Die Hard with a Vengeance

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2005)

Director of the first film John McTiernan (Predator) returns with this third film installment with the humorous, wise-cracking and admirable hero in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is a quiet morning in New York city, till an explosion suddenly takes place at a department, and then the police receive a phone call from the terrorist, calling himself Simon (Jeremy Irons). Simon says (that's the game he's playing) he wants Lt. John McClane (Bruce Willis), who is on suspension and an alcoholic, to go the corner of 138th Street and Amsterdam in Harlem wearing a racist sign. This is how he meets the almost completely white hating store owner and accomplice Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson, not long after Pulp Fiction), and they stick together as they travel round New York following Simon's instructions and figuring out his riddles, to stop more bombs going off. Simon tells them he has placed a bomb in a school (a lie), so while the cops are busy searching for it, and eventually "defusing" it, Simon Gruber (yes, Hans from the first film's brother) is getting closer to his goal of revenge, stealing millions and destroying New York, with John and Zeus hot on his and the terrorists tail. Also starring Graham Greene as Joe Lambert, Colleen Camp as Connie Kowalski, Kevin Chamberlin as Charles Weiss and Sharon Washington as Officer Jane. Like the first sequel it may not be as fun to watch and completely original as the first film, but this is certainly better than Die Hard 2, Willis and Jackson make a good double-act, there are some good chases and explosions, and the great catchphrase "Yippee-ki-yay mother f***er", a very good action thriller. Bruce Willis was number 35, and Samuel L. Jackson number 11 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!