Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson, Graham Green, Colleen Camp, Sam Philips
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 131 minutes
Die Hard 2: Die Harder gave me quite the scare. How could the Die Hard franchise go downhill after just one film? After watching Die Hard With a Vengeance, all of my fears drifted away. Not only is this film an excellent sequel, but it is also one of the best action films I have ever watched. John McTiernan returns with a vengeance (see what I did there) and delivers an excellent and gritty action blockbuster that all contemporary sequels should strive to be like. Read on to see how much ass John McClane kicks in this bloody as heck actioner.
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| He may be divorced but he still wears that wedding ring. |
It seems that John McTiernan is the savior and auteur of the Die Hard franchise. Both of his entries are absolutely excellent action films packed with R rated violence and lots of funny natural humor. They are both consistently entertaining and surprising in almost every scene. How much did I love With a Vengeance do you ask? Well, I ended up buying an original theatrical poster for the film on eBay. That's how much.
Die Hard With a Vengeance finds John McClane in a much darker place than where we left him back in 1990. When we last saw John, he was riding off into the snowy night with his lovely wife and kissing her passionately. From the look of things, Holly and John McClane looked like a happy couple. However, something happened in between Die Hard 2 and Die Hard With a Vengeance because Holly and John are no longer together. The film doesn't really give any reason why except that the two probably fought over something or whatever. Since John is clearly struggling with alcohol at the beginning of the film, I believe that his alcoholism must have drove her away.
The film starts with a literal bang as a bomb goes off in the streets of New York City. The police immediately receive a call from a man referring to himself as Simon (Jeremy Irons). Simon says that he plans on setting off another bomb unless John McClane will play a game with him. The force drags McClane out of police suspension and give him back his badge and gun. After completing his first task (McClane must wear a sign that says "I Hate N*****" in Harlem), McClane is saved from near death by Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson). Since Zeus saved McClane during his first task, Simon demands that Zeus tag along with McClane for the rest of the day. It's an intense game of cat and mouse for the rest of the film as McClane and Zeus have to stop Simon from setting off more bombs in New York and ultimately catch the bastard.
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| The two have an "Unbreakable" friendship. |
Die Hard With a Vengeance is an important entry because it takes the series in a whole new direction. Die Hard and Die Hard 2 are essentially the same film: John must stop some terrorists from taking over a limited location or else his wife will die. However, John is no longer with his wife in this film. In fact, she isn't even in the film. Instead, Die Hard With a Vengeance plops an alcoholic John right into his job and makes him race all over New York City in order to stop a terrorist. The plot of the film covers all of New York City instead of just a single building or an airport. This choice to broaden the events of the film to a massive scale seems to be the new franchise tradition. The next two sequels, Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard, deal with terrorist plots that cover all of Washington, D.C. and Moscow. John McClane has come a long way since having to deal with just a simple building.
I love that we finally got to see John, a member of the N.Y.P.D., actually be a cop in New York City. The locations and settings seen throughout the film are absolutely incredible. The film provides an incredible sense of what it is like to simply be in New York City. It's kind of like John Mcclane is taking us on a nice tour of New York: he drives a taxi cab through central park, he climbs on top of a subway train, he drives a truck through a flooded water tunnel, he kills some terrorists inside of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and swings off of a bridge. The end of the car chase through Central Park blows my mind. John jumps a rock and lands right into busy New York traffic. The scene is made more impressive because there is no green screen or CGI. A stuntman is actually jumping a car out of Central Park and right into traffic!
There is also a great car chase where John is shot at by some of Simon's henchmen on a highway. John asks Zeus to rip out the car's brake wires underneath the steering wheel. John than pulls the emergency brake and whips the car around 180 degrees. As his car slides past the enemy car, Bruce fires his trusty hand gun and blasts the henchies to death. I love it!
Believe it or not, there is a reason why I cannot award this film a perfect 10 out of 10 rating. Die Hard lands a 10 out of 10 rating because it ends everything with a perfectly satisfying conclusion. Die Hard With a Vengeance's finale left me feeling quite disappointed. I don't want to spoil things, but the film seemed to end the main plot even though there was 15 minutes left to go. I know an alternate ending was filmed and I think that ending is also flawed. It seems like the filmmakers just couldn't figure out a good ending because both endings don't work for me. It makes one wonder, does the villain have to be defeated and killed at the end of every movie or can he escape every once in awhile?
It also seems to be the franchise tradition from Die Hard 2 - 4 to say, "Yippie Ki Yae Mother F*****" right before or after John kills the main villain. Just noticed it and thought it was worth mentioning. I also noticed John almost always has a partner in all of the films (except for Die Hard 2). For my money, Zeus is the funniest and most memorable of all of John McClane's partners and I would take him over Justin Long any day.
