Jumbled and Overwrought

Rating: 1/10 (5 July 2013)

"Die Hard with a Vengeance" is essentially the victim of overthinking. Different scripts were considered, and rejected for whatever reasons. In the end, they took a script by Jonathan Hensleigh (the very unfortunate screenwriter of Michael Bay trainwrecks like "The Rock" and "Armageddon") and tweaked it a little to make this movie.
The first half goes okay enough. When the movie leaves Manhattan, it becomes a jumble of random action scenes. There is no real narrative consistency, it just meanders. I know they wanted to not make a "Die Hard on a Boat," etc. But, by going the opposite direction and having a dozen different locations, it just makes it seem like they patched it together as they went along.
The performances are good, in general. Willis is always ready to go. But, Sam Jackson just does his angry black man routine, like he has in most of his movies. John McTiernan is a good director, but is one of those directors who shoots the script he's given. So, if it's a messed-up script, he shoots it without questioning it. After the movie goes on and on in its last hour, you want to just wrap it up.
A major problem here is that they give McClane a sidekick, which he certainly doesn't need! I think that the producers and everyone else got freaked out by the fact that McClane talks to himself in the first two movies. So, they give him a sidekick. This has continued ever since. I think people just can't handle it if someone isn't psychologically right down the middle. So, if you have a guy talking to himself, people think "Can't have that!"
Plus, gone is producer Joel Silver, who made the first two movies. This time, it's in the heavyhanded grasp of the producers who did "Rambo." So, there's gotta be a lot of blood and crazy-ass action, with little humor or sense of character. So it is with this movie, and the others that followed.
The final action scene is good, but comes too late to make a difference. I know lots of people love this "Die Hard," but it does nothing for me, either then when I first saw it or now. In fact, when I saw it on opening day, I was in such shock that they actually made this the third "Die Hard" that I gave it a "B" on the CinemaScore card, when I actually would've given it an "F" if I were of sound mind at the time!
* (1 Out of 10 Stars)