Lights, Camera...Action by the Bucket Load!

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2006)

Without doubt Die Hard with a Vengeance is the most action packed movie of all time. It begins with a hot day in the city, people are milling around and its seems like this is going to be a fun summer movie. Then BANG! The cheesy music stops and the action begins courtesy of a terrorist group led by a man called Simon; but we'll come to him in a moment. From that point onwards it is never ending roller coaster ride through the streets of Manhattan. Defusing bombs, taking out bad guys and driving a taxi cab at a hundred miles an hour through central park are just some of the great action sequences that break up the even more action packed sequences that lye in wait.
You can sense I am writing this with a certain amount of excitement, and that is exactly the kind of adrenaline rush that this movie produces. I like the Die Hard movies in general but this picture reached a whole new level. The claustrophobia of the first film is eclipsed by the scope of the setting in Vengeance. It's as though the director thought 'New York looks like a good playground for John McClane, how much damage can he do?'. And it truly is the perfect setting, not just in terms of size but the fact that it is McClane's home town and for once he is no longer a fish out of water. It's his job, and he's going to do it the way he wants tooeven if he is nursing the hangover from hell.
But of course there are other action movies out there and in the modern world of CGI it seems the movie was limited to what it was able to blow up. Lets face it filming in the busy streets of downtown New York couldn't have been an easy task. But the film succeeds on more than just explosions due to the dynamic relationship between Willis and his co Star Samuel L Jackson (Zeus). The idea of two guys put in a position where they have to work together despite their initial grievances towards each other always conjures up a degree of comedy and drama. Similarly, unlike most action heroes McClane is far from perfect. He drinks, he smokes, and he's a terrible husband and father, yet still kicks ass in the most insane way when it comes to terrorism.
Now I said I would get to the role of Simon, the new nemesis of McClane. As we do not find out whom he is at first I will not ruin it, but needless to say Jeremy Irons puts in a great display as Simon. He is the perfect puppet master and it is nice to see a Die Hard bad guy that is actually capable of outsmarting John a little bit.
All in all this is a great summer blockbuster and an example to all of how a sequel should be done. Up the action, up the stakes and keep the explosions coming.
Awesome 10/10