25 YEARS OF DIE HARD: Die Hard with a Vengeance review

Continuing our Die Hard retrospective. Click here
to check our examination of the rest of  the series.

It's 1995, nearly 7 years after the original Die Hard and 5 years after its sequel. Stuck in Hollywood's endless development cycle, Simon Says, an original screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, finally found a home with John McClane. Before that, the script had been bounced from franchise to franchise, being pushed as both a possible Lethal Weapon sequel or the follow-up to 1994's Speed.

Spinning the unintended into a Die Hard script isn't anything new. But even better, this production had wooed back John McTiernan, the original's director and, quite possibly, the only man who TRULY understands what made Die Hard tick...

Story:

In a plot that could have only existed in a pre-9/11 world, the entire city of New York gets caught in the middle of an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse. The cat in this scenario is "Simon," a mad bomber who seems to have a hard-on for detective John McClane (the mouse). After forcing the NYPD to pull McClane out of his drunken stupor, Simon makes John scramble throughout the city, daring the detective to solve a series of riddles before the next explosive goes off.

And that's when the *SPOILERS* kick in: Turns out that Simon is the brother of Hans Gruber, the terrorist mastermind from the original film who met pavement because of McClane's exuberance.

Is this simply an act of a revenge? An excuse to restore family honor? Of course not. Simon is a Gruber after all...

The People Who Get Paid to Talk:

Bruce Willis has played John McClane five times, but this John McClane is a bit more insane than all the others. Truth be told, it's an inherent character flaw that lies underneath the surface of the better Die Hards (the second film just makes him seem like a smug asshole and the fourth film makes McClane sound like a bitter old man). Here Bruce Willis plays him like a schlub on the brink of personal disaster and, quite honestly, I like this version of McClane more than the others.

Feeding off McClane's silent plea for help is Samuel L. Jackson, the acting equivalent of a livewire. Jackson plays a locksmith from Harlem who gets swept in Simon's nonsense. In classic buddy movie fashion, he's forced to run around NYC with McClane and serve as the voice of reason...even when he says and does some pretty irrational things (more on that later).

This actually marks the first time these two have been on-screen together but the third time they been in the same film. That comes as a bit of a surprise seeing how well they feed off each other. As we would later experience with mixed results in the coming years, the dynamic between these two was too good not to try and replicate.

Then there is Jeremy Irons as Simon. Yes, Irons is classically-trained, but more importantly, he is the only actor on this planet assured and cunning enough to be Alan Rickman's "brother." Endlessly impressive, Irons makes every line of exposition sound like The Immortal Bard (oooh...Shakespeare reference). In an action film, that is no easy feat.

What's Action A Go Go:

I still contest that only John McTiernan understood what made the first Die Hard so great. People claim that it's Willis (then how do you explain Live Free Die Hard), and some will claim that it's the trapped-inside-a-building concept (a theory that holds no weight because of this film), but the fact of the matter is that director John McTiernan remains indispensable to this series.

The way McTiernan combines cinema veritae (oh...french words!) with big budget visuals --- the way he allows actors to bring personality to every minor character role --- the way he dodges every cliche by manipulating the audiences' sense of urgency --- this film is truly a unique example of technical genius propelling a story.

What's Action A No No:

The N-Word.

I can only be so concerned about DHWAV's somewhat casual use of the n-word. Still, in the wake of the more recent Django Unchained controversy it's interesting to compare the two Sam Jackson movies.

If anything, DHWAV is slightly more offensive than Django Unchainedbecause it uses the word purely to manipulate the viewer. The story insists that Willis and Jackson bicker about race throughout the film, even going as far as having Jackson accuse Willis of dropping an N-bomb. Despite this painfully consistent thread, it's pretty obvious that the film has absolutely no interest in actually addressing the topic, making the inclusion of racial epithet woefully inappropriate for escapist fare.

My best assumption is that because of the movie's proximity to the LA Riots and the OJ Simpson case a lot of what was going on during the early-90s had worked its way into the script. In that regard, it's kind of ballsy, harkening back to the bygone era of 70s cinema when blockbusters weren't as shy to acknowledge the zeitgeist.

Verdict:

It's 2013, nearly 25 years after the original Die Hard and 18 years after With a Vengeance. Another sequel later (with another around the corner) and the third movie is still the best conceivable ending to the franchise.

Like most third installments, DHWAV brings the hero's three film journey to a circular completion, ending with John McClane heading to a payphone to reconcile with his wife. It's the only fitting end to the bullheaded cop from New York: He saves the day but barely saves his marriage. As if McClane and Holly are part of some cycle that can only start again with a phone call and a reluctant flight to Nakatomi Plaza.

