorous, and you can play "how many stupid things did they put into this film" and yet it won't ruin the action pieces (OOOOO, did I mention that to properly hack into an energy-managing facilities computer systems you MUST have a Palm Tungsten and one of those roll-out rubber keyboards? I kid you not...).
And last but not least on the technology commentary of the movie, the hacker side kick of Bruce Willis is the Mac guy from those "Hello I'm a Mac" commercials. Luckily, he's pretty funny...but still...he's the Mac guy.
Now...I gotta know: who is Debbie Schlussel?! I was googling Fire Sale because I was curious about whether it was an actual term or not. I came accross her blog where she was talking about the movie as well, and she posts this quote which blew my mind:
"As readers know, I've been down on Willis for a number of reasons and down on this movie because its cyberterrorists are not Muslim. I remain steadfast in that reservation and note that this movie would have been even more fabulous if they were."
Say WHAT?! According to her bio page, she's obviously got some issues with the Muslim community (although all the terminology puts focus on the "exteremists"...but still). But that's not all she has issues with...she slams Chris Webber in her most recent post and writes "Read more on Chris webber and Thuggery, Inc a/k/a the NBA"
OUCH! And I thought that Ann Coulter chick was hard core...
Anyway, back to the movie: definately worth a look if you like non-stop action flicks, crazy technology aside.
D