Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)

“[to terrorists in a tunnel] Hi, fellas. Mickey O’Brien, aqueduct security. Hey, listen, we got a report of a guy coming through here with, uh, eight reindeer. [shoots the terrorists] Yeah, they said he was a jolly, old, fat guy with a snowy, white beard. Cute little red and white suit. I’m surprised you didn’t see him.” – John McClane

Number of Times Seen –  Too many to count (Theater, DVD, 16 Jul 2013)

Brief Synopsis – John McClane is back and must use his wits against a bomber who seems to also have a personal vendetta against him.

My Take on it – I have always loved the Die Hard franchise and interestingly enough, I think that all of them have actually been very good except the most recent one which came out this year – A Good Day to Die Hard (2013). Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990) were both based on books and this was the first one that was a completely original story.

McClane is best in small quartered fighting and this movie gives him numerous opportunities to do so.  Obviously NYC is a bit larger than a building in LA or an airport in DC, so this time, Bruce Willis gets some help from Samuel L. Jackson who inadvertently gets himself involved when he tries to save McClane’s life.

As always, many of the plot lines are very far-fetched, but that’s part of the whole fun here.

Jeremy Irons is great as the primary antagonist here and after having seen this movie so many times, I finally got the reference to Battle of the Bulge (1965) which always eluded me.

I guess the fact that I actively have been enhancing my movie knowledge has it’s benefits even with movies that I know practically by heart.

I still remember when I saw this in the theater, I skipped a college history class and upon leaving the theater bumped into my professor who was going to the next showing. He knew I had skipped his class for it and seemed a bit upset. Never the less, I still did well in the class. 🙂

Bottom Line – Great sequel, still not as good as the first two, but still better than the latter two. Highly recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy