The best of the quadrilogy

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2009)

Man, I was watching this movie the other day and I can't believe how good this movie is. Even though I liked Die Harder, it lacked the brains of its predecessor. John McTiernan returned to give us an action flick that not only delivers as an action flick but is also quite effective as a thriller.
Simon Peter Gruber(Jeremy Irons) is the brother of Hans Gruber who was killed by McClane in the Nakatomi Plaza. He detonates a few bombs in New York City and sends McClane on "Fools Errands" while covering up his real scheme: to steal gold reserves. McClane is saved from an a**kicking by angry mob by Zeus Carver(Samuel L Jackson), a shop owner. They reluctantly team up to play along with Simon's games. They later find out his big scheme all along.
Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis have excellent chemistry together. Plus you have to admire the match up. Zeus Carver has a nationalistic mentality and John McClane is your not-so-average white-bread cop. Despite their differences they still get together to handle the same goal. Zeus despite his prejudices was still a factor in helping McClane solve those riddles which were more clever than the riddles that were given to you by Jim Carrey's Riddler in Batman Forever.
Jeremy Irons is magnificent as Simon Peter Gruber. He's definitely one of the best movie villains in history. His plan showed a clever genius absent from movie villains nowadays. Quite possibly the last serious role that Jeremy Irons had. Tell the truth, can you look at him with a straight face after he starred in Dungeons and Dragons? I think not.
I like the pacing of this movie too. It keeps you glued to the screen and provides a thrill ride from start to finish. Im kind of surprised That everybody knows that its better than Die Hard 2. Plus this movie has lowest score of all Die Hard movies on Rottentomatoes. Shows you just how much these snooty consensus followers really know. The fact that this movie was outsold by Batman Forever in the box office shows you exactly where the intelligence of the movie-going was heading. Straight down the toilet bowl and they've been sinking further into the sewer since then.
If you're looking for an action/thriller that doesn't disappoint you cant go wrong with Die Hard With A Vengeance. It has great acting, a superb villain, a good plot and some engaging action sequences. More effective than what passes for Thriller these days and is easily the most underrated action sequel of all time.