JayDee's Movie Musings

That hurts man, not the whole cat nonsense, but Bela Tarr is retired and the world is sad!

You should totally watch The Spirit of the Beehive now!

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Mubi

I've yet to see you write up a review so large it takes two posts to fit it on the board.

By the way, along with that tremendous Two-Post Star Trek Review I rocked the MoFo World with, I'm working on two more whole franchises...one with 6 movies, one with 5...


... oh, and my 5 Movie X-Men Franchise Review is going to get a rerun as well soon because The Wolverine hadn't been made at the time I wrote it.
I'll probably wait until Days Of Future Past is out first before I rerun it though.

Oh, and, I also got a £30 Cinema Card for Christmas so I can go see it regardless of my monetary situation.

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You shouldn't boast about Star Trek reviews, Rodent. That could be what lost you the award.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Plot - Once again, New York cop John McClane (Willis) has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time - this time he's waiting for his wife's plane to arrive at Washington's Dulles Airport when he uncovers a plot to sabotage the airport's landing system. The criminals wish to free a drug baron being extradited to America for trial by holding the airport to ransom until they all safely escape on another plane. However, if they'd known that Holly McClane (Bedelia) was on a flight home to the very airport they were hijacking, they would have picked another day.

My memory of Die Hard 2 wasn't the most positive. I think just the fact that I always associated it with being the weakest of the Die Hard films (at least of the original trilogy) meant that in my mind it wasn't that great a film. Now while I'd still have it some way behind the original Die Hard and 1995's Die Hard With a Vengeance, Die Hard 2 is able to stand as a very good action film on its own merits.

Die Harder has a lively set-up and a thrilling finish, however I feel that there is a bit of a lull during the film's second act. It feels like the film rather abandons its action film roots and instead moves off into the territory of an old school 70s disaster flick. So you instead get McClane running around the airport trying to find ways to avert the disaster, as opposed to him actually having any direct contact with the villains, either physically or verbally. Well apart from one big shootout which sees McClane take on a bunch of the goons who are dressed as painters in a terminal that is closed for refurbishment. When the film does return to its action groove it more than delivers. Some smaller skirmishes and a fun snowmobile chase set the stage for its huge, explosive finale which sees McClane battling both William Sadler's Colonel and John Amos' Major on the wing of a accelerating plane. When he is knocked from the wing to the ground it seems like the terrorists have won but old John McClane has one final trick up his sleeve. Just before being thrown he had removed the plane's fuel cap, creating a large streak of fuel, one which McClane proceeds to light, resulting in a massive fireball in the sky. More than any film in the series Die Harder also has some devilish fun by depicting some rather nasty deaths, such as Amos' Major Grant being turned into a soup after falling into the jet propeller and McClane stabbing one of the goons through the eye with an icicle.

Early on in the film we are presented with a quite striking scene which sees William Sadler's performing a martial arts routine in nothing but his birthday suit. There doesn't seem to be any reason for him to be naked other than the opportunity to see that he is one ripped motherf*cker, thus creating a sense of threat about him. And in that respect Sadler (an actor I've always been a big fan of) is a great choice for the role. His cold, icy eyes and chiselled jaw as sharp as glass make him a very menacing presence. In fact it's a similar case with many of the goons who are a real rogues gallery of touch, uncompromising looking individuals. Their goal is the release of General Ramon Esperanza, a drug lord and dictator of Val Verde. Oh and while we're on it what a s*it-hole that Val Verde must be! Surely one of the worst places in the world! As I'm sure some people will know it is actually a fictional country created by 20th Century Fox to serve as a stand-in for a South or Central American country when they don't want to get into any legal or diplomatic tussles by using a real country. The villain of Commando who attempts to control and manipulate Arnie is the former ruler of Val Verde. While in Predator the country that Dutch and co are sent to where they encounter the alien hunter is also Val Verde.