In addition, because DHWAV wasn't originally intended to be a Die Hard film, it skips over all the egregious winks and nods that most third installments make. Holly, Sgt. Al Powell and the other key players from the previous movies don't make their obligatory appearances. We're introduced to a whole new set of personalities that have heard of McClane's exploits but, in a refreshing change of pace, none of them are impressed by the actual man himself.

Then there is Simon. Outside of McClane (who, of course, is expected to be there) he is the narrative's one true link to the original movie. Just when the film seems on the brink of exhaustion, Simon makes his first physical appearance and the movie subtlety shifts gears. Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh made a very clever script without the Die Hard elements, but once the movie reveals that Simon is Hans Gruber's brother it becomes a film that amplifies the original Die Hard, shames Die Hard 2, and becomes an action classic in its own right.

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25 YEARS OF DIE HARD: Die Hard (1988)

Often imitated, never replicated, DIE HARD (1988) still stands as an action movie masterpiece. It's got everything you can ask for in an action movie. A fantastic script, a unique setting, iconic performances, and intense action scene after intense action scene. Oh...and an amazing soundtrack.

But I know what you're going to say. "Derek, what can you, a no name BLOGGER tell me about DIE HARD that I don't already know?"

Well, let's go for a ride and see if I can surprise you.

THE STORY AND THE PEOPLE WHO GET PAID TO TALK

We all know the story. John McClane (Bruce Willis) heads out to L.A to visit his family. His first stop is a party at his wife's workplace. Her name is Holly Gennaro McClane (Bonnie Bedelia). While at the party all hell breaks loose when a group of terrorists lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) storm the skyscraper and take the whole thing over. Of course, only John McClane can stop them.

And hilarity ensues.

All kidding aside, the acting is the unsung hero of this movie. If you look at all of the performances given not one can be looked at as weak. Also, every character has their own little space carved out in the movie and is allowed to shine.

This is in marked contrast to other action classics up to this point. Think: THE TERMINATOR (1984), RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 (1985), NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER (1986), or ROBOCOP (1987). Sure, all of these movies have great casts with great characters, but none of them match DIE HARD when it comes to the breadth of emotion and story.

Best hostage in a movie ever?

We get even the most mundane characters. For example, take Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner). His death is unique because he's pitching to the terrorists before getting shot in the head. Before that, we see that he's obviously trying to get with McClane's wife, creating a minor love triangle that's destroyed once he is executed. Because of his execution, we learn just how serious these bad guys are.

In the other previously mentioned flicks, the first execution would be a screaming, no name hostage that the viewer barely get to know. In DIE HARD, these characters are savored and brought to the forefront, which makes it a much more engrossing film on every level.

Besides the aforementioned Hart Bochner, there are many standout performances. As Sgt. Al Powell, Reginald Veljohnson is a great pseudo-sidekick, playing the role of a bumbling beat cop on the sidelines.

Stair into the cheery eyes of the law...or Reginald Vel Johnson. 

The same can be said for William Atherton's excellent slime ball reporter, as he a character type that Atherton seems destined to eternally play. was typecast as that in other movies. (And if you don't believe me then check him out in GHOSTBUSTERS.)

The 80's were kind to everyone's favorite slimball, William Atherton. 

Of course, the two standouts are Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. They only meet for a scene or two, but the chemistry is fantastic and each brings maximal performance to the screen.

Rickman is so affable and charming it's hard not to root for him along the way. It's like you want him to just get what he is looking for and gingerly hop on a helicopter for his next heist. It's still his best performance, and possibly the best villain of the 80's.

Bruce Willis on the other hand…what can be said? He helped create a character that's had legs for the last 25 years and shows no sign of loosing popularity. In John McClane we have more than the average action hero. McClane is a hero who struggles. Hell, he spends a good chunk of the movie trying to convince other cops just to show up! Thee authorities aren't even on his side! But as the movie progresses we see the whole mess start to wear McClane down physically. By the end, he's not stone faced and standing tall like the machines in ROBOCOP or a force of a nature like John Rambo. He's limping along bleeding all over the place and is barely coherent. But he will not stop. And he will not lose. This makes him one of the most relatable action heroes of the 80's, and of course well into the 90's and the next century.

JOHN MCTIERNAN:  THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE INCARCERATED…

A huge part of what makes DIE HARD work is the relentless artistry of John McTiernan. Besides the actors themselves, I'm sure McTiernan was responsible for bringing all that talent onto the screen. It's something he was able to do with PREDATOR (1987), but in a totally different context.

