Review of Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) by Russell G — 20 Jul 2014

It is hard to believe an action franchise can maintain such high standards through three movies. Rather than everyone's favorite rouge cop stumbling into another again, this movie does something different.

This time trouble seeks him out in his hometown of New York City. Not only that, but this time another innocent civilian finds himself implicated in John McLane's crisis. It is nice to see a reshaping the template from the first two movies.

There is no "here we go again" generic sequel feeling to this. Samuel L Jackson brings intensity as Willis' informal partner. Bruce Willis still delivers exactly what a movie like this needs.

He is just as tough and stubborn as ever, but has the qualities that make us care about his character. He and Sam Jackson work well together. Another nice touch is how this terrorist threat links back to the conflict from the first movie.

Jeremy Irons makes another worthy British villain. His bomb threats, riddles, and scavenger hunt approach to his dastardly plan move the story along well, and continue to change in a gratifying way that builds good suspense.

The only letdown is the showdown in the final scene. These movies are not supposed to be realistic, but this last scene takes things a little too far. Still, when everything else works so well in terms of the story, the action, and the characters, this is forgivable.