Film Trivia Snippets - The film was based on the novel “58 Minutes” by Walter Wager. This is why in France the film was titled "58 Minutes Pour Vivre" ("58 Minutes To Live"). /// John McTiernan, director of both the first and third Die Hard films, did originally plan to direct this film as well but was unable to do so because of his commitment to direct The Hunt for Red October. /// Die Hard 2 had a hell of a time trying to locate snow for its filming. It was due to be filmed at both Moses Lake in Washington and in Minnesota but both locations were abandoned due to there being no snow, with production instead moving to Michigan and Denver. Even then however they encountered problems as Denver was unseasonably snowless during the snowstorm scenes so a large amount of the snow had to be created artificially. /// Here's a great example of movie magic when it comes to editing. The scene where McClane climbs the ladder from the service tunnels up onto the runway and then nearly gets run over by Esperanza's plane was actually filmed at eight different locations - Granada Hills, California (McClain in the tunnel and climbing up the ladder); Los Angeles, California (Close-ups of Esperanza inside the plane's cockpit); Mojave Desert, California (Head-on view of plane in the sky on approach); Alpena, Michigan (Exterior shot of the grating door on the runway); San Francisco, California (Rear shot of plane on approach with runway lights in the background); Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (Plane after just landed rushing towards the screen); Lake Tahoe, California (Plane rushing towards McClane in the foreground) and Denver, Colorado (Plane rushing towards McClane as seen from behind the front landing gear).

The character of John McClane was never going to allow Bruce Willis to trouble the award ceremonies but he plays it perfectly and shows once again why it became the iconic character that has defined his career. His performance is actually a touch different here than in the other films, the character seems to be in a much better place with a much more positive, perkier outlook on life and a sense of playful humour to him. This undoubtedly comes from the fact that for the only time in the series he is enjoying a harmonious home life due to his reconciliation with his wife Holli. I also enjoyed the fact that this time things didn't just happen to him. The series has occasionally been ridiculed for the freakish run of bad luck McClane has suffered by constantly getting caught up in such situations. This time however it is McClane's keen police eye that leads him into the centre of things. I mentioned his wife Holli there, and while you need here to get McClane to the airport in the first place, I wonder if you really need her thread of the film; it perhaps feeling like a forced scenario to generate a desperation in McClane while I like to think that he would have acted just out of a sense of right. As well as the returning Holli this sequel also included another couple of fun nods back to the original, namely the reprisal of both the news reporter Sam Coleman and Reginald VelJohnson's Sgt. Powell character. Though Powell's appearance is merely a cameo but it's a nice addition all the same.

Its airport setting and snowstorm conditions certainly do give Die Harder the most distinctive look of the series, although the airport itself I felt lacked interest. Even though it does share environmental elements with the first film (McClane even acknowledges how he is once again stuck crawling through air vents) they just don't generate quite the same level of interest as we watch McClane exploring the airport's endless catacombs and corridors.

I think that perhaps the biggest flaw this film has, and what keeps it from achieving the same standing in my eyes as either the film that preceded or followed it, is the lack of interest that its villains generate. As I already stated William Sadler provides a strong, bad-ass presence; as does John Amos, but as actual characters they come up some way short. They are never really given the opportunity to flesh out the characters or add a great degree of colour to them. I think it also hurts that you've got a trio of villains who all seem to be on a very similar standing, instead of having one major bad guy like Alan Rickman in Die Hard and Jeremy Irons in Die Hard With a Vengeance. I think it robs McClane of having a real adversary to go head to head with.













Plot - Following the dissolution of his marriage, John McClane (Willis) is now almost a full-blown alcoholic and is suspended from the NYPD. But when a bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller Department Store the police go insane trying to figure out what's going on. Soon, a man named Simon (Irons) calls and asks for McClane. Simon tells Inspector Walter Cobb that McClane is going to play a game called "Simon Says". He says that McClane is going to do the tasks he assigns him. If not, he'll blow up another bomb. With the help of a Harlem electrician named Zeus (Jackson), McClane must race all over New York trying to figure out the frustrating puzzles that the crafty terrorist gives him. But when a bomb goes off in a subway station right by the Federal Reserve (the biggest gold storage in the world) McClane starts to think that not everything is as it seems.

