Yippee ki yay, everybody. Reluctant hero John McClane is back for a fourth time in Live Free or Die Hard, and once again he’s escaping from impossible situations with the help of jaw-dropping visual effects. This time, though, there’s a very smart story to accompany his heroics, and it’s still just as fun to watch him kick ass.

The third Die Hard film came out in 1995, and obviously the world’s perception of terrorism has changed since then. Gone are the random explosions and genocide that pervaded the first three films, and in its place is a post-9/11 attack on the things Americans rely on every day: technology.

After arguing with his daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and making it clear that he and Holly are now divorced, NYPD Lt. Detective McClane (Bruce Willis) is ordered to pick up a computer hacker in New Jersey named Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) and transport him to Washington, D.C.

Before they get to the nation’s capital, a former national security employee named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) and his girlfriend (an alluring Maggie Q) hack into the government infrastructure and manipulate a stock market crash, mass power outage, cell phone malfunctions and a gridlock that makes rush hour look like a Nascar race. “You’re a Timex watch in a digital age,” Gabriel tells McClane, and he couldn’t be more correct. Most of the time McClane has no idea what’s going on (let alone how it’s happening), except that the entire nation is getting sent back to the Stone Age.

If you’re going to reinvigorate a franchise, this is the way to do it. This story could not have been told a few years ago, and by effectively bringing McClane into modern times and having him fight “virtual terrorism,” Mark Bomback’s screenplay creates an intelligent action thriller that’s also plausible.

And it’s a good thing the story is believable, because the action scenes most certainly are not. Nor are they supposed to be. Another benefit of waiting 12 years for a new Die Hard is the tremendous advance in computer-generated imagery (CGI). In one scene, McClane goes from a tractor trailer to the wing of a fighter jet. In another, he and Farrell narrowly miss a car landing on their heads when two other cars cause it to bounce and flip into mid-air. This is an action movie for action movie lovers, and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) knows it would be a disappointment if it were anything but.

There still needs to be a balance between action and story, though, and that’s where the film struggles. The intriguing premise carries us for a while, but as it gradually gives way to more action, the movie regrettably begins to lose energy.

The first Die Hard (1988) was so good, and so influential, that a number of action movies since then have carried the tag line of “Die Hard … on a bus” (Speed), “… on a train” (Under Siege 2), etc. Because of this, Live Free or Die Hard is ironically hindered by its predecessor, because the expectations attached to the name are so high. Although the action scenes in the latest installment are clearly the best the franchise has offered, it still doesn’t match the humor, charisma or sheer adrenaline rush of the original. In fairness, very few movies have.

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Live Free or Die Hard *** Directed by Len Wiseman. Written by Mark Bomback. Starring Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Justin Long. Rated PG-13. **** A genuine must-see ***  Entertaining **   Mediocre but not worthless *    A wretched waste of time Also opening in Miami-Dade County this Friday: Angel-A, Evening, Ratatouille, Sicko.