Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995)

3 out of 4

Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irons, Graham Greene, Larry Bryggman, Colleen Camp

Director: John McTiernan

Time: 131 mins

With the success of Die Hard and its immediate sequel, Die Hard 2, it took a surprisingly long while before the main players got together again to make Die Hard 3. A couple of substantial factors played a hand in the delay. First, there was Bruce Willis' star status. He was commanding huge fees by this time, especially after his very good turn in 1994's trendsetting Pulp Fiction. Secondly, there was the matter of a script. After all, there are only so many locations where one can place a Die Hard-style plot. Additionally, the plethora of Die Hard clones and ripoffs in the years after Die Hard 2 was released in 1990 meant those few locations were being quickly exhausted. Fortunately, there was a script by Jonathan Hensleigh called Simon Says that was floating around Hollywood at that time. It was originally intended to be the next Lethal Weapon vehicle, but when Die Hard producers discovered it, it was renamed Die Hard: With A Vengeance and rewritten to incorporate John McClane.

The new script had two interesting features that enticed both Willis and the original's director, John McTiernan, back for another outing. For starters, it was set in New York, which opened up all sorts of possibilities for large scale action setpieces. And secondly, it introduced Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, the main villain from the first Die Hard. This added a vengeance element to the story that made it more fascinating than the usual terrorist plot, even though in the end it did just turn out to be another terrorist plot.

The story takes place a few years after the events in Die Hard 2. John McClane is again estranged from his wife and back in New York City. His predilection for alcohol has him in trouble with his superiors. Just when he thought his life couldn't get any worse, a bomb destroys a Manhattan department store during the height of summer. Someone named Simon (Jeremy Irons) calls the NYPD and demands that McClane stand on a Harlem street with a racist sign on his front and back, or else another bomb will be detonated. McClane, only half-sober, is brought in for the task. He is almost lynched by a street gang but is saved by an intervention from store owner Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), who reluctantly joins the game Simon is playing, a game of "Simon Says". Soon after, McClane and Carver are racing to prevent more bombs from exploding, including one on a peak hour subway train and another hidden in a New York City school. It appears Simon is the brother of Hans Gruber, whom McClane disposed of in the first Die Hard. Is Simon's game for revenge, or is there another, more sinister, motive?

When Speed (1994) upped the ante for the Die Hard genre with its blistering, non-stop, and thrilling action premise, the creators of Die Hard: With A Vengeance knew they had to come up with something just as fast-paced and exciting, if not more so. Not that the first two Die Hards were snail-paced, it was just that Speed totally lived up to its title (it was so fast you didn't mind some of its ludicrous plot holes). This third Die Hard is indeed very fast-paced, though there is a surprisingly "slow" segment in the middle that drags a bit before picking up again for the frenetic second hour. Unfortunately, the climax is relatively lacklustre, especially when compared to the more spectacular finishes in the first two films. It's almost as if budgetary or time constraints forced the filmmakers to shoot a hasty climax that feels more like an afterthought than a worthy conclusion to the whole film. This is disappointing, but the rest of the film contains more than enough excitement and thrills for two or even three films.

The breathtaking action scenes are a defining feature of the Die Hard series, and this third instalment contains its fair share of kinetic moments. The first major action sequence is an incredible car/subway chase that is reminiscent of the classic car/train chase in The French Connection. McClane and Carver drive a taxi through Central Park and down clogged Manhattan streets to rendezvous with a train that's rigged to explode if they don't reach the downtown area within a certain time. The next major setpiece is a heartpounding evacuation of a school that could be levelled by a massive version of the same bomb that destroyed the department store. Interspersed with these are the usual gunfights, fistfights, a car chase and shooting match on wet roads in upstate New York, and even an adventure element with the flooding of a recently constructed aqueduct tunnel. All the while McClane and Carver are trying to solve puzzles related to Simon's game. With the exception of the climax, most of the action is exciting and brilliantly filmed. With the original's director, John McTiernan, back at the helm, it's not hard to see why.

The New York locations add a larger-than-life feel to the action scenes. While the larger battleground dissipates the tension inherent in a claustrophobic setting (the tower in the first Die Hard, and, to a lesser extent, the airport in the second), the use of landmarks like Central Park, Yankee Stadium, and Wall Street is notable and welcome. Additionally, since I've now been in New York for over six months, seeing those locations prompts an "I've been there!" thrill that was missing from the first two.

John McClane doesn't have his wife to worry about this time, but gains an unexpected partner in Zeus Carver. Willis and Jackson, who were very good in Pulp Fiction, play off each other beautifully. Distrustful at first, they gradually develop a friendship and grudging respect as they realise they must overcome their differences to stave off Simon's gruesome games. Their riffs and arguments on racism are a hoot - confronting yet very funny at the same time. Willis knows the character of John McClane like the back of his hand by now, and though he doesn't do much more than be McClane, he shows there aren't too many actors who can play him as charismatically as he does. Jackson is his foul-mouthed, commanding self. That he is also a closet racist black man explores an interesting reversal of the usual racist white man persona.

The villain, Simon Gruber, is an improvement on the mostly bland Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2. Jeremy Irons is a very good actor, and he makes the most of the terrorist who holds New York City hostage. Simon Gruber is still not in the same class as Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, but then very few movie villains are. The rest of the cast, including Larry Bryggman as McClane's boss, and Graham Greene and Colleen Camp as fellow cops, provide good support.

There have been numerous rumours floating around of a fourth Die Hard in the works, though none have turned out to be true. Even if this seminal action series finishes with Die Hard: With A Vengeance, the film itself would be a good denouement to the trilogy, poor climax and all. The original Die Hard is still the top of the heap, but Die Hard: With A Vengeance can hold its head relatively, and comfortably, high.

(c) Joe Wong (14 December 2001)