The Reason Hollywood Doesn't Allow Teenage Boys To Write Action Movies.

Rating: 4/10 (16 June 2019)

When I was young, I thought this was 'THE BEST' of the Die Hard series, the way every teenager wants to amplify the importance of everything in their own individual lives. It makes sense that I would have loved this film, because 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' (1995) is written as if a teenage boy supervised this project.
The original 'Die Hard' (1988) was about a guy who had a bad day. He got trapped in a high-rise building that was taken over by terrorists. 90 minutes and 1 plot device - a hijacked building. This third installment of the series has so many terrible things happen to John McClain - any one of which should have put him in the hospital. The mugging in Harlem should have given him a concussion, the explosion in the subway should have killed him, surfing on a dump truck (that no one is driving) is impossible, the wave that rushed under him while he hung on a sewer grate should have dislocated several joints in his upper body (and probably drown him)...
I'll fast-forward to the end - John survives more hardships, then uses a snub-nose .38 caliber pistol to shoot down a helicopter loaded with a light machine gun.
There were some positives - I like the 'shoot first, hardcore' version of John McClain in this film. It's as if this guy has been through so much, that now he doesn't even bother to ask questions before shooting and killing people. In an over-the-top sequel like this, a little realism is nice touch. The New York City location filming was also cool, but not cool enough to make this a good movie. Jonathan Hensleigh wrote this nonsense, and I don't like one project on his IMDB writing resume. This is a cartoonish attempt at a Die Hard film, and although better than 'Die Hard 2 (1990), still has not lived up to the original classic.
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria:
Acting - 1/1 (finally, a complete cast of decent actors in a 'Die Hard' film);
Casting - 1/1;
Directing - 0.5/1;
Story - 1/1;
Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1;
Total Base Score = 4
Modifiers (+ or -):
Authentic Location Shooting: +1 (New York City);
Music Score/Soundtrack: -1 (Awful patriotic music, inappropriately placed throught the film.);
Believability/Consistency: -0.5 (An authentic John McClain in an outlandish film.);
Quotability: +0.5;
Total RealReview Rating: 4