Die Hard evolved the action movie genre from the hulking heavy machine gunners of the Eighties to the ordinary quick-witted smart alecks of the Nineties. The first movie easily earned a place in the hall of fame and could have been the last. When it became a franchise, they stretched the character and premise into all sorts of shapes. Die Hard with a Vengeance was the finest sequel the original could ever get. It expanded the series in the best way while still complementing the first. It challenged John McClane by putting him in a situation far out of his wheelhouse. He cannot shoot at riddles or mind games. Its connection to the first was also rich and rewarding, having the brother of Hans Gruber return for revenge – at least, that was the veneer.
The original script for With a Vengeance went through various editions as other movies before it became the third Die Hard. It was even a Lethal Weapon sequel while owned by Warner Bros., then it was finally sold to Fox. Die Hard with a Vengeance was released in 1995, five years after the second in the series, and made $366 million on a budget of $90 million. It made a greater revenue than the other worthwhile sequels by comparison. The second Die Hard only doubled its profits and the fourth tripled. With a Vengeance quadrupled. Die Hard with a Vengeance is the peak of John McClane. It is truly the crown jewel of the franchise.
Whereas the first Die Hard is contained in a commercial building, with a Vengeance is free to sprawl out across Manhattan. Simon’s riddles take McClane and Carver all over the city until they catch a whiff of his plot and zero in on him. It is expansive and fast in ways the first could never be and surpasses Die Hard 2 simply by virtue of using the main character in a new and original way. New York City poses an obstacle to McClane’s time constraints, and the clever ways he gets around it (both above ground and below) are as exciting as the gunfights are. With a Vengeance even has a cooler version of the Captain America elevator fight scene, except decades before and with way more blood. McClane shoots one of them in the head. Captain America fought more enemies, but he would never go that far.
Samuel Jackson is easily the highlight of the movie. By 1995, he had already been in a half dozen memorable roles, from his split-second scene in Coming to America, to Jurassic Park, to his Oscar-nominated performance in Pulp Fiction. One could argue that he was the leading star of Die Hard with a Vengeance. No doubt the series belongs to Bruce Willis, but this one is undeniably a Samuel L. Jackson vehicle. His character, Zeus Carver, supports and surpasses McClane’s intellectual abilities.
Had Simon played his mind games with McClane alone, the NYC cop would have been blown up after the first challenge. It is Zeus who deciphers the riddles each time. More than that, Sam Jackson’s pent-up frustration reflects the present-day social crisis. Demonstrating that the struggle for racial justice has been consistently waged all along and expressed even in the smallest arena of the world like an action movie. Themes of racism and prejudice, between cops and the black community (Zeus vs. McClane), between the black community and the city (as expressed to Zeus’ nephews), are made vocally felt via the profane irritation of Samuel L. Jackson. The biting racial commentary is at times comedic, but it is no less real.
There is no question that the first Die Hard is one of the best action movies ever made. It defined a hero archetype, that of the everyman in an extraordinary situation. While it is endlessly fun to argue whether it is classified as a Christmas movie or not, there is no argument that it is an endlessly rewatchable movie. It is full of one-liners, memorable characters, memorable action sequences, and one of the most iconic villains of cinematic history, Hans Gruber (Simon’s brother).
Die Hard 2 received a higher rating than Die Hard with a Vengeance, but it was merely a routine rehash of the first movie, to lesser entertainment. Instead of terrorists in a building, it’s terrorists in an airport. Instead of grand larceny, it is a prison-break of sorts. The second never bothered to expand the concept in the same way that the third did.
The fourth one, Live Free or Die Hard, placed the action hero in another innovative predicament. This time he faces off against cyber terrorists, a field Detective John McClane knows truly little about. Thankfully, he has the assistance of the hacker played by Justin Long. While still a solid action movie, Justin Long cannot contend with the dynamic between Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis. A Good Day to Die Hard circles the garbage bin. For sanity’s sake, pretend the fifth never happened.
There is always the possibility Bruce Willis will return as John McClane in the future. Rumors swirled about a sixth one titled McClane but it ended up being a Super Bowl commercial. If there were to be another movie, the film company should use the third as a template. McClane is best when put in situations that challenge the norm, such as the fun and expansive Die Hard with a Vengeance.
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