A Good Day To Die Hard Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, its time for a new review on the blog rather than a revisitation, which will be the first of the new year strangely enough! So, the review in question will be on the action film, A Good Day To Die Hard, which is the latest and most probably the last Die Hard film unless they make another in the near future.

Now, I've put off watching this film for years based on its bad reputation and how poor it is in contrast to the previous Die Hard films but I finally decided to give it a go and see what its like. 

So, with that said let's take a look at this one and see how it stacks up against the other movies in the franchise...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY 

So, I will just quote a bit of the story from the Wikipedia webpage for the film below.

"In Moscow, Viktor Chagarin, a high-ranking, but corrupt, Russian official plans to incriminate former billionaire and government whistleblower Yuri Komarov in an imminent rigged trial unless Komarov hands over a secret file believed to contain evidence incriminating Chagarin. Separately, Jack McClane, who has been arrested after an assassination attempt, negotiates for a shorter sentence by offering to testify against Komarov. Meanwhile, Jack's father, NYPD Detective John McClane, who has not been in touch with his son for several years, has learned his son is in trouble and, taken to the airport by his daughter Lucy McClane, flies to Russia to help him..."

THOUGHTS

So, after having finally decided to give A Good Day To Die Hard a go, I can safely say that this is the weakest and most disappointing Die Hard film of the series. The premise of the film however itself does hold some promise with John going after his son Jack to help him and the two of them even have some decent bonding moments in the movie. However, the film itself is just a boring mess with loud action scenes and very confusing story and very unappealing villains. And after waiting six years in between Die Hard 4.0, its disappointing to see this was what we ended up getting. 

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes as such this time!) 

As for the performances, things are definitely a mixed bag here.

Starting with Bruce Willis, who actually to his credit, reprises his role as John McClane pretty well here as he is still the same likeable, wisecracking guy, who remains near impossible to kill and literally laughs in the face of danger. Willis himself also has one or two amusing scenes in the film such as the one where McClane is driving a land rover over the roofs of some cars on the Russian freeway and he get's a call from his daughter, Lucy and he tells her he will call her back. Bruce also has the odd little moment of banter as McClane with his son, Jack, especially in one scene where McClane offers to give Jack a hug and they say "We're not the hugging type" or something like that anyway! 

Jai Courtney next is actually not bad in his role as Jack McClane, who is an undercover CIA agent working in Russia to try and protect a political prisoner, Komarov and he is joined by McClane as they fight against the bad guys, who are out to capture Komarov. Courtney also does have one or two good moments of banter with Willis and their father and son dynamic is one of the few successes of the film itself. 

Sebastian Koch on the other hand delivers a pretty bland performance as the political prisoner, Komarov, who Jack tries to protect but he himself isn't all he appears to be in the film. Koch's character here is basically totally underwritten so there is not much for him to really work with here, so I guess he does what he can to be fair.

Yulia Snigir is also pretty bland (but she is at least pretty!) and forgettable in her role as Komarov's daughter, Irina and it soon turns out that she herself is a baddie and uses her dad later on (or does she???!).

Sergei Kosnikov also provides a pretty so-so performance as one of the villains, Viktor Chagarin, who is out to try and silence Komarov and prevent him from testifying against him. To be fair to the supporting actors it really comes down to the material here, so I probably shouldn't be too hard on them really.

Radivoje Bukvic however is probably actually the strongest of the supporting Russian cast in his role as Alik, as he actually does provide a bit of colour and humour into performance that does at least help him stand out a bit more in the film. 

And last of all, Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a brief but welcome return as Lucy McClane, who appears at the start of the film as she drives John to the airport, so he travel to Russia to help Jack. And Winstead does share a couple of nice moments with Willis in the film but its a pity that its no more than that but I guess they wanted to make Jack the focus of the film this time.

DIRECTOR

As for the director, John Moore, well...I have to say he actually misdirected this one lol! Yep, Moore's direction in the film is pretty dull and for the most part, he fails to elicit any engaging performances from the cast and he actually mishandles the film's action scenes as they are just loud and boring. Moore himself prior to this film, also directed the poorly received live action version of Max Payne (based on the video games) so its no surprise that this would also be a disappointment. Basically they should really have talked him out of directing it! 

MUSIC 

Music wise, the score is by Marco Beltrami, who is a very good composer overall, however his score here isn't that memorable and is pretty standard action score filler but to be fair the film he is working on isn't memorable either, so its stands to reason this score isn't one of his best. However at the same time, the score did strike me as one of the better aspects of the film itself.

FLAWS 

So...flaws...yep A Good Day To Die Hard has some! 

For starters, I just have to say the main problem with the film is that despite the better efforts by Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney in their roles as John and Jack McClane, its the villains that really let this film down as they are really dull and boring. The villains here basically have no presence or charm to them (although Alik almost passes for that but not quite!) especially given the previous villains in the Die Hard series. I mean even though Die Hard 2 and 4 had fairly weak villains (Colonel Stuart and Thomas Gabriel respectively) you did at least understand them and what their motives were but here the villains make no sense and there's frankly nothing to them.

There are also some really stupid moments in the film too where we see that McClane is almost virtually indestructible such as the one where McClane drops out of a land rover after it rolls over about 10 times and he just gets up with no broken bones or bruises! He also later on appears to be radiation proof as he travels to the site of the Chernobyl disaster without even wearing any radioactive gear whereas the villains are wearing them! And further to this, there is a scene much later on where there is a  huge explosion and flames are everywhere, yet somehow McClane doesn't get burned! So, yep there you go, John McClane is break proof, radioactive proof and of course even fire proof! 

Then there are also some really stupid moments in the film that include the scene where McClane and Jack are ambushed by enemies as they try and capture Komarov and all of a sudden, McClane grabs what looks like a big M60 machine gun and starts blazing away at the bad guys! Its one of the dumbest scenes in the Die Hard series and that's saying something, especially as McClane had a previous tangle with a jet fighter in Die Hard 4.0! But here, the action really does feel pretty forced and its like the director just wanted to do it big and over the top. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, A Good Day to Die Hard, ISN'T a good movie, unfortunately its a very poor, less than mediocre and bitterly disappointing final entry in the series that really doesn't belong there. However to be entirely fair, Bruce Willis still reprises John McClane well enough and he's still a likeable character and he does have a fairly decent relationship with his son Jack in the film. But the film itself is something a Die Hard film shouldn't be and that is boring, as my attention left the building after about 50 minutes into the movie. 

So, A Good Day to Die Hard was a film with possible potential and its good to see the return of John McClane, its just a shame that the film that surrounds him is a real mess and one that isn't worth repeated viewing. 

And with that I will give AGDTDH a rating of:

3 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post of some sort or other.