I certainly believe that in terms of just pure quality the original Die Hard has the clear edge over this sequel, and indeed all of the films that followed it. However this film has two elements which more than make up for the deficit - Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Irons. Both men contribute greatly to the energy and humour of the film with really charismatic showings. Jackson is quite dynamic as Zeus Carver, the angry and in your face individual who comes to McClane's rescue and finds himself as an unwilling sidekick. At times he really is quite hilarious. The chemistry that he has with Willis is excellent and is a huge factor in the film's success. With the issue of race always present between them, and antagonised by McClane's frequently reckless behaviour, it's a very contentious and at times exceptionally funny partnership. While it may just be your standard buddy movie dynamic they do it damn well. In fact when you put these two together you usually get something pretty special. As well as this film they also made Pulp Fiction and Unbreakable. When these two get together magic happens. And as the man who is eventually revealed to be the brother of Hans Gruber, Jeremy Irons does a more than commendable job of living up to the legacy of Alan Rickman. As with Rickman's earlier effort Irons makes the characters a wonderfully colourful, magnetic presence who is just gleefully evil. Like Rickman he creates a character that is so much devious fun to behold you actually end up really liking him in a way. Oh and maybe I'm alone on this but did anyone else find the character of Katya, the mute killer and lover of Simon, to be strangely alluring and sexy; admittedly in a very scary kind of way.

If you're looking for a great slice of action you really can't go wrong with this film. During its two hour running time it manages to pack in just about every variation of action that the genre has to offer. So we get high speed pursuits that sees the characters traversing roads and parks at great speed, a train crash, big gun shootouts, brutal hand to hand combat, large explosions, high-wire stunt work and even a moment where the film slips into disaster movie mode as McClane is chased down a tunnel by a torrential wall of water. Jam packing so much action into the film ensures that the pace of Die Hard With a Vengeance is absolutely unrelenting and as a result thrilling. All this action also ensures that McClane, and in turn Zeus, are really put through the ringer. By the end both men are caked in blood and dirt, and McClane had already started the film looking like s*it this time out. For McClane it rather makes his previous experiences look like the proverbial walk in the park, as tough as that may be to imagine.

Returning to the Die Hard directors seat after Renny Harlin kept it warm for Die Hard 2, John McTiernan does a great job, again showing why he was one of the best directors of the action genre. He keeps the film moving along at a tremendous pace and handles the numerous sequences of action with the kind of skill you'd expect given his massive experience with the genre. From its opening seconds we see that he's going to do everything he can to deliver a great energy and lots of thrills. With Lovin' Spoonful providing the tunes with “Summer in the City” (awesome song by the way) we are presented with a scattershot of images of New York, building up the look and atmosphere of the place before rudely interrupting it with a large explosion which rocks the city. Also helping to create the film's abrupt pace is Jonathan Hensleigh's fun, rather clever script. As well as providing Willis and Jackson with the back-and-forth banter to sink their teeth into, it keeps the audience guessing with a lot of fun twists and turns to its story. The script also does a nice job of dropping in little touches which will become relevant later; the attention paid to police badge numbers which later alerts McClane to danger and Zeus' kids handling stolen merchandise which makes them avoid the school evacuation.

One element that I've always really enjoyed about this film is its use of riddles. I personally may be absolutely hopeless when it comes to solving them but I've always enjoyed attempting them and the process that characters go through in their bid to solve them. So it's why The Riddler was always my favourite villain in the original, pre-Nolan Batman films and the classic 60s TV show; it's why as a kid I was kind of obsessed with the great Scooby-Doo animated film, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers; and it's why I've always just enjoyed films and TV shows etc which include riddles and clues etc usually in the search for treasure such as the Indiana Jones films. Oh and every time I watch this film I get frustrated trying to work out the water jugs riddle, and then even after I have by the time I get round to rewatching the film I've forgotten it again! The addition of the riddles, and the game of cat and mouse that ensues, also allows the film to break away from the formula it had established in the previous two instalments.

One area where Vengeance succeeds in a perhaps surprising fashion is as a city movie. With New York as its backdrop I think it's a terrific city movie, showing numerous sides of its famous streets and locations. And after two films which took McClane out of his comfort zone and into alien territory it's nice to finally see McClane on his own streets. Although watching it these days the film has taken on a whole new dimension. Following the horrific and tragic events that occurred back in 2001 there is now a real and unavoidable vibe of 9/11 to the film's proceedings. Numerous shots place great prominence on the Twin Towers themselves, with one particular seeing framing McClane and Zeus between the towers for an extended period of time as they run along one of the city's streets. Alongside that there is the fictional disaster featured in the film, a train crash, which sends smoke and dust billowing up onto the streets as the city's residents scramble frantically for cover and safety. And just as with 9/11, following the train crash the streets are littered with policemen and fire fighters. They really are quite evocative and sadly familiar images. And they make it highly unlikely that this film would be made today, or for a long time to come actually.

