...Yay (Die Hard With A Vengeance (DVD))

Member Name: Seres

Product:	Die Hard With A Vengeance (DVD)
Date:	29/02/08 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The addition of SLJ, Bruce Willis, superb plotting and direction, OTT action

Disadvantages: The explosion count is predictably low

You'd think that saving your wife from certain death twice would make marriage a lot easier. Well, it sure as heck ain't. John McClane, saviour of America twice over, is a wreck in Die Hard With A Vengeance. His wife has left him, he's living on his own, he's got an alcohol addiction, and he's been suspended from police duty for being too bad-ass for his own good. Sadly for John, as he's woken up by the police, he's needed again to help them. Nursing the mother of all hangovers, John has to obey the riddles and commands of a mysterious phone voice calling himself "Simon", and the first thing he wants John to do is walk through downtown Harlem with a sign round his neck saying (don't think I'm racist and tell Channel 4 I quoted this sign, I don't want the tabloids to attack me) "I Hate Niggers". Obviously, this man wants to see John dead. A situation, indeed.
John McTiernan returns to the fray for the third film in the series, thankfully, and brings back much of the atmosphere and soul of the original. The film-makers have realised that John needs an opponent with charisma, and they've set him up against a mysterious phone-voice who turns out to be Jeremy Irons. Good move. However, the most important thing to happen to the film is the introduction of Zeus. Not the thunderous god of the greeks, but a pissed-off black shopkeeper, Zeus saves John from being shot in Harlem, and Simon decides Zeus should accompany John for the rest of the film. As McClane and Zeus drive round New York, trying to solve riddles, they bicker incessantly, but a respect is there too, and they more than match each other for ingenuity.

The key to the brilliance of the threequel is in the casting. Bruce Willis, naturally, has a blast as McClane has his worst day yet. Hung over and mightily angry with everything, McClane unleashes his caustic rage on everyone who comes near him, and he decides that this time, he really doesn't care what anyone else tells him - if he wants to drive a car through central park, and smash up several buildings, then he's friggin' well going to do it. He's like Jack Bauer except grumpy. And, match this with Zeus - played by Samuel L (motherf***ing) Jackson, and you've got some spectacular fireworks going off. That's right, Samuel L (motherf***ing) Jackson is working alongside Willis in this movie, and he naturally commands presence wherever he goes. However, he understates his role, Zeus isn't a genius with guns or fighting terrorists, he's just a shopkeeper, and this pays off nicely as it means his badassery can simmer throughout the movie. We know he's badass, but nobody else does. When he chooses to unleash the badassery... It's awesomely exciting. Completing the trio is Jeremy Irons, as 'Simon', who plays his role straight. He oozes sinister as soon as we meet him, and is a worthy addition to the cast. His performance is uncanny, he doesn't seem like the canny English thesp we know him for, but slings himself totally into the evil (German, natch) role as chief evil.
The star of the show though is the script. It's phenomenal. It takes about an hour to set up the film, so we have John and Zeus running across town trying to stop explosions, but then we find out what the villains actually want, and their plan is genius to say the least. Then, when you think the film is going to run it's course, it introduces a third strand, whereby there is a bomb in a school *somewhere*, and the police have to find it. This naturally means that John and Zeus have to work on their own, and, allowed this freedom, naturally start to destroy things. The direction from McTiernan is restrained again, like it was sin the first film, and he brings back the soul and spirit of the first film without sacrificing plot or character. Plus, he has lots of things blow up.

The two main characters are put up against some real problems in this film, as the trot across the city in a bid to save the day. It's that cat-and-mouse game again, except this time they have no advantage over Simon at all. It really does seem like Simon's going to escape, the dastardly fiend. However this time round, and this is a real gem of a development, the police have started to trust John's judgement. After all, he has saved the day twice now, and so he gets the belief of his superiors that he should just be left to his own devices, because he knows what he's doing.
One small shadow that lurks over the movie is the absence of Bonnie Bedelia, aka Mrs McClane. She's there in spirit though, as one thread of the plot deals with John trying to work up the courage to call her and try to get their marriage back together. Also missing are Sgt Al, and slimy news reporter William Atheron. However, now we have Samuel L (mother f***ing) Jackon on board, these absences are not missed too keenly. All in all, this is a film which never lets up. It's fast and exhilarating, and there are lots of explosions - and naturally a yippie-ki-yay - and it all leaves me looking forward to Die Hard 4.0 with all the open-eyed wonder of a German looking down the barrel of a gun. Perhaps that's a bad metaphor....

Summary: Explosions, explosions, EXPLOSIONS