Until then its bye for now! 

James Bond: For Your Eyes Only Review (Revisited!) "Give us a kiss!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, time for YET look back at one of my older posts and this time its one on another Bond film and the film in question is Roger Moore's fifth film, For Your Eyes Only. So, it will be just the usual give the post another look to extend certain sections and add a bit more detail as I recently re-watched the film again, so figured why not?

And with that said, let's take another look at this one...

And the usual warning is coming up... 

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the film begins with a British spy boat being sunk after its strikes a mine, the boat itself contained a specialised communications system used by the ministry of defence to communite with its fleet of Polaris submarines, named ATAC.  Bond (Moore) as a result of the incident is order by his superiors to retrieve the ATAC before the Soviets can as they could use it for their own means.

Meanwhile a British marine archaeologist who was hired by the British to locate the sunk spy boat is murdered by a hitman named Hector Gonzalez (Stefan Kalipha).  Bond follows up the lead and travels to Spain where he sneaks around Gonzalez's villa but he is captured, however Gonzalez himself is killed by an arrow, which allows Bond to escape.  Bond soon finds out Gonzalez's assassin is the daughter of the murdered archaeologist, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) and the two of them escape together.

Bond later on with the help of Q (Desmond Lewellyn) discovers the identity of one of the men that was present at Gonzalez's villa was Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard) another hired killer.  Bond then travels to Cortina in Italy to track Locque and he meets with his Italian contact, Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno) and a Greek businessman and informant named, Aris Kristatos (Julian Glover) who tells Bond that Locque is employed by a smuggler named Milos Columbo (Topol) who was one time a former business partner of his.

Bond later meets up with Kristatos's protege figure skater, Bibi Dahl (Lynn Holly Johnson) and while they ski together, Bibi points out to Bond an East German biathlete, Eric Kriegler (John Wyman) who later tries to kill Bond, who manages to escape.  Later on Bond fends off another attempt on his life at an ice rink and soon finds his contact, Luigi dead, with the symbol of a "dove" in his hands, the nickname for Locque.

Bond then travels to Corfu to follow Columbo and he meets with Columbo's mistress, Countess Lisl van Schaff (Cassandra Harris) and they spend the night together.  The next morning while walking a beach, Bond and Lisl are attacked by Locque who kills Lisl but Locque flees just as Columbo's men show up and capture Bond and take him to Columbo.

Columbo later explains to Bond that Kristatos is the man Bond should be after as he was the one who hired Locque and Kristatos is working with the KGB to retrieve the ATAC and he persuades Bond to go along on a raid of Kristato's opium processing warehouse in Albania.  During the raid, Bond discovers naval mines similar to the one that sunk the British spy boat, later Bond chases after Locque, shooting him in the shoulder, causes Locque's car to crash on the edge of a cliff and Bond kicks the car over, which sees Locque plummet to his death.

So after this Bond then teams up with Columbo and reunites with Melina to take down Kristatos and end his schemes....

THOUGHTS 

After the somewhat over the top and completely fantastical Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only saw the Bond series come back down to Earth (literally!) and with the change of director, John Glen, FYEO has a more gritty feel to it than Moore's previous films did, which in itself is no bad thing.

The film also saw a change in the cast as sadly Bernard Lee, who played M, died shortly just after filming had begun in 1981, so instead of replacing the actor, they re-wrote his character to include a new one, Bill Tanner, to take over as the chief of staff at MI6 and Bond's superior.  Roger Moore also apparently was set to make this his last Bond film but later of course did come back to play the part in two more films, Octopussy and View to a kill.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Performance wise, the film is actually quite good and features a largely fine cast.

And to start off of course we have Roger Moore who provides another solid turn in the part and this time he plays Bond with a bit more sensitivty and with less chauvanism and it actually stands as one of his most likeable performances in the role.  Although it does have to be said that Roger is starting to look a bit old for the part by this time as he already 54 years old by this point.

Moore has some good scenes and naturally some good one-liners and even his opening scene is quite funny where Bond is attacked by a bald headed villain (unidentified but clearly based on Blofeld) who remote controls a helicopter that Bond is in.  And in the scene Bond eventually manages to take control of the helicopter and picks up the villains' wheelchair by one of the copter's landing skids and as the villain pleads with him and Bond pats his head and says "Alright keep your hair on!" and the villain continues "Please Mr Bond, put me down!" Bond teases him saying "Oh you want to get off???" and he drops the villain down a large chimney stack!

Then there are the scenes where Bond is stuck with taking care of Bibi, the annoying horny teenage skater and one such example is where Bibi lies in bed naked and Bond for once looks uncomfortable given that she is just a teenager. And Bib asks Bond "What is it? Don't you like me? and Bond awkwardly tells her "I think your wonderful, Bibi. I just don't think your Uncle Aris would approve!" and Bibi says "Aris? He still thinks I'm a virgin!". So, Bond again awkward, says "Yes well...you put on your clothes, I'll buy you an ice cream!".  

Then we have the scene at the ski slopes where Bond bids her farewell and says "Well, sorry Bibi but I'm afraid I must be off?" and Bibi says "What?" and Bond tells her "I have an appointment". And Bibi a bit disappointed asks him "Well, will I see you before we leave?" and Bond tells her "Well, I'll try but if I don't see you again, Bibi, I'll just say don't grow up anymore" and Bibi looks at him puzzle and says "Huh?" and Bond says to her "The opposite sex would never survive it!" and he skis off.

Then there is one of the film's best scenes where Bond chases after Locque, who crashes his car up the top of a cliff and Bond goes up to Locque and shows him the killer's pin that he left with Luigi Ferrara's body (Bond's associate) and Bond says to Locque "You left this with Ferrera, I believe".  And as the cars starts to give way to the crumbling rock, Bond kicks Locque's car off the cliff and later he quips "He didn't have a head for heights!".  Moore was reportedly uneasy about the idea of filming the scene but eventually agreed to go ahead with filming it, which is just as well as it remains a standout moment in Moore's era. 

Another really good scene for Roger which is quite suspenseful is when Bond makes his long climb up the mountain to St Cyril's monastery where Kristatos is hiding and waiting to deliver the ATAC machine to the KGB. And in the scene in a mountain-top monastery and one of Kristato's men tries to kick him off the cliff and knock out the climbing bolts he has placed one by one, but Bond manages to pull himself up just in time before the last one is knocked out and he kills the henchman with a throwing knife.

Roger also has one or two good serious moments as well such as in the scene where he warns Melina about taking revenge for the death of her parents and he says "The Chinese have a saying "before setting off on revenge, you first dig twice two graves". And later on as she is about to kill Kristatos he reminds her again as she is ready to kill Kristatos and Bond tells her "No, Melina, we'll leave him for the police" but Melina insists "Out of my way, James!" and James relucantly says "Alright. Just be prepared to dig those two graves" before (PLOT SPOILER!!) Columbo saves her the trouble.  

