The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 290 Days to go: 279
Movie #87: Die Hard: With A Vengeance
So where Die Hard 2 deviates from the thieves-posing-as-terrorists model of the original, Die Hard: With A Vengeance returns to it … with a vengeance. You’d think the audience would see this reveal coming from a mile away, but actually because of that Die Hard 2 deviation, the sleight of hand works again. So I guess that sequel was good for something after all. (I still love it, I can’t lie.)
In this third installment, we find our rapidly devolving John McClane (Bruce Willis) being forced to jump through a series of hoops at the behest of resident psycho Simon (Jeremy Irons), who just happens to be the brother of the late great Hans Gruber, infamous Nakatomi Plaza terrorist. So it’s easy to believe Simon has a grudge against McClane (and he does, as he delights in toying with and torturing him), but it also fits that he’s not really politically motivated to get rid of gold and instead wants to steal it away for himself.
Sadly, there is no Holly McClane in this one, but we do give McClane a sidekick in the form of Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus, a Harlem electrician who gets pulled into solving Simon’s puzzles with McClane because he had the bad sense to keep John from being killed out in front of his store. Zeus is an excellent compadre, as he both helps and harasses McClane, providing vital support and insight but also calling him out on all his bullshit at every opportunity. He even delivers the best line when, carrying a gold bar out of the Federal Reserve, says, “Damn, this is heavy!” (Honorable mention to the very subtle Pulp Fiction reference, as McClane says he’d been “working on a big fat suspension, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo.” — And if you don’t recognize that line from the soundtrack or as the song Butch is listening to as he runs into Marcellus Wallace, then you didn’t devour Pulp Fiction as obsessively as I did.)
One brilliant thing about this movie — one thing that makes it such a great piece of the Die Hard franchise — is how, just as in the original, no scene is really wasted. The questionable activities of Zeus’s nephews in the beginning set up the reasons for their skepticism near the end. The demonstration of the bomb’s power on the end of a tiny wire is used to John’s and Zeus’s advantage in the harbor. McClane’s observation that Simon wanted the bomb to go off on Wall Street no matter what gets an explanation later on. Even the descent to the barge via towing cable has a couple payoffs: First when Zeus wants to jump and John says it’ll cut them in half, it ends up cutting a bad guy in half. Secondly, John gets a splinter from the thing that is used to get him out of his handcuffs not long after. Everything has its purpose, which makes for a much more streamlined, satisfying movie, even if it doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.
One way Die Hard: With A Vengeance kind of lets me down is that the ending isn’t nearly as awesome and all out as the first two. Crashing the bad guys’ helicopter into some power lines is all well and good, but it meets neither the poetic “Oh shit” face of Hans Gruber falling from the Nakatomi building as Holly’s watch releases nor the “Fuck yeah” bad-assery of a flaming fuel line climbing into the sky to blow up a plane. It does have a great line though: “Say hello to your brother.” I can respect that.
Still, it needs more pertinent women, and not just creepy dead-eyed ones who only show emotion when faced with coitus-interruptus.
Viable Option 