Watching Die Hard With a Vengeance was a bittersweet experience. I had never experienced this film before and had a real blast watching it. However, this is where the Die Hard franchise splits in two. The first three films represent Bruce Willis and R rated action at the top of their game. They are highly recommended (even Die Hard 2) to all action fans. The fourth and fifth installments however represent today's mediocre filmmaking with their weak characters, shaky camera work, lousy CGI, and forgettable attempts at humor. It pains me to know that I have to trudge through two more Die Hard films that will never be as good as the original three. Oh well.
To keep it short, Die Hard With a Vengeance kicks butt and blows your mind at the same time. It's an incredible thrill ride that had me laughing and gasping the whole way through. John McTiernan's return to the franchise helped out in a major way and I hope he returns again another day. I highly recommend this film to all action fans and consider it to be one of the best action films ever made. Tune in next time for the...PG-13 Live Free or Die Hard...PG-13? Is that a joke?
Rating: 9/10 - Watch it! A superb 90's blockbuster packed with blood, car chases, and explosions. Great character work all around as well.
I love that we finally got to see John, a member of the N.Y.P.D., actually be a cop in New York City. The locations and settings seen throughout the film are absolutely incredible. The film provides an incredible sense of what it is like to simply be in New York City. It's kind of like John Mcclane is taking us on a nice tour of New York: he drives a taxi cab through central park, he climbs on top of a subway train, he drives a truck through a flooded water tunnel, he kills some terrorists inside of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and swings off of a bridge. The end of the car chase through Central Park blows my mind. John jumps a rock and lands right into busy New York traffic. The scene is made more impressive because there is no green screen or CGI. A stuntman is actually jumping a car out of Central Park and right into traffic!
John McTiernan's return to the franchise brings Die Hard back to its gritty and familiar roots. The first thing back is John's classic wife beater tank top. There's just something about John and that tank top that screams Die Hard. The second returning element is that the film is essentially a big adrenaline ride from start to finish with little to no down time at any point. The film has you in its grips from the moment it starts and never lets up. The film is also similar to Die Hard in that it has a serious plot devoid of forced humor. All the humor in the film is completely natural and develops from the situations and characters. The film also partners John back up with a black man that he becomes good friends with over the course of the film.
Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson have incredible chemistry in this film. The two of them curse their way through this entire film and made me laugh the whole way through. These two guys were born to cuss! I really loved watching John get partnered up with a smart guy like Zeus. Whenever the two have to solve a riddle that Simon presents to them, only Zeus knows how to handle them. Without Zeus, John would not have likely made it through the day.
Another thing I loved about Die Hard With a Vengeance was the film's fantastic sense of community and teamwork. Everybody on the good guy side all work together. It's so nice to see people on John McClane's side for once after seeing the L.A.P.D., the FBI, and airport security be against him in Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Literally everybody helps out John throughout the film: police men, the bomb squad, and even truck drivers. It felt nice to see every citizen of New York City band together in order to stop a terrorist's plot.
And how about that terrorist? I think that Simon is a pretty solid villain. Jeremy Irons is a welcome addition to the franchise. It seems that Oscar caliber actors make for the best Die Hard villains. It's a bit of a spoiler, but I loved that Simon ended up being Hans Gruber's brother. The film really twisted this on its head when Simon reveals that he didn't even care for his brother at all. Simon had no intentions of simply targeting John. He used John as a scapegoat to distract everyone from his real goal: to steal a bunch of gold! All Simon cared about was just a nice score of cash and gold. Just like his brother. I also couldn't stop thinking about The Lion King (1994) and Scar whenever I heard Irons' voice over the many radio conversations in the film.
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| "Be pre-pareeeeeeeeeeeed!" |
Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson have incredible chemistry in this film. The two of them curse their way through this entire film and made me laugh the whole way through. These two guys were born to cuss! I really loved watching John get partnered up with a smart guy like Zeus. Whenever the two have to solve a riddle that Simon presents to them, only Zeus knows how to handle them. Without Zeus, John would not have likely made it through the day.
Another thing I loved about Die Hard With a Vengeance was the film's fantastic sense of community and teamwork. Everybody on the good guy side all work together. It's so nice to see people on John McClane's side for once after seeing the L.A.P.D., the FBI, and airport security be against him in Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Literally everybody helps out John throughout the film: police men, the bomb squad, and even truck drivers. It felt nice to see every citizen of New York City band together in order to stop a terrorist's plot.