And in the second last scene of the film Bond throws away the ATAC machine as he approaches General Gogol (Walter Gotell) and the machine itself smashes into pieces on the rocks below. So, Bond then smiles at Gogol and says to him "That's detente, general, you don't have it and I don't have it!" and Gogol himself laughs and bids him farewell and leaves. 

Julian Glover is excellent in his part as the main villain, Kristatos and he seems to enjoy playing the part of the double dealing businessman and intelligence informant although his villain isn't the most memorable or menacing it has to be said.

But Glover has some good moments that include the one where Kristatos has Bond and Melina tied up on his boat and they have been tied to a speedboat which will drag them through the water to attract the sharks for dinner!  And in the scene just before Bond and Melina are to be dropped into the water, Kristatos says to his men of Bond's wound on his arm "Bind that wound. We don't wany any blood in the water.  Not yet!".  Melina then looks disgusted at Kristatos and she spits at him "Murderer!" and Kristatos says to her, as a way of a pun as she uses her crossbow as a weapon in the film: "You've shot your last bolt, Miss Havelock!".    

Another scene of note is when Kristatos at the monastery near the end tries to appease a tired and bored Bibi, who is working out and he comes in to see her. So, Bibi in the scene asks Kristatos "What are we doing in this creepy place?" and Kristatos says "Our plans have changed. We are going to live in Cuba for the next few months" and Bibi annoyed says "Cuba?!" and Kristatos says to Bibi "You can skate privately there, without distractions and I will be your audience". Bibi, however is not interested "What a drag that will be! I wanna win the gold medal!" and Kristatos reassuringly says "We all want that!" and Bibi says "I know what you want...you're too old for me! I'm splitting!". Kristatos then glares angrily at Brink and says "You have poisoned her against me!" and Bibi says "Leave her alone, Ari!" and Kristatos looks angrily at Brink and says "I will deal with you as I deal with everyone who betrays me!" and he storms out.

Then there is the scene where Kristatos near the end readies his departure with the Atac machine but he is met with by an angry Bibi, who angrily asks him of the whereabouts of her coach "Where's Brink?" and he tells her "Go to your room!" and she angrily says "You can go to hell!" and  Kristatos smacks her roughly and shuts the doors.   

Topol however provides the film's standout role as Milos Columbo who is a really colourful character, who loves eating pestachio nuts and Bond is wary of him at first but he later becomes allies with him.  

And when Columbo meets with Bond he tells him that he has got him all wrong and that Kristatos is the real villian.  So Columbo tells Bond "I'm here, Mr. Bond of the British Secret Service. But I'll tell you... it is Kristatos you want, NOT me. He told you about himself. He's the one with the powerful connections, not me. Locque works for him, not me. He told you that I was a heroin smuggler, yes? That is partly true. I'm a smuggler. I smuggle, yes. I smuggle gold, diamonds, cigarettes, pistachio nuts... but no heroin. Sit down. That I leave to him... when he is not too busy working for Russia against my country and yours". Bond then reminds Columbo that the British government gave Kristatos a king's medal but Columbo tells him that he was a double agent.

Bond then asks Columbo "What does Kristatos gain by setting you up?" and Columbo says "Well, I know too much about him. He wants me out of the way. By using a British agent to do his dirty work for him, your government might give him another medal". Bond, still wary of Columbo asks him "Why should I believe you?" and Columbo says "I'll prove it to you tonight. We'll go to his warehouse in Albania". Bond warns Columbo "If I don't report in by tomorrow morning, not only my people, but the entire Greek police will be down on you like a load of bricks" but Columbo reassures him "Don't worry. By tomorrow, we'll be good friends. Let us drink to that" and Bond carefully says "I'll wait until tomorrow". 

Columbo then goes and takes Bond's Walther PPK and aims it at him and then hands over to him and says "You will need this. I'm a good judge of men. You, Mr Bond, have what the Greeks calls "thrausos" Guts!".

Carole Bouquet is one of the weak links in the cast as she is pretty wooden in her part as Bond's love interest (or one of them!) Melina Havelock.

Regardless of that though, Bouquet does what she can with her role and to the credit of her character, she does have more of a motivation and backstory to deal with than most of the Bond girls we usually see.  Bouquet, a French actress, reportedly had her voice dubbed over by another actress for the film, which given that she can speak English herself seems a bit daft although its not entirely certain that she was dubbed.

Bouquet still has some good moments here and there and the one that springs to mind is when Melina tells Bond she is out for revenge for the murder of her family.  However Bond warns her with the Chinese saying of being prepared to "dig two graves" if you plan for revenge and Melina says to him "I don't expect you to understand, you're English, but I'm half Greek and Greek women like Elektra always avenge their loved ones!".

Then there is the scene where Bond, Columbo and Melina arrive at the scene of a monastery where Kirstatos is located and Bond starts to make his way up a steep mountain to get to the top where it is.  And during the scene, Columbo looks up concerned saying "We are just five men!" and then Melina produces her crossbow and says "And a woman!".  

Bouquet also gets the dubious pleasure of delivering the film's title line, which is one of the naffest as well "For your eyes only, darling!" just as Bond and Melina strip off and go for a swim.  This is of course then following by the annoying parrot who speaks to Margaret Thatcher (played by June Brown) on the phone and keeps saying "Give us a kiss!" although the parrot is kind of funny. 

As for the other cast members, Lynn-Holly Johnson is rather annoying as the horny teenage ice skater, Bibi Dahl who has a thing for Bond even though he is three times her age!

However it is worth mentioning Johnson's most notable scene where she attempts to try and seduce Bond as get's into bed naked but Bond is reluctant to oblige her.  And in the scene Bibi asks Bond "Don't you like me?" and Bond wearily says to her "Why, I think you're wonderful, Bibi... But I don't think your uncle Aris would approve" and Bibi says to Bond "Him? He thinks I'm still a virgin!". Bond then awkwardly says "Yes, well, if you put your clothes and I'll buy you an ice cream!".     

And lastly I will mention her scene where Bibi who has been taken to St Cyril's with Kristatos and her coach, Brink but she hates the place and is bored of working out and Kristatos comes in to see her. So, Bibi in the scene asks Kristatos "What are we doing in this creepy place?" and Kristatos says "Our plans have changed. We are going to live in Cuba for the next few months" and Bibi annoyed says "Cuba?!" and Kristatos says to Bibi "You can skate privately there, without distractions and I will be your audience". Bibi, however is not interested "What a drag that will be! I wanna win the gold medal!" and Kristatos reassuringly says "We all want that!" and Bibi says "I know what you want...you're too old for me! I'm splitting!". Kristatos then glares angrily at Brink and says "You have poisoned her against me!" and Bibi says "Leave her alone, Ari!" and Kristatos looks angrily at Brink and says "I will deal with you as I deal with everyone who betrays me!" and he storms out.

