A good tea is like a good action film: strong, sturdy and well put together, which is a perfect way to describe the Die Hard series. So imagine my excitement when I found out that I had won a pair of tickets to the UK premiere of the fifth instalment of the Die Hard franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard. All courtesy of an internal competition with Elmwood’s own strong and sturdy brand of tea, Make Mine a Builders.

On the day of the premiere, my husband Nick and I travelled from the sprawling metropolis of Leeds to a small village called London where this spectacle was due to take place. Checking into our hotel on Leicester Square, we realised that our room was above the Empire theatre – and the red carpet and Russian helicopter were visible from the window.

Dressed in our finest, we left for the premiere. Unfortunately the weather gods had decided to strike for the evening and it was more than a little soggy, however it didn’t dampen our spirits as we handed our tickets to the burly bouncers and walked down the red carpet.

Neither of us having attended a movie premiere before, we didn’t know what to expect and assumed we would be sipping cocktails with Tom Cruise and Robert de Niro. The reality was even more amazing, as we actually rubbed shoulders with a selection of the TOWIE cast and kickboxer Alex Reid. But we knew the best was yet to come in the form of our hero Bruce…

As we sat in our seats tucking into our complimentary crisps and bottled water (what, no tea?) a ripple of excitement spread through the audience as Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney and Michael Koch entered the theatre along with director John Moore and answered questions about the film. If only every film screening had these extras!

And then it began, a 90-minute action sequence! At this point I would like to use the line “the plot was full of more holes than a Make Mine a Builders tea bag” – but there was no real plot to speak of. In my opinion, A Good Day to Die Hard is the worst film in the series and seriously lacks the charm of previous installments, as does Bruce Willis’ character John McClane. His dialogue and one-liners were somewhat diluted in comparison to earlier films and even the expletive is removed from his catchphrase ‘Yippee-ki-yay!’.

However, I feel guilty about being critical of this film (and one of my movie heroes!). The Die Hard franchise is 25 years old and still going… so it’s obviously doing something right.

Which brings me to the ‘pixie dust’ contained in the very first Die Hard film. Within the heart of all great stories there is always conflict. The original Die Hard was the first film to embrace all 3 of these conflicts: Good v Bad, Man v Environment and Man v Internal Conflict (love). Overall, a compelling story on many different levels, what’s not to love?!

Although A Good Day to Die Hard has a thin plot, it still encompasses the 3 main conflicts (I won’t expand for fear of a spoiler alert!). So perhaps this is why, despite all its faults, I was completely gripped from beginning to end and cannot wait for number 6!