While the previous two films, especially the first, relied on cooping McClane up, Die Hard With a Vengeance revels in giving him a whole city to roam and gives the film a fresh twist on its established formula. If there's one flaw with the film it's that the finale does perhaps feel a little bit tacked on, as if it was only conceived of at the last minute. And as it turns out there's actually some truth to that. The film went through a few variations of alternate endings and indeed another ending was filmed before they settled on the final version.

While it may not be as good as the original, it runs it damn close for being the most entertaining entry in the Die Hard series. So close in fact that at times I'm really not sure which I should consider as my favourite.

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This after Rodent's double bill. I feel a rivalry.

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Letterboxd

I love Die Hard II and it's in my Top 100. It's been a favorite since I was a kid. I haven't watched Die Hard With A Vengeance in many years and I've been meaning to get to it, but I do remember liking it a lot.

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I love the Die Hard series! While Die Harder is my least favorite of what I consider to be the good Die Hard movies, it blows A Good Day to Die Hard out of the water! And Die Hard With a Vengeance is a very easy number two to the original.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

good stuff Jay

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Weak finale? How so?

I actually prefer part 2 to part 3, as I think part 2 is the most like the first. Part 3 is a good movie with a lot of great ideas, but the second half started to drag for me. I also felt that the Sam Jackson character was kind of a distraction. I also recently saw part 4 and was surprised how much I liked it. I taped the newer one last night; I know it's supposed to suck, but I'll still give it a shot.

Die Hard 10/10
Part 2 9/10
Part 3 8/10
Part 4 7.5/10

Probably because the last third of that film is weak.

I love Die Hard, as you know, but unlike most people I don't have much between 2 and 3. I think that's because I like 2 more than most and 3 less than most, which evens them out when compared to how most seem to feel about them.

The less spoken about 5 the better.

A friend of mine bought that yesterday. He was slightly scared to show me.

I saw it in the theater... it still hurts.

Nice Die Hard reviews JD!

It's rare for a third part to come back strong and almost hit the heights of the first movie.

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Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Where have you been at sean? Rodent and I have had a long and storied rivalry! Although it recently ended at the Mofie awards when I won the best reviewer award, forever confirming my superiority. Isn't that right Rodent?

I've actually been meaning to ask you about Die Hard II. Since you listed it on your top 100 I've seen you rate it a couple of times at which seems quite low for an absolute favourite. Is that just a quality rating as opposed to how much you personally love it?

She and I did a movie commentary for Die Hard II last month.

It's a more of a quality rating. Like the Herbie movies, my love of the first two Die Hard movies has more to do with the childhood memories associated with them than it has to do with the movies themselves. If I'd never seen them as a child and watched them for the first time as an adult, I don't think I'd like them much as I'm not a fan of the action genre.

That said, though, coming from me a means this is an above average, solid movie and I enjoyed it.

Just as a little preview of sorts of what is perhaps coming up this year in terms of my New Year movie resolutions.

I've made a list of a few hundred films that I'd like to watch at some point, helping to narrow down from the thousands of options I have. I will also be trying to get my top 100 list up at some point this year so I'll be revisiting more of them which will mean a lot of 5 star reviews.

And I've also highlighted a few directors I want to focus on at some point for one reason or another -

Martin Scorsese - I've seen a few of his films and yet to get one I really like/love, but that's mainly because they've not been my type of films. So I'll be looking at some of his other films
David Lynch - I've still never actually watched a film of his but have access to 6 at the moment which I could watch
Billy Wilder - I've seen 5 or 6 of his films and really liked/loved the majority (Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Seven Year Itch, Some Like it Hot) so want to check out a few more

There were a couple of others as well but can't think of them just now. And obviously can't guarantee any of the films will generate a review or not