Michael Gothard is quite effective in his role as the creepy silent assassin, Locque aka "The Dove" who Bond kicks Locque's car off a cliff with him in it.  Gothard himself has no dialogue at all in the film, which would suggest that his character was a mute.  Sadly Gothard later took his own life in 1992 after years of struggling with depression. 

Desmond Lewellyn also nicely reprises his role as Q and has a good scene where Q and Bond try to identify Locque by using specialised facial ID tracking equipment.

So, in the scene, Q sets up the machine to use it with Bond's help and tells Bond "This  -D Visual ldentigraph is still in the experimental stage. Now, once we get a composite of the man...we can find a match by patching into the photographic files...of the Surety, lnterpol, CIA, the Mossad..." and Bond finishes Q's list and says "Yes and the West German police. You've told me so already five times!". 

And later there is the amusing scene where Bond goes into a church in St Cyrils and goes into a confession booth and he says to the priest on the other side "Forgive me father, I have sinned" and the priest turns out to be non other than Q who says to him "That's putting it mildly, 007!" who peels off a fake beard. Q then says to Bond "Your signal sent Whitehall into shock. So far we have managed to locate...St. Cyril's in Greece. Heaven only knows to which one Kristatos took the ATAC!" and Bond says "Well, I know a well informed man who I contact about that, Q".

Cassandra Harris also adds a bit of sexy charm to the film aswell in her role as the Countess, Columbo's mistress, whom Bond spends the night with just before she meets her fate the next day.

And I will mention one of Harris's scenes which is the one where Bond spends the night with the Countess but her Greek accent starts to slip a little revealing her to be English. So, as the Countess lies next to Bond she says in an English accent "My nightie's slipping!" and Bond says "So's your accent, Countess. Manchester?" and she corrects him "Close. Liverpool!. Bond asks her of her fake storm out to Columbo earlier "That was quite a performance earlier with Columbo. What exactly did Columbo whisper to you?" and she says "That you're a spy and to find out more about you" and Bond asks "And have you?" and she says "Have I ever?" and they kiss and you know the rest!   

John Wyman does OK in his role as Eric Kriegler, Kristatos's henchman, who has an amusing scene after chasing Bond in the mountains and Bond escapes, Kriegler out of rage angrily lifts his bike above his head and throws toward Bond's general direction!  In fact it has to be said that this film seems to have a thing for not so very talkative henchmen! 

And last of all is of course June Brown, who provides an amusing cameo performance as Margaret Thatcher, who calls to congratulate Bond on his mission's succcess, however instead she talks to Melina's parrot, Max, while Bond and Melina both go off for a night swim. 

So, in the scene, Maggie Thatcher unwittingly talking to Max says "Ah, Mr. Bond. I wanted to call you personnally and to say how pleased we all are that your mission was a success. Thank you" and Max says "Thank you! Thank you!". So, Maggie continues "Don't thank me, Mr. Bond. Your courage and resourcefulness are a credit to the nation. Denis and I look forward to meeting you. Meanwhile, if there is anything I can do for you..." and Max tells her "Give us a kiss!" and Maggie bashfully says "Oh, Mr Bond!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Moving onto the director, John Glen does a fine job here in his directorial debut and he confidently handles the action of the film very well as he would continue to in his next four Bond films that he directed.  Glen also contributed well towards changing the tone and style of Bond quite a bit and he radically changed it when Timothy Dalton came onboard as Bond and its funny to think he was the only active Bond director in the entire decade of the 1980's! However, Irvin Kershner did direct the Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery in 1983 but that's not part of the official Bond series.

Music wise the film also has a fairly good score by Bill Conti, however at the same time his musical style isn't quite well suited to the Bond films as you just keep hearing echoes of his Rocky scores here. Regardless his score is still a decent one and it has some good sections to it that include the one where Bond makes his mountain climb up to the top of St Cyril's monastery. 

The film's theme song however sung by Sheena Easton was never really a favourite of mine, so its a pretty average theme for me but there are worse ones for sure out there. Interestingly enough though, Sheena Easton herself was the first singer to feature in the title theme credits as the title designer, Maurice Binder liked her appearance (or basically fancied her!) and wanted to include her in them. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...... well For Your Eyes Only isn't perfect and it has to be said that again the film lacks a strong central villain as Kristatos isn't very menacing even though Julian Glover's performance is pretty good his character is not an effective villain, certainly not in comparison to the likes of Goldfinger, Scaramanga or Kananga and next to them he is quite forgettable.

The same can also be said to an extent for its leading lady and Bond girl character, Melina Havelock, as her character doesn't really come across as well as she could have, given that Melina's character had the potential to be really good as she had a motivation for revenge in the story.  This however could also even have come down to the possibility of Boquet's voice being dubbed over and if it was then it would certainly attribute to her performance being not as strong as it might have been, which if it is the case then that's probably more to do with the director's decisions than the actress. 

Then there is that stupid albeit entertaining opening scene where a bald-headed man, who is presumably Blofeld, takes remote control of a helicopter that Bond is flying in, however Bond manages to severe the cable that was remotely controlling it.  So then Bond turns the table and he scoops up the bald-headed villain's wheelchair, which leaves the villain pleasing "Mr Bond, I'll give you anything!  A delicatessen in stainless steel!!".  A WHAT???!!  A delicastessen in stainless steel???!! Now that is a bizzare one even by any Bond villain's standards!  Its just an example of very cheesy, lazy writing if you ask me and it marrs the opening scene.

Another silly scene is the facial ID equipment Q uses with Bond to identify Loque and while Bond's description is hardly pin accurate, the tech of the time is pretty crude, so its amazing they were able to come up with Loque almost straight away! So, yep about 10 seconds later, we get an old dot matrix printer print a copy of Loque's face and full bio on the man. Not too bad eh for the early 80's! ;-)

I also felt that the film's underwater scenes were a bit tedious where Bond and Melina locate the ATAC and get attacked by a man in a metallic suit with pincers (yep really daft!).  Then there is the scene where Bond and Melina are tied to the back of Kristatos's speedboat and he has them dragged through the water in an effort to attracts nearby sharks in the water.  Its a pretty laboured drawn out sequence which ultimately of course results in Bond and Melina escaping anyway.

