It’s been 19 years since that smug bloke from Moonlighting sent a virtual unknown called Alan Rickman tumbling off the Nakatomi Tower, but nothing has come close to toppling Die Hard from the all-time list of great action films.

Now, after wrecking an airport and racing around New York with a vengeance, Bruce Willis’s alter-ego John McClane is not only a battered-but-unbowed icon, but also the template for every testoster-role the actor’s done since.

The Last Boy Scout - McClane with a drink problem. Armageddon – McClane on a meteor. Tears Of The Sun – McClane in Africa. Sin City - McClane by Frank Miller.

So it’s great to see the original Die Hard brand back, albeit stamped on a disappointingly generic plot peppered with more holes than McClane’s vest.

Deadwood’s Olyphant switches from 19th century lawmaker to present-day lawbreaker as Gabriel, a techno-fiend aiming to bring America to its knees... once he’s killed off all the geeky hackers who unwittingly helped him.

One such nerd is Matt Farrell (Justin Long, Jeepers Creepers), about to be taken into FBI custody by a certain world-weary NYPD detective who has issues with authority, hair loss, and his daughter Lucy.

No sooner has McClane knocked on Matt’s door than it’s blown to pieces by Gabriel’s goons. They escape, only to be caught in the chaos as Gabriel crashes Washington DC’s traffic system, stock exchange, TV channels and power supplies.

Not one to stand idly by, McClane sets about doing what he does best: defying death and irritating the hell out of the bad guy.

"You killed a helicopter with a car!" gasps Matt, before his protector makes the situation personal by kicking off with Gabriel’s lethal partner (kung-fu vixen Maggie Q). The villain responds by snatching Lucy... and that really tears it.

Driven by a mundane case of disgruntled ex-employee syndrome, the two-dimensional Gabriel – through no fault of Olyphant - is no Hans Gruber.

Long fares better as the likeable sidekick and Winstead makes Lucy a feisty chip off the old block, while Clerks director Kevin Smith adds little value but enjoys himself as a super-geek.

To keep the momentum going, logic goes out the windscreen as Wiseman (happily showing more control of the balderdash than he did with Underworld) steers our hero though a ludicrously exhilarating obstacle course.

Whether he’s driving an SUV down a lift-shaft, avoiding a traffic sandwich in a tunnel, or getting on the wrong side of a contest between a juggernaut and a fighter jet, ol’ Bruno proves that he can still deliver the gung-ho goods.

And remember: he was doing this stuff before Jack Bauer ever did a hard day’s work in his life.

Elliott Noble