Very, Very Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (5 February 2019)

Just for a little help with understanding where I'm coming from in my taste in this series, so far: I love the first movie, and think it's a relatively modern classic in action films. I couldn't recommend it more to anyone I talk to. The second film sucks in every way it possibly could-especially as a sequel. It's so boring that I dozed a couple of times watching the thing. And then it has a twist that's so dumb and nonsensical that my head spun a little bit. I hate that second movie.
Now we've reached the third film in the DH series, called "Die Hard With A Vengeance". That's a good title, man. The reputation this film carries around is enormous, and I expected a lot from the same director of the original film. I don't think I overhyped it too much for myself, though. I had heard again and again how this film took the series into a nice blend of "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard" flicks, and I was all for that, since I'm an enormous fan of all of the "Lethal Weapon" movies! On top of all of that, my favorite film genre tends to be cop (or crime) thrillers, and this was even more up my alley than the rest of the series! And yet it became a boring movie, too-just like the second film in the franchise! How is that even possible?!
The cast is great, all around. Sam Jackson is introduced to this film, as a racist black man, and the chemistry between he and Willis is phenomenal to watch. They really helped the movie not be an entire waste of my time. I really enjoyed them both in this. Again, though: all of the outside actors and actresses were really solid, in my opinion. Our villain is played by Jeremy Irons, which was a huge surprise for me. But his image looks like an absolute joke. I love Irons-the man is a wonderfully talented actor, but this film wastes him severely, I'm sad to say.
The scale of this third film is much, much larger than the first two flicks, having John McLane and Sam Jackson running all over the city, for the first half of the film, playing a tense game of "Simon Says" that includes bombs being hid all over the city. It was a really great idea, and I was sooooooooo interested in it, for a little less than half of the movie. But then a twist about our villain is revealed, and it's downhill from that point on.
The pacing slows down tremendously, and it becomes a chore to sit through. I was getting very agitated with it, as the film progressed. It just felt like we weren't going anywhere actually entertaining or worth making, in the first place. Again: I'm so disappointed in this third film that I don't even know how to put it into words.
The directing was mostly great. He took advantage of their locations in the city, and it really made the film feel enormous. It added to the sensation of tension you feel, in the first hour, because of the distances that McLane and Jackson have to go to even simply answer a pay phone. It's worrisome, as a viewer, and makes you panic, a little. There are other really intense scenes surrounding the bombs throughout the city that can have you worried. It's very engaging. But it just doesn't save the film, for me. I could get something close, probably, from a Seagal film, or a Schwarzenegger film, like "Commando".
The soundtrack and score for "Die Hard With A Vengeance" is fantastic. Big props to the guy who made that.
The action, I'll say, is also very well-done in this boring ass movie, for the most part. It can become a little too common, though, by the third act. Constant explosions and people defying gravity happen, here, and that might drag you out of the movie quite a bit, if you're like me. I don't need Bugs Bunny physics to enjoy a "Die Hard" film. The first film never needed that.
I have a sneaking suspicion that "Phonebooth" took a lot of inspiration from "Die Hard With A Vengeance". If you want a better, more tense version of this movie, then watch "Phonebooth", instead. You won't regret it.