With PREDATOR (1987) we got to know each and every character with a scene here and an interaction there. By the end of the first act we've got a good baseline of all of the characters involved. We know these characters. We also get to know the jungle they are running through and the dangerous creature hunting them. But it's all done in bits and pieces that equal one magnificent whole.

DIE HARD inherits this economy of characterization and manages to extract even more from its setting. In the skyscraper we have a cage. The rats can see the outside world but cannot touch it. This makes all of the characters isolated to a certain degree, and with that isolation we are able to peer into their lives and get to know them in way's that other action movies don't dare to travel.

Also, McTiernan revels in turning the genre on it's head. In DIE HARD, we have police officers and FBI agents, traditional symbols of authority, nearly all portrayed as self-absorbed idiots throughout the film. As a matter of fact, whenever they get involved things get worse. Even McClane himself is simply a problem that won't go away. It's the best and most ironic joke in the film that isn't repeated as heavily in rest of the series.

WHAT'S ACTION A GO GO…

Everything.

It's also a Christmas movie. It's important to remember that.

THE VERDICT

Well look what we found here...another awesome action movie.

DIE HARD will probably never be beat.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD is going to try and walk in it's footsteps, and hopefully it will give it a good go.

Next on the list is DIE HARD 2. Often forgotten in the wake of DIE HARD  and DIE HARD WITH A VENGENCE (1995), we're going to see what we can drag out of "DIE HARDER." I think it will be fun.

We hope you enjoyed this, and please leave something in the comments if you want to add anything or just let us know what DIE HARD means to you.

Derek Scarzella 

P.S  Oh, and here are some funnies...

Anybody else play this game? Awesome....

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LAST ACTION HERO: Man, The Real World Sucks

Last Action Hero: Man, The Real World Sucks….

For as many awesome, high grossing big budget blockbusters as Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in, it’s important to remember even he has been in some flops. The list is not short, and includes ERASER (1996), BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997), The 6^th Day (2000), and Collateral Damage (2002). Now, those movies might not be complete money losers or complete stinkers, but it’s easy to argue that the whole decade after ERASER was full of week films that don’t have the staying power of PREDATOR (1987) or TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991). Sadly, LAST ACTION HERO is one of the films that falls into the former category of films that were more miss than hit. I know, it was made years before ERASER. True. But it was still an underperformer.

                                                Upset Arnold...

Thankfully, time has been kind to this film, and while it’s incomprehensible at times, it serves as a bright shinning homage to everything we, and I do me WE, love about action movies AND that beautiful bag of art called cinema. It also goes pretty deep on a few different levels in terms of our heroes, movie reality, our reality, and how we relate to each. You just need to pay CLOSE attention, cause under all that gloss and cheese is seriously a wicked commentary and the nature of cinema itself.

                                                   Happy Arnold.....

THE SMART AND WONKY STORY …

Normally I try and give a break down/plot summary but for this movie I’d have a freaking book written by the time I was done, so here’s the short version. Danny Madigan (played by a young Austen O’Brian) loves action movies. He’s one of us. He knows the tropes and the plot points and everything. He is in a “real” realm. He receives a “magic ticket” as a gift from a kind old projectionist/mentor. The ticket turns out to be legit and sends him into the latest Schwarzenegger film (yes, the real Schwarzenegger) JACK SLATER IV.

         This is a totally normal platonic relationship we have....now smile!

This level of storytelling is where the movie get’s clever. It opens up at the end of Jack Slater III. In that opening you see how Jack Slater goes up against his nemesis the Ripper (played by an always dapper TOM NOONAN), who has taken over an elementary school and is holding Slater’s son hostage. After that scene plays out the real burns, bringing us into the “real” world where Dennis Madison is, then we get the info that JACK SLATER IV is coming out. In number IV Slater is going to avenge the death of his second cousin at the hands of the mob. It’s intentionally ridiculous and shows that Slater himself is at the end of his franchise life. The only other film I can think of off the top of my head that pulls off such a good “beginning within a beginning” sequence is SERINITY (2005). To me it’s the best way to get everyone up to speed in short order, saving everyone precious time so that we can soak in explosions and gunfire. That almost sounds comfortable.

        You know you've made it when you get your own useless, stupid playing cards...

And then the freight train that is this movie keeps on going. It is hard to sum up everything that goes on, but it’s safe to say that the multiple levels of story work to great affect. In this Hollywood land we get thrown into we see it all. Ridiculously dressed up super women, stupid buddy cop combinations (my favorite was half cop half rabbi teamup), a cartoon cop cat (voiced by Danny DeVito), and many explosions and lots and lot’s of bullets. It’s just plain big budget fun. What makes it work is Danny. He’s constantly calling out everything, making us aware of the action movie rules, talking about the sequels, and how this movies story is going to suck because they already went through all the good ideas for the first three films. For the true action fan, it’s delicious.

