Departs from the "Die Hard" formula but not altogether unsuccessfully

Rating: 7/10 (11 February 2018)

The "Die Hard" series is one of the most popular in the action movie genre over the last 30 years. 1995's "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is the middle entry out of five movies to date. The first movie set the template and the second didn't stray far from the original premise but I guess they felt that they had to change things up for the third entry.
This time around, NYPD detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is once again the focal character but he's joined by Samuel L. Jackson as another guy who's basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a result, rather than McClane being more or less on his own like we're used to, the movie feels more like a buddy cop movie. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, and there are certainly a lot worse buddies you could have than Samuel L. Jackson. However, in my mind, this departure makes the movie seem a little less like a "Die Hard" movie.
Despite this change, the movie still calls back to the original by featuring a storyline that pits McClane against Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons), the brother of original villain Hans Gruber. Past Oscar-winner Irons makes a memorable villain in his own right but he'd be hard-pressed to top Alan Rickman's iconic performance. In fact, both Irons & Jackson prove to be excellent additions to the cast but, that being said, I did find it a bit disappointing that Willis was the only returnee from the first two movies. Again, this is something that I felt made this movie seem less like a continuation of "Die Hard" and more like something else entirely that someone went out of their way to fashion into a "Die Hard" movie.
Perhaps I'm being unduly harsh on the moviemakers for trying something a bit different here. Taken on it's own merits, "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is a perfectly serviceable action movie, above average even. My only real complaints with the plot are that the villain's scheme is preposterously intricate and the final showdown is over the top. These don't ruin a movie that is essentially well made overall. Of course, when you're dealing with a sequel it's only natural to compare with the original and that comparison is rarely ever favorable for the sequel. Altogether, "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is a pretty good action movie and if it isn't as good as what came before it, it's at least better than what came after.