Die Hard: With Awesome

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2005)

'Die Hard' was awesome because it featured an action hero who was vulnerable and had weaknesses, unlike most action heroes, and all the action was limited exclusively to the one setting. 'Die Hard: With a Vengeance' is awesome because it completely dispensed with anything that was unique about the first, and turned into an awesome action movie, completely different from the action awesomeness of the original. Awesome.
A terrorist named Simon threatens to bring New York to a standstill. Specifically asking for John McClane (Bruce Willis), Simon plays "Simon Says... or a bunch of bombs explode" with McClane. In short, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas for the hungover McClane.
John McTiernan returns as director after Renny Harlin directed 'Die Hard 2'. If you ignore 'Rollerball', McTiernan is a rather awesome director of awesome action movies. Like I said, McTiernan dumps the formula from the first and second, and takes 'Die Hard' in a totally different, but just as awesome, direction. The story may be as solid as the first, but the massive gaps in logic from the second don't really appear in the third. Well, they do, they just aren't as massive.
As an action movie, Die Hard 3 is one of the best. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson get to run around New York trying to foil the bad guy, and generally causing chaos where ever they go. For a series of gun fights and explosions, Die Hard 3 is actually pretty exciting.
While it still can't beat the original, Die Hard 3 is a great sequel, and is a little better than the second. As awesome as it is, it is probably only for action fans though - 8/10
Awesome count: The word 'awesome' was used 9 times in this review.