And then we have Bibi...ohh God! Yeah, Bibi. Bibi must be one of the most annoying Bond characters to have appeared in the series, who is of course a horny teenage ice-skater with a promising career ahead of her, who has her eyes on Bond despite the fact that he must be about 40 years older than her! And there is one point where Bibi is even arrogant enough to think that Kristatos wants her and she says to him that he is too old for her yet Julian Glover is actually 8 years younger than Roger Moore!  But yeah, Bibi is pretty annoying and she has plenty of naff dialogue and one of her worst lines which I did't mention is when she hugs Bond and says "I could just eat you alive!". Uggghhhhhh!!!

And lastly Bernard Lee's presence is somewhat missed from the film as his character M was written out to allow for the new character Bill Tanner to be written in who makes a rather bland replacement.  But then Lee's contribution to the series was very memorable so his successor would have had some tough shoes to fill and unfortunately Tanner just doesn't cut it. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.   

SUM UP 

So to sum up, For Your Eyes Only remains one of Moore's stronger Bond films and definitely one of the more underrated Bond films of the era as it has plenty of good solid action, a likeable performance from Moore himself and a good supporting cast particularly from Topol and Glover.

And yes it does have a few problems and its not one of the most memorable Bond films but its still got alot going for it and it saw the series come down to Earth after the outlandish (literally) Moonraker.  Although the following film, Octopussy, would see the series become perhaps the most ridiculous its ever been up to this point, so we go from one extreme to the other...again! ;-) 

Anyway, I will give For Your Eyes Only a rating of:

8 out of 10.

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon!

Die Hard With A Vengeance Review "You are about to have a very bad day!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, so as this will be my first post of 2021, I will start off by wishing you all a belated Happy New Year.

So, for this post I will be taking a look at the 3rd film in the Die Hard franchise, Die with a Vengeance. Now, I've tried to purchase this film on Amazon and Google but for some reason, its the only film in the series that is not available, which is pretty annoying. However, I know the film well enough to do a review on it and I have already previously reviewed it on this blog, albeit years ago, so figured it was time I gave this one a fresh coat of paint.

So, with that all said, let's take another look at the 3rd entry in Die Hard series and see how it holds up some 26 years on...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!! 

STORY

So, the film begins with a bomb going off in New York Manhattan at the Bonwitt Teller department store during a hot summer morning.  The NYPD receive a call from a mysterious caller that uses the phrase "Simon says" and asks for John McClane (Bruce Willis, or Brucey!), who at this time is on suspension of duty.  The caller insists that John McClane get to Harlem and wear a sandwich board, or else, the caller will set off another bomb.  The major case unit inspector Walter Cobb (Larry Bryggman) of the NYPD goes and talks with McClane and tells them that he must do as "Simon" says, so McClane has no choice but to wear the sandwich board which says "I hate niggers" on it.  

On walking through the streets of Harlem, a local shop owner and electrician Zeus Carver (Samuel L.Jackson) spots McClane and tells him to get out of there, but as McClane explains what he is doing, a local gang spot him and attack him, but Zeus manages to grab McClane's gun and they escape the scene in a taxi, back to the police station.  

Back at the station, the police have found that "Simon" has stolen thousands of gallons of bi-chemical agent explosive.  Simon then calls again and speaks with McClane and insists that he and Zeus go on a series of games of games in order to prevent him from detonating more bombs.  McClane reluctantly manages to get Zeus to go along with him, and their first port of call is trying to prevent a bomb going off in one of the New York subways, which McClane barely gets there in time, finding the bomb in one of the carriages of a subway train, he throws it out the window and it blows up just in time before destroying the train.

Soon after this, McClane and Zeus are taken to meet two FBI agents, who explain that the mysterious caller is in fact the brother of Hans Gruber, the villain from the first Die Hard, and his real name is Simon Peter Gruber (Jeremy Irons).  At this point Simon calls again and tells them he has planted another bomb in one of the schools in the city, and that McClane and Zeus are to solve more puzzles in order to find the location of the bomb.  

After the two men find a bomb in one of the parks, they disarm it and take it away, afterwards McClane spots a kid cycling away from a store, having stolen some food and stops him, where the kid says "Look at this place, there is no one here, the cops are into something, its like Christmas, you could steal City Hall!".  At this point McClane realises something is up and it dawns on him that this is actually been all about a heist, as Simon and his men, are in actual fact there to steal the gold bullion from the Federal Reserve Bank.  

So, Simon and his team, disguised as policeman and construction workers, enter the bank and kill or incapacitate the security guards inside, and break into the bank vault, and use dump trucks to load up the gold.  McClane soon after enters the bank, and meets with Simon's men, posing as cops, he enters a lift with them and notices one of the men wears the police badge from one of the dead NYPD officers, and kills the men in the lift.  McClane thereafter finds one of the remaining bars of gold and with Zeus they go after the trucks and follow them to tanker, which they board, but are captured by Simon and his men.

Meanwhile the NYPD have been distracted by the choas of finding the school and through McClane's help they have found that the school in question is the Chester A. Arthur school, where the police indeed find a big bomb, with two big cylinders of the chemical agent, that the police found earlier.  As the bomb counts down, the police evacuate the school, while their bomb expert Charlie Weiss (Kevin Chamberlin) tries to cut the wires to deactivate the bomb, however as he does, the cylinders simply leak out, what is in actual fact pancake syrup.  

On the tanker, McClane at this point realises the bomb is only a decoy, and Simon finds him and tells him that there was no bomb in the school, but the real bomb is on the tanker.  Simon then cuffs McClane and Zeus sitting on the bomb's cylinders, leaving them to be killed in the explosion, the tanker supposedly filled with the gold will sink.

So, from here McClane and Zeus must find a way to escape from the tanker before it explodes and stop Simon from getting away...

THOUGHTS 

Die Hard with a Vengeance is a very enjoyable entry in the franchise and even though its reception was mixed on release, I still think its one of the best in the series.  The film is also helped along by a very enjoyable and somewhat hammy performance from its villain, Simon Gruber, played by Jeremy Irons, who in a way is the perfect choice for the role, as he is very similar in manner to Alan Rickman.  And his character makes for a refreshing take on the Gruber family, and is a far more entertaining a villain than the very cut and dry Colonel Stuart from the second film, although my one criticism of his performance is he gives the worst ever phoney American accent (in the one scene he uses it!).

The film's two main leads of Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson are also perfect here with their characters McClane and Zeus, despite their initial differences, they develop a friendship and work well together as the film progresses. And its this dynamic that helps the film work very well and adds to the fun and there is even a cheesy reference to Pulp Fiction with Willis quoting a line "Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" as the two of them work on that film also.

I also felt that in this film that they portrayed the cops much better as they are seen here as being more capable at dealing with situations than in the first two movies where they were just totally inept. However here, director, John McTiernan must have wanted to make up for that here as the cops work well together as a team during the crises rather than just stand around like idiots in Die Hards 1 and 2.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

As for the performances, the cast are all excellent here.

