Movies
Ranking John McTiernan Films: #4 – “Die Hard With A Vengeance” (1995)
John McTiernan lone sequel project is a damn good one.
“John McClane and a Harlem store owner are targeted by German terrorist Simon in New York City, where he plans to rob the Federal Reserve Building.”
Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh, Roderick Thorp
Cast: Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson
Release Date: May 19, 1995
IMDB
John McTiernan lone sequel project is a damn good one. Following the disappointments of Last Action Hero and Medicine Man, McTiernan needed a win badly, so he latched onto an old hero and brought upon a new upcoming star to propel a city-sprawling screenplay that wasn’t even meant for him into what would become the highest-grossing movie of 1995.
Seems like a dream?
Bruce Willis is back as John McClane, and Samuel L. Jackson saddles up as Zeus for a fantastic buddy movie frilled with action style and fast, hilarious dialogue. Die Hard With A Vengeance does a great job of dropping the audience into a deadly game of Simon Says (the name of the original screenplay) with the devious Simon….GRUBER calling the shots! Jeremy Irons plays the villain, the brother of Alan Rickman’s Hans, and does so with the proper flair. Hans and Simon are indeed family because both want to pull off a seemingly impossible heist. However, Simon’s is even grander in scale, going after the Federal Reserve Building.
One of Die Hard With A Vengeance’s best assets is that it’s a very New York movie. It was filmed in The Big Apple, and McClane and Zeus’s travel throughout the city gives a strong sense of scale and environment. The size of the cat-and-mouse game grows to some preposterous proportions in the third act, but it’s forgivable. The ride McTiernan takes the audience on reminds everyone that he can still direct an excellent action movie.
STANKO RATING: B
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