The Three Leads Make the Film

Rating: Null/10 (10 February 2013)

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
*** (out of 4)
John McClane (Bruce Willis) is thrown back into action when a madman (Jeremy Irons) plants bombs throughout New York City. With the help of a store owner (Samuel L. Jackson), McClane must try and play "Simon Says" before more people are killed but there's something deeper to this madman's plan. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE seems to be the most disliked among the original three films but I've always had a soft spot for it. While it's true that the film really doesn't fit the mode of the previous two, there's no question that the three stars are in excellent form and they alone make this worth sitting through. Unlike the first two films, this one here never takes itself too serious and I think it's clear that everyone was just trying to deliver a fun film and not something that was going to change the world or even the genre. Director John McTiernan does an extremely good job with the action scenes as we're given plenty of great ones from the opening explosion to a terrific sequence on a subway and of course the big conclusion. All of the action scenes are perfectly staged as are the smaller scenes with Willis and Jackson running around the city doing various "jobs" for the madman. I think where the film really works is the chemistry between Willis and Jackson. The two of them are obviously having a blast together and I think their back and forth comedy bits are the highlight of the film. The non-stop racial issues between the two should have been annoying but the actors actually make it work and make it very funny at that. Irons isn't someone you'd expect to see in a film like this but he too appears to be having a blast and the back and forth between him and Willis is also extremely good. Graham Greene, Larry Bryggman and Colleen Camp are also good in their supporting roles. There's one major problem with the film and that's the incredibly long running time. The film should have been cut down by at least ten-minutes and I think the multiple endings should have also been cut. Still, fans of the series are going to have a good time with this one. I understand how some might say it's not a "real" DIE HARD movie but to me this here is better than just giving us a direct copy of the first two.