Die Hard With a Vengeance Review
by Eric Sansoni Hiya! (sanson08 AT futures DOT wharton DOT upenn DOT edu)June 2nd, 1995
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
A film review by Eric Sansoni
Copyright 1995 Eric Sansoni
7 out of 10 bruises or 3 out of 4 stars
Director: John McTiernan
Writer: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irons
Music: Michael Kamen
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE cruises confidently through the familiar territory of the urban action thriller genre. In these movies, the chief ingredients are cops, bombs, and high speed chases in which motor vehicles travel the reverse direction down a one-way street at least once before the curtain falls. We go to see a movie like this to be wowed by stunts and action, which DIE HARD 3 gleefully provides.
In its first fairly suspenseful hour, some bows are made in the direction of a storyline. A mad bomber played by Jeremy Irons is at work in New York City. He phones in demands to the police station for one John McClane to appear under dangerous circumstances in a ghetto neighborhood, for no reason more logical than that there can't be a "Die Hard" sequel without Bruce Willis. Here he teams up with Samuel Jackson. The bomber decides to manipulate both him and Willis with further challenges prompted by nursery rhyme-inspired riddles. Once Irons has every cop (and librarian) in New York City distracted with his bomb threats, he enacts his truly devious plan. Willis, having no more information than anyone else in the city, deduces what that plan is and, with Jackson, spends the second half of the movie attempting to foil it. Jackson works longer with Willis in this movie than any sane New York City civilian would. Of course this is necessary so that they can trade one liners back and forth and rescue each other from certain death, as is required by the conventions of the buddy picture genre.
Willis and Jackson make for a lively crime-fighting pair. Willis, who at the outset of the movie is separated from his wife, suspended from the police force, and suffering a hangover, once again portrays an everyman hero who invites our sympathy. Jackson, fresh from PULP FICTION (with a lineup of recent roles reminiscent of Joe Pesci's versatility in films ranging from GOODFELLAS to LETHAL WEAPON 2 and 3), creates a likable streetwise personality who's along for the ride and enjoys most of it. Some racial tension surfaces between them, good for some comic relief, but the screenplay isn't interested in resolving human dramas of this sort. Irons is convincing as a deviously intelligent villain for these men. In fact, he is the only noteworthy one in a screenplay that gets curiously economical with Irons' love interest's dialogue. She must be in at least half of his scenes, but doesn't voice more than one or two lines. Female roles don't play a big part in this genre entry, with even Willis' wife having been written out of the series.
Implausible plot developments have become a staple of this genre. I'd be surprised if audiences haven't started looking forward to them by now as part of the fun. DIE HARD 3 has several, including one which rivals the eighteen circling planes of the previous DIE HARD or the highway gap leap of SPEED's L.A. bus. Irons has issued a bomb threat on one of 1,400 schools in the New York City area. Clues lead the police to the threatened school and the bomb is discovered. Rather than immediately evacuate the building, the authorities lead the schoolchildren to the auditorium and have them wait there while the bomb squad attempts to defuse the bomb. Only when the time counter has almost reached bottom do the police send everyone out of the building. It's done to provide some contrived suspense in a movie that never quite convinces us it hasn't been manufactured, but which stands as a mostly well-built construction nevertheless.
Director John McTiernan, with a resume including THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PREDATOR, and the original "Die Hard" adventure, is an old pro at this kind of movie. With DIE HARD 3, he gets back in style after the forgettable outings MEDICINE MAN and LAST ACTION HERO. The action set pieces soar by at a breakneck pace, covering more ground with more chase scenes than John McClane's previous adventures. The vehicles of choice for the action include cars, taxis, subway trains, helicopters, ocean liners, and garbage trucks. All are choreographed, photographed, and edited into smoothly exciting showcases of kinetic energy. Characters jump from one stunt sequence to another breathlessly enough that the movie breezes past all questions of likelihood, providing slick, diverting entertainment and leaving you asking "Wait a minute..." only after the lights go up.
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----- Eric Sansoni ----- [email protected] -----
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