Starting with Bruce Willis who is great again as John McClane, who has been thrown into another terrorist situation while nursing a horrible hangover and is partnered reluctantly with a Harlem electrician, Zeus Carver.

And Bruce has his share of good scenes, starting with the one where Cobb briefs a hungover McClane in the back of a van in Harlem. So, in the scene Cobb questions McClane over his trouble marriage to Holly and McClane snaps at him "Why don't you mind your fuckin business about Holly, huh?! Between you and Simon, you're fucking up a perfectly good hangover!". 

Then there is the scene where McClane at the police stations goes after Zeus, who is about to leave although Simon insists that they work together. So, McClane runs up to Zeus and says "Yo, partner! Hold up!" and Zeus angrily says to him "Hey, hey, hey, hey, I ain't your partner. I ain't your neighbor, your brother, or your friend. I'm your total stranger!". McClane then says "OK, stranger. Where do you think they found that bomb? Look, this guy don't care about skin colour, even if you do". 

Another good scene is where McClane and Zeus get to a payphone just in time for one of Simon's riddles "Birds of a feather flock together" and McClane says "Nice. Rhymes!". Simon then asks McClane "Who were you calling?" and McClane sarcastically tells him "The psychic hotline!" and Simon warns him "I advise you to take this more seriously" and McClane annoyed says "Hey, this is a public phone! What do you want me to say?" and Simon angrily says "You can simply say there was a fat woman on it and it took you moment to get her off!". 

Then we have the scene where McClane meets with a few FBI agents who are about to tell him that Simon is in fact Hans Gruber's brother (i.e. Hans from the first film). So, in the scene one of the agents asks McClane "Anybody following you at all? Any kind of surveillance, telephone? Anything?" and McClane takes a moment then replies "Well, now that you mention it, I have experienced a, you know, like a burning sensation between my toes. I thought it was just some athlete's foot or something". Then another FBI agent asks McClane "The name Gruber mean anything to you, Lieutenant?" and McClane looks a bit startled and says "It rings a bell yeah".

Another good scene from Willis is when McClane and Zeus argue over how to solve the water jug puzzle in the park. So, as the two men argue McClane angrily says to Zeus "I'm gonna put my up your ass, you dumb mother..." and Zeus shouts at him "SAY IT!" and McClane asks "What?!" and Zeus says "You were gonna call me a nigger, weren't you?" and McClane angrily says to him "No, I wasn't!" and Zeus threatingly asks "Well, what were you gonna call me?" and McClane shouts back "Asshole! I was going to say asshole!". McClane then angrily asks Zeus "I have oppressed you, Zeus?! Have I oppressed your people?! I'll tell you what your problem is, you don't like me because your a racist!" and Zeus surprised asks "What?!" and McClane says "You don't like me because I'm white!" and Zeus spits back "I don't like you because you're gonna get me killed!". 

And then we have the scene where McClane enters the federal reserve bank and goes up to one of the robbers, Karl who is disguised as a cop. So, McClane walks up to him and Karl sees how dirty he looks and asks him "Are you alright?" and McClane says dryly "Yes, its laundry day!". So, Karl then invites McClane along to have a scan of the building and get's into a lift with him and what are in fact Simon's men. However, in the lift, McClane notices that one of the men, Otto, is wearing the badge of a dead cop he knows and McClane twigs they are Simon's men and he then jokingly asks them "What was the lottery number last night? My wife usually plays the same numbers and I keep asking "why do you play the same numbers?" and she tells me "Well, they're my lucky numbers!". I've got the tickets right here!" and he suddenly pulls out his gun and engages in a gunfight he barely survives.

WARNING: BIG SPOILERS IN THE NEXT FEW PARAGRAPHS!

Then there is the scene where McClane makes his way onboard the ship that Simon is on in a desparate scramble to stop the bomb that is going to go off in one of the New York schools. However, McClane soon sees two containers rise with no explosive liquid in them, which dawns on McClane that the school bomb was just a decoy and he sits down hits his head in disbelief. 

So, in the scene, Simon walks up to McClane and introduces himself "Hello, John McClane" and McClane says "There never was any bomb was there?" and Simon tells him "No, I'm solider, not a monster, even though sometimes I work for monsters, No, the real bomb is on this ship". Simon then takes the radio that McClane had as he tried to call the costguard and Simon tries the radio and says "They put you on hold" and McClane says "Yeah, she told me to stay on the line" and Simon laughs and says "God! I love this country!". McClane then firmly tells Simon "You know you're brother was an asshole!" and Simon laughs and says "He WAS an asshole, you got his number". 

And this is followed by the scene where McClane and Zeus and handcufffed together on Simon's tanker and just before Simon leaves McClane taunts him and asks "Hey, fuckhead?! Yeah, you! Fuckhead! You got any aspirins?! I've had a bad fuckin hangover all day!" and Simons laughs and says "Must be your lucky day! Keep the bottle!" and he throws the aspirins at McClane and they land in his lap and McClane laughs to himself.

Then there is the following scene where McClane tells Zeus that they won't die as he plans their escape using a splinter from a cable that impaled into his shoulder. So, in the scene says to Zeus angrily says to McClane "If it hadn't saved your fucking ass, I wouldn't be here $100 billion of fucking gold!" and McClane tells him "Well, you're only gonna blow up with me". Zeus then asks "How do you know?" and McClane says "I know the man, I know the family. The only thing better than blowing up $100 million, is making people think he did!". McClane then tells Zeus they won't die as he has a piece of splintered cable in his shoulder that they can use to pick the handcuffs. 

So, as McClane drops the splinter into Zeus's hands and he starts to pick the lock, Zeus sighs and says "Damn it, McClane, I was just starting to like you" and McClane says "Well, don't, I'm an asshole" and Zeus asks "What are you talking about know?". So, McClane tells him "I lied to you, Zeus" and Zeus asks "About what?" and McClane tells him "You remember, I said that Weiss found that bomb up in Harlem?" and Zeus says "Yeah" and McClane admits "They found it down in Chinatown" and Zeus scornfully says "Oh, that's low! Even for a white motherfucker like you that's low!" and McClane says "Told you I was an asshole". 

And last of all is the scene where McClane finally tracks Simon down after his escape to Canada and Simon boards a chopper and tries to kill McClane with an heavy machine gun. So, McClane backs away and tries to find a target he can use to nail Simon and he says to him "Come on, hotshot! Show me that smiling face!". And as Simon's chopper hovers over by a nearby telephone pole line, with Simon smiling with his gun trained on McClane, McClane points his gun at the line and says "Say hi to your brother!" and shoots the line, which drops right into the line of the rotor blades of the chopper causing it crash and explode and McClane delivers his immortal line "Yippy ki-yay, motherfucker!".    

