I have watched the third film in the Die Hard franchise, Die Hard with A Vengenace. I have already reviewed the Die Hard 1 and 2, and so now here is my review for Die Hard with A Vengenace.
The Good:
The best thing about this movie is Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, their chemistry is what makes this movie so entertaining, they just have a great back and forth with one another, and here you get to see full Samuel L. Jackson and not the tamed PG-13 version. And I wish that Jackson was in more of the films, because I would love to see another Die Hard movie with the two of them as the lead. Jeremy Irons as Simon Gruber is just a nice addition to the movie where he’s not throwing punches with John McClane but manipulating and he’s basically a puppetmaster in the movie. (He also has a great voice). But he’s a smart villain where you don’t know where he is going to strike next.
This movie is more about the thrills and excitement, then it is about the big action set pieces. Now, this movie does have fun action in it, but it’s not as frequent as it was in Die Hard 1 and 2. And the thrills are the best in the franchise so far, where you have Simon calling John McClane and Zeus (Jackson’s character), and making them do this chase all around New York City and planting bombs around the city, and you know that people can die if they don’t get there in time, or can’t solve the riddles in time. It kept me intersted from the beginning to the end.
This might just be the most fun movie of the franchise. Most of it coming from Willis and Jackson’s relationship of them just bickering back and forth in this really funny way. Example: when they are when McClane is driving a cab through Central Park, and Jackson is just freaking out and you have Willis who is just calm and not freaking out, little moments like that. There are also a lot of fun and exciting car chases in the movie, where you have Willis driving a cab through Central Park, and just it is shot in a way that is fun to watch. And the movie moves at a nice pace, each scene is the correct length it needs to be, it hops from action to chase very quickly and when it’s not doing that, the dynamic between the two main characters is happening.
Lastly, I also appreciated that this movie did something different. My big problem with Die Hard 2: Die Harder is that it felt too much like a rehash of the first movie. This film they’re not hostages it’s a wild goose chase and a heist film in New York City.
The Bad:
I don’t have any big problems with the movie, just a couple minor things.
There is the big third act climax on the boat, then you think the movie is over and it goes for another 5-10 minutes. While the scene itself isn’t bad, it feels like a part of the movie that they could have editing it differently and where it just kept on going, and didn’t feel like the movie is getting ready to wrap up, and it kept going.
And I thought the third act of the movie wasn’t as exciting as I wish it was. It involves, John and Zeus climbing a cable down to a boat, John getting in a fight with a henchman, and Zeus sneaking around the boat, that’s it for the third act. Now they did something different then the first two movies but I don’t think it was better.
Die Hard with A Vengeance is a great movie, and a great follow-up to the original Die Hard. Maybe being the most fun movie in the franchise. It has some minor issues. The movie also has one of the best duos in all of movie history with John McCalne and Zeus.
The Score: 9/10 (A-)
Comments