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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yippee Ki Ya Yay... you know the rest, February 3, 2008
Die Hard with A Vengeance DVD
Bruce Willis in his usual role meets Samuel L. Jackson, a Harlem shopkeeper who saves Willis' rear-end and Jeremy Irons as a terrorist leader who put our two guys through a game of " Simon Says" as a distraction to rob the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the repository of the second most gold bullion in the USA, Fort Knox, of course being the first.
If you are looking for a movie that is filled with hard hitting action, Die Hard is it.
If you've seen the other Die Hard movies, you have to watch this one.
Recommended for Die Hard fans and fans of Bruce Willis.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Third Die Hard Film Breaks Out While Staying In Form, July 15, 2003
Die Hard With a Vengeance reunites actor Bruce Willis and director John McTiernan for a second sequel to their 1988 mega-thriller Die Hard. Adapted from a non-Die Hard script titled Simon Says by screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh, this third chapter in the John McClane saga is more offbeat and just a bit darker than expected.Although it still follows the Die Hard formula - and how could it not? - of McClane versus formidable obstacles, Die Hard 3 wisely avoids the Christmas Crises scenarios from the first two films. Gone also (although the movie never really explains why) is Bonnie Bedelia's Holly, although she is mentioned in several scenes. Apparently McClane never adjusted to life in Los Angeles and returned to his job in the New York Police Department. So when a bomb goes off at a Bonwit Teller store in Manhattan, it is providential for the Big Apple that McClane is a lieutenant in New York's Finest, albeit a depressed and beer-swilling lieutenant. Providential because we know that when arch-villain "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) demands that McClane participate in a potentially deadly version of the game "Simon Says," our Everyman hero will rise to the occasion and thwart Simon's deadly scheme. As in the first Die Hard film, McTiernan pairs McClane with an interesting partner. Where in the 1988 flick Willis was helped by Reginald Veljohnson (better known as Carl from Family Matters), in Die Hard with a Vengeance his charismatic and reluctant partner is played by Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Star Wars Episodes I and II). Their "unlikely buddies" routine is energetic and witty, and Jackson plays his Harlem store owner character with a mixture of biting wit, bewilderment, and even dignity. The Special Edition 2-disc set, like the previous two in the series, contains the movie on Disc 1 with interactive menus, anamorphic Widescreen presentation, various audio and subtitle options, and commentary by director McTiernan and screenwriter Hensleigh. Disc 2, of course, has the usual theatrical trailer and TV spots, several TV "making of" specials, a special-effects breakdown, and an interview with Bruce Willis.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Samuel Jackson joins Bruce Willis for the third "Die Hard", December 31, 2003
There are plans for "Die Hard 4: Die Hardest" for 2005, with Bruce Willis back for a fourth time and director John McTiernan back for a third as John McClane and his daughter become involved in yet another terrorist plot. I have high hopes for such a film because the "Die Hard" series has been one of the strongest in the action genre. Granted, the best of the bunch remains the original 1988 film, which is the standard by which all subsequent films in the genre have been judged: "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" was "Die Hard" in an airport and "Speed" was "Die Hard on a Bus," not to be confused with "Speed II" which was "Die Hard" and "Speed" on a boat. Apparently Willis only does these movies when he has one that thinks it will work, which would explain why "Die Hard with a Vengeance," the third film in the series, came out in 1995, five years after the sequel.The best thing that can be said about this movie is that it would have worked even if it was not a "Die Hard" movie. The idea that John McClane is once again on the outs with his wife (who never appears in the film) is getting stale and the idea that he is being targeted by this film's mysterious villain simply named Simon (Jeremy Irons) could just as easily have a different explanation than one that ties this film back to the original. In fact, what makes this third one a solid action film is that it does indeed go back to the original for two of its strongest elements. The first is the idea that the crime is a fairly complex robbery dressed up with a lot of distractions. The second is that McClane's character had a tenuous anchor with another person; in the original it was Reginald VelJohnson's Al Powell, although for most of the film it was merely by radio. That fault is rectified in this film with Willis given a strong co-star in Samuel L. Jackson's Zeus Carver. This time it is Jackson's character who suddenly finds himself in extraordinary circumstances, forced by some nut with a whole lot of bombs at his disposal to jump through a bizarre series of hoops. One of the key elements in the success of the "Die Hard" movies was that McClane managed to use his brains at opportune moments. That issue is forced to the extreme in this one as the voice at the other end of a long series of phone calls provides one deadly brainteaser after another. This allows the logic of the movie produce a series of stunts and action sequences as the two mismatched heroes race around New York City trying to avoiding anybody getting killed (including themselves). Willis and Jackson work well off of each other, helped by the fact there characters are not stupid, and that despite the yelling and screaming solving problems is the highest priority. We have seen all of these elements before from all the action/buddy movies that Hollywood has produced, and their success remains contingent on how much we like watching the two buddies do what they gotta do. The whole idea of these things is to provide a compelling thrill ride, and by that standard "Die Hard with a Vengeance" delivers.
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