Samuel L. Jackson next is great in his role as Zeus Carver, a cynical and not so white people friendly electrician, who is forced into helping McClane against Simon.

And Sam has plenty of great scenes in the film that include his first one where Zeus spots McClane out on the streets in Harlem wearing a sign that says "I Hate Niggers" on it. So, Zeus sighs and walks over to McClane and says to him calmly "Morning" and McClane warily replies "Morning". Zeus then asks McClane "You having a nice day, sir? You feeling all right? Not to get too personal, but a white man standing in the middle of Harlem wearing a sign that says "I hate niggers" has either got some serious personal issues, or not all his dogs are barking!". McClane then yawns, seemingly unconcerned but Zeus then approaches him and says "Hey! I'm talking to you! Now, you've got about 10 seconds before those guys over there see you and when they do, they will kill you! You are about to have a very bad day!" and McClane says to him "Tell me about it!". 

And this is the followed by the moment where Zeus and McClane get into a cab and narrowly escaped being lynched by an angry black mob. So, in the scene McClane thinks Zeus is called "Jesus" but Zeus snaps at him and says "He didn't call me Jesus, hey said "Hey, Zeus! My name is Zeus!" and McClane asks "Zeus?" and Zeus angrily tells him "Yeah, Zeus! As in Father of Apollo, Mount Olympus! Don't fuck with me, or I'll shove a lightning bolt up your ass! ZEUS! You got a problem with that?!". 

Then there is the scene where Zeus and McClane are at the police station and Simon calls and tells them that Zeus must go with McClane for the day to help however Zeus is not interested. So, in the scene Zeus says "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not going anywhere!" but Inspector Cobb tells his firmly "Simon says you got to go!" and Zeus says back  "I'm not jumping through hoops for some psycho. That's a white man with white problems. Call me when he crosses!". So, McClane then asks Zeus "Why'd you save my ass?" and Zeus tells him "I didn't. I stopped a white cop from getting killed in Harlem. One white cop gets killed today, tomorrow we got all of them with itchy trigger fingers, got it?!".

And then there is the funny scene where Zeus and McClane argue over the water jug puzzle Simon has set them in the park. So, as they argue, McClane angrily shouts at Zeus "I'll put my foot up your ass, you dumb mother..." and Zeus angrily says "SAY IT! SAY IT!" and McClane taken aback asks "What?" and Zeus angrily asks "You were gonna call me a nigger, weren't you?!" and McClane says "No, I wasn't!" and Zeus shouts back "Yes you were! What were you gonna call me?!" and McClane tells him "ASSHOLE! How's that, asshole?!". So, McClane annoyed tells Zeus "You know what your problem is, Zeus?! You're a racist! You don't like me because I'm white!" but Zeus tells him "I don't like you because you're gonna get me killed!". 

And later on there is the scene where McClane and Zeus manage to locate Simon's ship and they board and Zeus soon finds him, armed with a machine gun he sneaks in and points it at Simon. So, Zeus tells Simon "Don't fuckin move!" and Simon turns around and says "Oh, the samaritan!" and Zeus says "Give me the goddamn code!" and Simon says "Oh, for the school. Sorry, I can't do that" and Zeus warns him "You call in that code right now, or I'll blow your sick ass into the next world!" and Simon walks right up to him and says "Well, if that's what you gotta do" however as Zeus pulls the trigger, nothing happens. So, Simon takes the machine gun from him and checks it and says "You have to take the safety catch off" and he does and shoots Zeus in the foot, who screams in pain and Simon says "See that works! Now, where's McClane?!". 

Then there is the following scene where McClane tells Zeus that they won't die as he plans their escape using a splinter from a cable that impaled into his shoulder. So, in the scene says to Zeus angrily says to McClane "If it hadn't saved your fucking ass, I wouldn't be here $100 billion of fucking gold!" and McClane tells him "Well, you're only gonna blow up with me". Zeus then asks "How do you know?" and McClane says "I know the man, I know the family. The only thing better than blowing up $100 million, is making people think he did!". McClane then tells Zeus they won't die as he has a piece of splintered cable in his shoulder that they can use to pick the handcuffs. 

So, as McClane drops the splinter into Zeus's hands and he starts to pick the lock, Zeus sighs and says "Damn it, McClane, I was just starting to like you" and McClane says "Well, don't, I'm an asshole" and Zeus asks "What are you talking about know?". So, McClane tells him "I lied to you, Zeus" and Zeus asks "About what?" and McClane tells him "You remember, I said that Weiss found that bomb up in Harlem?" and Zeus says "Yeah" and McClane admits "They found it down in Chinatown" and Zeus scornfully says "Oh, that's low! Even for a white motherfucker like you that's low!" and McClane says "Told you I was an asshole". 

Then as Zeus tries to undo their cuffs, they talk about McClane's ailing marriage to Holly and Zeus says to him "I'm surprised anybody could stay with you long enough to be married!" and McClane says "She didn't stick around. We're sort of separated. She was in L.A., I was in New York, we had a fight on the phone, she hung up, I didn't call her back". Zeus then asks "How long ago was that?" and McClane says "About a year ago" and Zeus begins to laugh much to McClane's annoyance who asks "What the fuck you laughing about?!" and Zeus continues laughing and asks "You threw away your marriage because you were too fucking stupid to pick up the phone?!" and McClane irritated asks "You think that's funny?!" and Zeus giggles and says "I bet you blame your wife, too!" and McClane angrily says "My wife is a very stubborn woman, yes!" and Zeus laughs some more. 

WARNING: BIG SPOILER NEXT PARAGRAPH!

And last of all is the last scene of the film where the bad guys have been dealt with as McClane shoots down Simon's helicopter into a ball of flames. So, McClane laughs with Zeus as they are near the fire wreckage of Simon's chopper and McClane asks Zeus "Think we should call a fire truck?" and Zeus laughs and says "Naw, fuck em, let em cook!".

Jeremy Irons next is also perfect in his role as Simon Gruber, the brother of Hans from the first film, who sends McClane on a wild goose chase to solve his riddles and defuse his bombs throughout the city.

As for Jeremy's notable scenes there is for example his first one where Simon calls Inspector Cobb and asks him "Is there a detective McClane there?" and Cobb says "He's on suspension" and Simon warns him "No, Walter. He's not. Not today" and Cobb asks "Who is this?" and Simon says "Call me Simon". Cobb a little anxious asks "What do you want?" and Simon says "To play a little game" and Cobb asks "What kind of game?" and Simon says "Simon Says". Simon's going to tell Lt. McClane what to do, and Lt. McClane is going to do it. Noncompliance will result in a penalty" and Cobb asks "What penalty?" and Simon says "Another big bang in a public place!".

