Die Hard with a Vengeance

Man, I was watching this movie the other day and I can't believe how good this movie is. Even though I liked Die Harder, it lacked the brains of its predecessor. John McTiernan returned to give us an action flick that not only delivers as an action flick but is also quite effective as a thriller. Simon Peter Gruber(Jeremy Irons) is the brother of Hans Gruber who was killed by McClane in the Nakatomi Plaza. He detonates a few bombs in New York City and sends McClane on "Fools Errands" while covering up his real scheme: to steal gold reserves. McClane is saved from an a**kicking by angry mob by Zeus Carver(Samuel L Jackson), a shop owner. They reluctantly team up to play along with Simon's games. They later find out his big scheme all along. Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis have excellent chemistry together. Plus you have to admire the match up. Zeus Carver has a nationalistic mentality and John McClane is your not-so-average white-bread cop. Despite their differences they still get together to handle the same goal. Zeus despite his prejudices was still a factor in helping McClane solve those riddles which were more clever than the riddles that were given to you by Jim Carrey's Riddler in Batman Forever. Jeremy Irons is magnificent as Simon Peter Gruber. He's definitely one of the best movie villains in history. His plan showed a clever genius absent from movie villains nowadays. Quite possibly the last serious role that Jeremy Irons had. Tell the truth, can you look at him with a straight face after he starred in Dungeons and Dragons? I think not. I like the pacing of this movie too. It keeps you glued to the screen and provides a thrill ride from start to finish. Im kind of surprised That everybody knows that its better than Die Hard 2. Plus this movie has lowest score of all Die Hard movies on Rottentomatoes. Shows you just how much these snooty consensus followers really know. The fact that this movie was outsold by Batman Forever in the box office shows you exactly where the intelligence of the movie-going was heading. Straight down the toilet bowl and they've been sinking further into the sewer since then. If you're looking for an action/thriller that doesn't disappoint you cant go wrong with Die Hard With A Vengeance. It has great acting, a superb villain, a good plot and some engaging action sequences. More effective than what passes for Thriller these days and is easily the most underrated action sequel of all time.

It's very rare for the first three films in a movie franchise to be consistently excellent, but that's the case with the DIE HARD series. The first one was an action movie masterpiece and hugely influential to this day. The second one is disliked by some, but I think it's very nearly the equal of the first, doing a tricky job of being the same but different at the same time. And the third is just a delight, an action comedy masterpiece that wreaks havoc throughout New York. Having the action move out of a single location and into an entire city was a genius idea. Director John McTiernan is at the top of his game here, filling his movie with an incredible sense of drive and momentum so that there's not a single moment where it's not funny, thrilling, or suspenseful. Bruce Willis has never been better and his repartee with Samuel L. Jackson (who also gives one of the best turns of his career) works incredibly well. Jeremy Irons has a ball as the bad guy and the whole 'Simon Says' game is very well staged. Plus you get all of the violence, fights, car chases, shoot-outs and clever situations that you could hope for in an action film. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE truly is one of the best action films ever made and the kind of film I could sit and watch over and over again, and there are very few of those around.

Some people seem to have the idea that "Die Hard 3" is the best in the series. Some clarification is needed here, because it's actually the worst. It starts out on the right note with an interesting premise (mysterious stranger toying with John for unknown reasons), but at the halfway point, right about the time we actually see the villain, it gets so sloppy it's almost as if they're improvising the plot as they go. I'm too tired to go through all the things wrong with it, but suffice it to say the villain seems to have more people working for him than the entire New York City police department. The main downfall of this one is that McTiernan got confused and thought he was making a "Lethal Weapon" movie. Someone really should have mentioned to him that he was supposed to be making "Die Hard," but too late he pulled in Sam L. Jackson as a store owner with absolutely no reason or motivation of any kind to be helping McClane. He's just there to yell a lot and cause racial tension. The awesome lone-wolf formula from the first two movies becomes the overused, irritating buddy-cop formula (only Jackson's not a cop, just some random black guy). Jackson is a great actor, but his character has no real place in this movie. Add some sub-par acting and an ending so abrupt it's almost like the screenwriter just gave up, and the result is a total wash. I'm not saying it's terrible--it has its moments--but it's nowhere near as good as the first one. I understand they're making a fourth one. I don't have high hopes for it. They should have quit while they were ahead.

I found lots of entertainment value in this but way overdone with the violence, profanity and the totally-implausible scenes. It's just so darn interesting with so many good stunts that it's hard to totally ignore this film despite the stupidity. It's almost like a very good Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Sylvester Stallone no-brainer-but-fun action flick, except it's Bruce Willis. Willis and co-star Samuel Jackson are incapable of uttering a sentence without profanity. But, sometimes they are funny and they certainly aren't boring. The violence will wear you out by the time 2 hours and change are over. Recommended only for those who like their entertainment non-stop and aren't offended by anything hitting their eardrums.

After reading some of the enthusiastic reviews on this site, I was looking forward to watching this picture tonight. As it turns out, this clunker is not even in the same league with the first of the series, and is not even half as good as the second, which was itself an irretrievable clunker. Here we have Willis clunking (sorry about the repetition, but variations of this word keep coming to mind) through the role of the remains of John McClane, Jackson an argumentative whiney racist, and Jeremy Irons smirking the part of the inevitable criminal mastermind. If you enjoy the game of guessing what the next plot turn is going to be, you'll find no challenges here. The only unpredictable element of this movie is how bad it can get. There is no chemistry between Willis and Jackson, no interesting bad guys, no diverting back story, and no humor. Oh, the action scenes are boring and the pacing is choppy. One to avoid.

Regardless of what you might think of Bruce Willis, he really does excel in this series of films and John McClane, the all action policeman is the perfect role for him. This time his sidekick is the guru of the action film, Samuel L. Jackson, the owner of an electrical store, as he goes up against the ever excellent Jeremy irons, who can play a bad guy like few others. Irons is executing the greatest heist ever, and the shots throughout the film are spectacular. The lack of any half decent script is completely masked by explosions, but what else would you expect?

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source: Die Hard with a Vengeance

From all "Die Hard"-movies, this is the best one! Best story, best characters, best humor, best actors, best music, best action! Even the issue about racism is shown in various ways. To me personally this is one of the best action movies ever done. The first time I've seen this as a 14 year old and now, 20 years later, I still enjoy re-watching this classic again from time to time. :)