Explosions, car chases and a dirty white vest

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2014)

If you've seen the previous two Die Hard films - and it would be advisable to - this has the same mix of action, as Officer Mcclane runs round New York trying to stop Jeremy Irons character, Simon Gruber (you might recognise the surname from the Alan Rickmans character in the first film). The main differences between the first two are that: 1) McClane has a partner; Samuel L Jackson, playing an angry, racist (similar role to all his other films, but as a civilian he doesn't get to shoot as much) shop owner, caught up in the plot. 2) McClane isn't just gunning for the bad guys, and has a lot of other challenges to over come first. 3) He's not just confined to a restricted area, like the Nakatomi plaza, or airport, but has the whole of NYC to save. The last two make it feel more like Grand Theft Auto - but you're the cops - compared to the previous two films that felt more like first person shooters. While he didn't need much personal local knowledge for the first two films, it's imperitive for this one; he consulted maps to get around Dulles in the second film, but this time he's on home soil, and it shows.
Weirdly, I've seen this at the cinema, on DVD and on TV, and the DVD has a scene cut out - involving some sword action - probably because it's deemed too violent, which was on the cinema and TV release. It doesn't say on the sleeve it was cut, but was likely done to reduce its certificate.