It is a huge !@#%ing mess though. No getting over that.

           

AND JOHN MCTIERNAN

It’s fitting that the man who help build the definitive action genre with movies like PREDATOR (1987) and DIE HARD (1988) would create a movie that totally rips the genre and the system that produces it a gaping huge *expletive deleted*. It is testament to his talent that the movie manages to go deeper than that.

In this film McTiernan’s genius makes itself clear in the “real” world. It’s there where McTiernan goes out of his way to remind us what we’re watching. With one scene, towards the end with Benedict (one of the main heavy’s, played spot on by Charles Dance) McTiernan manages to make one murder resonate with incredible consequence after a whole series of comical, gratuitous killings. Just saying, he’s a genius film maker and you need to pay attention to everything going on in the film.

It’s also written with the help of Shane Black, who worked on PREDATOR and has ascended the ranks to become an acclaimed director himself (Iron Man 3, anyone?).

ACTION MOVIE REFERENCE EXPLOSION

If you want a crash course in late 80’s early 90’s action cinema this movie is it. It has more references, guest appearances, walk on’s, and cameos than just about any movie this side of THE EXPENDABLES (2010). The list of stars that make an appearance (off the top of my head, mind you) goes like this: Van Damme, Sharron Stone, Chevy Chase, Damon Wayans, Robert Patrick, Sylvester Stallone (if you count cardboard), and Danny DeVito as a talking cartoon cat. And F. Murray Abraham is in there. Oh, and Antony Quinn play’s a mob boss.

It’s just mind numbing to think they were able to get this many stars to show up on film for one movie. That alone makes this one for the history books.

The movie references, nods to action movies that came before, are equally too hard to count. One of the opening lines is an overt reference to DIE HARD. Soon after that is an obvious LETHAL WEAPON nod. And it goes on and on.

At points it feels like one big Easter Hunt of action stuff and it’s all the better for it.

CHARLES DANCE….AN AMAZING BAD GUY

This guy should be in more movies. Period. His role of Benedict is so underrated it’s horrible. He’s smart, he’s cunning, he delivers great insults and knows how to undermine anyone around him, but the best part is that by the end of the film he manages to turn into something truly terrifying. He stops being a movie character and starts being a bad person.

Slater fails to fit in but Benedict hops into our realm and starts swimming like a champ. Movie heroes don’t work in the real world, but movie villains fit right in. Pretty deep.

Legend has it the role was written for Alan Rickman (another DIE HARD alum) but Rickman turned it down for God knows what reason. Honestly, I’m glad he did. Dance makes this role sing and stands toe to toe with Arnold with no problems.

                                   Mr. Dance in his prime. The bastard. 

And again, a truly great bad guy like this makes a truly great action movie.

           

Check him out in THE GOLDEN CHILD (1986), the Eddie Murphy classic that might be showing up here real soon. That’s a good one for him. And ALIEN 3 (1992). Simply honest talent.

SO WHY IS SOMEONE GOING TO TELL ME IT’S BAD?

Because it’s a movie that tries to do too many things at once. As I have said, it is a mess. Maybe it just does too much too well. When it’s ridiculous, it’s really out there. When it’s being an action extravaganza, the screen is just on fire. When you go back to New York it’s so grimy and soul crushing it’s hard to stay with the film itself.

           

It’s like John McTiernan is laughing too hard at his own joke.

But, it’s important to remember that this was made under the most “Hollywood” of circumstances. Lot’s of big egos, rewrites, huge paychecks, and a disastrous test screening that prompted a serous edit right before the movie was released. That alone is the kiss of death for any movies opening.

That’s all over now, thank the movie gods, and all we’re left with is this fine specimen of a movie that’s fine to watch as long as you don’t expect it to make sense. And look passed the cheese.

SIT BACK, RELAX, AND HANG ON

Just do it. Watch it, pay attention, take notes, and even (dare I say it) THINK! Cause this movie will make you do it whether you like it or not.

It’s an homage to cinema, action films, the land of Hollywood, and the fans. The people who PAY to watch this stuff. The people who religiously go even though we know the story before we watch it. We know the beats. We even call the endings. But we go because, most importantly, we want to be entertained.

And at the end of the day that’s all that really matters.

Watch and enjoy, my friends. They don’t get bigger than this.

Signed with Big Explosions, Guns, Fast Cars, Speed, Scantily Clad Vixens, and Booze.

D. Scarzilla

PS. 

I'll just leave these here.....

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