And how about that terrorist? I think that Simon is a pretty solid villain. Jeremy Irons is a welcome addition to the franchise. It seems that Oscar caliber actors make for the best Die Hard villains. It's a bit of a spoiler, but I loved that Simon ended up being Hans Gruber's brother. The film really twisted this on its head when Simon reveals that he didn't even care for his brother at all. Simon had no intentions of simply targeting John. He used John as a scapegoat to distract everyone from his real goal: to steal a bunch of gold! All Simon cared about was just a nice score of cash and gold. Just like his brother. I also couldn't stop thinking about The Lion King (1994) and Scar whenever I heard Irons' voice over the many radio conversations in the film.
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| Holy crap! |
Die Hard With a Vengeance has some incredible stunt work and action scenes to boot. I love all of the action in Die Hard 2, I really do. But the action scenes in this installment are so dang bloody and so freakin' exciting, Die Hard and Die Hard 2 just can't stack up to them.
One of the action scenes in the film is easily my favorite scene of the entire franchise. After some of Simon's men take over the Federal Reserve, John walks in covered in blood and asks if he could use the elevator. Four disguised terrorists happily oblige John and walk onto the elevator with him. As the elevator starts to go down, John looks over and sees that one of the terrorists has the badge number of one of his fellow cops. His co-worker would always play his badge number for the lotto and one of the terrorists killed the co-worker early on in the film and took his badge.
Instead of flipping out, John stares ahead at the elevator door and goes, "Did anyone play the lottery?" John goes off on a tangent about how his wife always gets him lottery tickets when he doesn't need them and it makes for a really funny scene. He concludes by saying, "You got your ticket? Here I got mine right here," and than puts his hand inside of his jacket. He fires his gun through his jacket into two of the terrorists and than shoves his gun into the neck of another terrorist. The fourth terrorist shoots at John but misses him and blasts the third terrorist. John flips the fourth terrorist over and shoots him in the head point blank. The film than cuts to a close up of John's face as blood splatters all over him!
This is THE best scene in the whole series because it shows how hilarious and awesome John McClane is all in one scene. The scene is also wonderfully shot, edited, and set up so that the pay off is much more memorable. Bruce Willis is simply at his most lovable in this film and I couldn't get enough of him.
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| "English mother! Do you speak it?!" |
There is also a great car chase where John is shot at by some of Simon's henchmen on a highway. John asks Zeus to rip out the car's brake wires underneath the steering wheel. John than pulls the emergency brake and whips the car around 180 degrees. As his car slides past the enemy car, Bruce fires his trusty hand gun and blasts the henchies to death. I love it!
Believe it or not, there is a reason why I cannot award this film a perfect 10 out of 10 rating. Die Hard lands a 10 out of 10 rating because it ends everything with a perfectly satisfying conclusion. Die Hard With a Vengeance's finale left me feeling quite disappointed. I don't want to spoil things, but the film seemed to end the main plot even though there was 15 minutes left to go. I know an alternate ending was filmed and I think that ending is also flawed. It seems like the filmmakers just couldn't figure out a good ending because both endings don't work for me. It makes one wonder, does the villain have to be defeated and killed at the end of every movie or can he escape every once in awhile?
It also seems to be the franchise tradition from Die Hard 2 - 4 to say, "Yippie Ki Yae Mother F*****" right before or after John kills the main villain. Just noticed it and thought it was worth mentioning. I also noticed John almost always has a partner in all of the films (except for Die Hard 2). For my money, Zeus is the funniest and most memorable of all of John McClane's partners and I would take him over Justin Long any day.
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| Guy just can't catch a break. |
Watching Die Hard With a Vengeance was a bittersweet experience. I had never experienced this film before and had a real blast watching it. However, this is where the Die Hard franchise splits in two. The first three films represent Bruce Willis and R rated action at the top of their game. They are highly recommended (even Die Hard 2) to all action fans. The fourth and fifth installments however represent today's mediocre filmmaking with their weak characters, shaky camera work, lousy CGI, and forgettable attempts at humor. It pains me to know that I have to trudge through two more Die Hard films that will never be as good as the original three. Oh well.
To keep it short, Die Hard With a Vengeance kicks butt and blows your mind at the same time. It's an incredible thrill ride that had me laughing and gasping the whole way through. John McTiernan's return to the franchise helped out in a major way and I hope he returns again another day. I highly recommend this film to all action fans and consider it to be one of the best action films ever made. Tune in next time for the...PG-13 Live Free or Die Hard...PG-13? Is that a joke?
Rating: 9/10 - Watch it! A superb 90's blockbuster packed with blood, car chases, and explosions. Great character work all around as well.
Franchise: Die Hard
Die Hard (dir. John McTiernan, 1988)
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (dir. Renny Harlin, 1990)
Die Hard With a Vengeance (dir. John McTiernan, 1995)
Live Free or Die Hard (dir. Len Wiseman, 2007)
A Good Day to Die Hard (dir. John Moore, 2013)
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