dragonfire88's Full Review: Die Hard 3: Die Hard With a Vengeance
I really enjoyed Die Hard and Die Hard 2: Die Harder and they are two of my favorite action movies. Since both of those movies were so popular and successful, it wasn't surprising that a third movie, Die Hard With a Vengeance, was made in 1995.
A bomb went off in a department store in New York City. The bomber, Simon, called the police and demanded John McClane. Simon wanted to play a game with John and more bombs would go off around the city if John didn’t participate. Zeus, a store owner in Harlem, got pulled into the situation when he tried to intervene in a situation that Simon had set up. Simon kept contacting the police with riddles and new instructions for John and Zeus. John eventually figured out that Simon’s orders and the bombs were an elaborate cover for what Simon really wanted.
Even though this is the third movie to feature John McClane, it can stand on its own well. There wasn’t any kind of continuing plot carried over from the second movie. People who haven’t seen the first two movies should be able to follow everything going on in Die Hard With a Vengeance fine. John would be more developed and a few things he did would make a bit more sense if the first two movies were watched before this one.
It was never said exactly how much time had passed between the events in the second movie and this movie. Enough time had passed for John to be in a very different place in his life. He was back in New York City alone and I think that Holly and the kids were still in California. He was back on the force in the city but he was on a suspension. He was extremely hung over and in general bad shape when he first appeared in the movie. John seemed to be grumpier overall and he wasn’t exactly liked well by the officers he was working with. John did seem really different to me, and I didn’t completely like all the changes to him. He did still make some sarcastic or funny remarks at times, but even some of those just didn’t seem to fit him as well as ones from the first two movies. John did say his one well-known line that was also in the first two movies.
The big connection between Die Hard With a Vengeance and the previous movies was that once again John was dealing with terrorists. He did have the help of Zeus throughout most of the movie, something that was different from what had happened before. That did seem a little odd after how he had handled things more on his own in the other movies but it did work. Once again, John had no interest in being a hero. He would have been perfectly content to stay wherever he’d been sleeping off his hangover. He got pulled into the mess because Simon specifically wanted John. In the previous movies, John had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. This time John was risking his life to save strangers instead of his wife. The events still took place over a few hours in one day though it wasn’t Christmas this time. None of the events from the second movie were brought up. Certain things from the first movie were briefly mentioned. This movie was connected back to the first one, which did provide the motivation for why Simon was after John.
Die Hard With a Vengeance had several action scenes which started very early with the detonation of the first bomb. After that, there were fights and more explosions all around the city. John and Zeus were either directly involved or in the area for those things. The action scenes were well done and did keep things interesting. There was a small amount of suspense added in the scenes when John and Zeus were trying to figure out Simon’s riddles. The special effects that were used were well done. The movie did include a lot of violence, some which was very graphic. Several people were hurt or killed and a lot of blood was shed. John and Zeus were both hurt multiple times. The movie is probably too violent for some people and is definitely not a movie for children. The violence, as well as all the swearing, was why the movie was rated R.
The plot of Die Hard With a Vengeance revolved around John and Zeus battling a terrorist that was threatening to set off bombs around New York City. Since there have been so many terrorist bombings around the world in large cities in the last several years that could bother some people. The fact that the movie was set in New York City, even though it was made years before the tragedy of 9/11, will definitely bother some people. This isn’t a movie for everyone, especially for anyone who was impacted by the events of 9/11.
In the first two movies, John’s relationship with his wife Holly was very important to what was going on even though it wasn’t the main focus. He did what he did in those movies to save her. In this movie, their marriage was basically nonexistent. They were living apart, in different states even, and hadn’t even talked in a year since they had an argument on the phone according to John. I really didn’t like that their relationship fell apart like that after it had been built up so much in the previous movies. I’m guessing that the writers or director didn’t want Holly to be in danger yet again even though that had worked well in the other movies. If they didn’t want Holly involved for that reason, there could have been other ways to handle her not being in the movie. She and the kids could have been visiting her family or something like that instead. It was really a small thing, but it still bothered me.
John was the only character that returned from the second movie. He didn’t seem to be concerned about being suspended or that his whole career was in danger when the movie started. He’d made a comment in the first movie about his captain not liking that he didn’t follow procedures, but he still seemed to be dedicated to his work. He seemed to be missing that in this movie. The fact that he was having so many problems in his life did make him a more realistic character. I just liked him better in the first two movies. Bruce Willis was still very good in the part.
Zeus owned a store in Harlem. He saw John following the first of Simon’s orders and tried to interfere because he didn’t know exactly what was going on. Zeus did seem to have a bit of an attitude and he and John clashed more than once. Zeus did end up helping in several situations. Samuel L. Jackson was good in the part. Several other cops, like John’s superior officer, were around throughout the movie without being developed. Really all that was shared about them was that they wanted to stop Simon and none of them really liked John that much. It would have been hard to fit the arrogant reporter Richard Thornburg or cop Al Powell into the movie again, but I did kind of miss seeing them turn up.
Simon had a very elaborate plan that involved making John and Zeus run around the city, figuring out riddles. Simon was very cold blooded and wouldn’t hesitate to kill to reach his objectives. He was very devious at times. Jeremy Irons was really good in the part. Katya was working with Simon. She was vicious when needed and followed Simon’s orders without question. I can’t remember her actually speaking in the movie. Sam Phillips conveyed through her actions and expressions that Katya wasn’t someone you’d want to mess with. None of the other terrorists were developed at all.
Main Cast
Jeremy Irons - Simon Samuel L. Jackson - Zeus Sam Phillips - Katya Bruce Willis - John McClane
John McTiernan - Director
DVD Information
I own a two disc DVD version of Die Hard With a Vengeance. It was part of the set of all three Die Hard movies that was released several years ago. I think new DVD versions have been released recently. I have no idea if those versions have different extras or not. The DVD has the anamorphic widescreen version of the movie. The first disc also had a commentary with the director.
The majority of the extras were included on the second DVD. There was an alternate ending that was interesting and very different from the ending used in the theatrical version of the movie. The alternate ending took place a few months after everything else in the movie, close to Christmas. There were a few things about it that I did like better, though I think the movie worked better overall with the ending that was used. The second disc also included a special on the making of the movie and another special related to the movie made for television. There were also behind the scenes vignettes, a storyboard sequence, an interview with Bruce Willis, special effects breakdown, and the trailer and television spots included. I did think the extras were interesting and worth watching.
I didn’t like Die Hard With a Vengeance as much as I did the first two movies, but I did still like it and think it is a good action movie. It is a must see movie for fans of the Die Hard series.
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