Then we have the scene where McClane and Zeus get to a payphone just in time for one of Simon's riddles. So, as McClane answers the phone, Simon says ""Birds of a feather, flocked together, so do pigs & swine. As nice as their chance as well as I had mine!" and McClane says "Nice. Rhymes". Simon then asks McClane "Who were you calling?" and McClane sarcastically tells him "The psychic hotline!" and Simon warns him "I advise you to take this more seriously" and McClane annoyed says "Hey, this is a public phone! What do you want me to say?" and Simon angrily says "You can simply say there was a fat woman on it and it took you moment to get her off!". 

Simon then gives McClane the St Ives riddle to solve but McClane asks "Wait a minute say that again!" and Simon says "Not a chance! My number is 555 and the answer. Call me in 30 seconds or die!". So, after McClane and Zeus work out the riddle and make the call, Simon says "Hello, John!" and McClane sarcastically says "Yeah, piece of cake! Give us something harder next time!" and Simon says "But your 10 seconds late!" and McClane yells in panic "NO! THE ANSWER IS 1!!" and he dives out the way as if a bomb is about to go off but nothing happens and we hear Simon's laughter on the line. So, McClane feeling embarrassed goes back to the phone and says "Yeah" and Simon laughs and says "I didn't say "Simon says!".

Then there is the scene where Simon's ruse to enter the federal reserve bank works as he looks down below the scene outside as he successfully get's the police looking for a bomb in one of the schools in New York "They bought it! Hook, line and sinker!". 

This is then followed by the scene where Simon disguises himself as a city engineer to the police and he says to them in a truly awful American accent "Bob Thompson... City Engineer's Office. We'd like to get an idea of the damage" and one of the cops says to him "Man, you guys really got here fast!" and Simon tells him "Well... it's Wall Street, sir. A lot of money here. A lot of opinion-makers... the mayor doesn't want to piss off, you know?" and he surveys the scene of an explosion caused by his bombs and says in his naff accent "Holy Toledo! Somebody had fun!".  

And then we have the scene where Zeus makes it onboard Simon's ship and Zeus aims a machine gun at him and warns him "Don't fuckin move!" and Simon turns around and says "Oh, the samaritan!" and Zeus says "Give me the goddamn code!" and Simon says "Oh, for the school. I'm sorry, I can't do that" and Zeus warns him "You call in that code right now, or I'll blow your sick ass into the next world!" and Simon walks right up to him and says "Well, if that's what you gotta do" however as Zeus pulls the trigger, nothing happens. So, Simon takes the machine gun from him and checks it and says "You have to take the safety catch off" and he does and shoots Zeus in the foot, who screams in pain and Simon says "See that works! Now, where's McClane?!". 

And then there is the big reveal that the school bomb was a fake and just a ruse, which McClane berates himself for falling for it, as he reaches the deck of the ship where Simon is, who comes in and kneels down next to him and says "Hello, John McClane". So, McClane says "There never was any bomb was there?" and Simon says "Of course not. I'm a solider, not a monster, even though I sometimes work for monsters. No the real bomb is on this ship". McClane then taunts Simon by saying "You know, you're brother was an asshole!" and Simons just smiles and says "He was an asshole! You got his number". 

And this is then proceeded by the scene where Simon has McClane and Zeus handcuffed togther sitting on a large cylinder filled with explosive liquid. So, in the scene, Zeus asks Simon "What's all this gotta with killing McClane?!" and Simon says "Life has its little bonuses!" and Zeus asks him "Didn't I hear you say you didn't even like your brother?" and Simon corrects him and says "There is a difference between not liking one's brother and not caring when some Irish flat-foot drops him out of a building". And as Simon prepares the timer for the explosives, Zeus asks him "No riddle is gonna stop this motherfucker?!" and Simon tells him "No code, no riddle, no fancy little countdown!". And just before he leaves, McClane calls out to Simon and asks "Have you got any aspirin?! I've had a bad fucking headache all day long!" and Simon smiles and says to him "Must be your lucky day! Here, have the bottle!" and he throws and it lands in McClane's lap, who laughs out loud as Simon leaves. 

And last of all is the scene where Simon and his team arrive in a warehouse as they unload the gold and they celebrate their victory with some champagne. So, Simon addresses the men and says "Yesterday we were an army with no country. Tomorrow... we have to decide which country we want to buy! And remember... this is all due to the g-g-g-gullibility of the New York Police Department! To the police department!".

As for the other cast members, I won't go into full detail on their scenes just to save a bit of time but I will quickly mention a few key members of the supporting cast.

Starting with Larry Bryggman who is pretty good in his role as the wary police Inspector, Walter Cobb, who supervises McClane and is forced to deal with Simon's dangerous games. 

And Bryggman has one or two good scene worth a mention that include his first one where he get's a call from Simon and after the call he demands to know where McClane is. So, Cobbs shouts to his team "Kowalski?! Lambert! Where is McClane?" and Lambert says "Well, I doubt your gonna find him at church" and Cobb says to him "Well, you better find out what rock he's under and kick it over!". 

And secondly and last of all is the scene where Simon calls back at the station not long after McClane is rescued from Harlem by Zeus. So, as Simon calls, Cobb tries to persuade him not to persue McClane saying he isn't worth it. So, Cobb says to Simon "I can appreciate your feelings for McClane. But believe me, the jerk isn't worth it. He's stepped on so many toes in this department, by this time next month he's gonna be a security guard. His own wife wants nothing to do with him, and he's about two steps shy of becoming a full-blown alcoholic!" and McClane whispers "One step! One step!". 
 
As for the other cast members, Graham Greene is also good in his role as the wisecracking cop, Joe Lambert, who helps out during the crisis. And Greene's most notable line comes after McClane manages to get rid of the subway bomb just before it detonates on a train. So, in the aftermath scene, Lambert tells the others "We got a shitload of cuts and bruises, a couple of concussions, some old guy's pacemaker stopped, and a pregnant girl's water broke, and that's all!".

And last of all is Sam Phillips who makes an intimidating impression as Katya, the ruthless mute henchwoman and girlfriend to Simon aswell. And her most notable scene comes when Katya brutally murders a guard down in the federal reserve bank, who had fired a shotgun at Simon's men and we see Katya slowly walk down the corridor toward the man and stabs him from behind in the neck, chest and the back until Simon grabs her wrist to stop her doing more and he says disapprovingly "I think he's dead, my dear!". 

DIRECTOR 

Finally moving onto the director, John McTiernan does a fine job here once again in the franchise as this was his second and last directorial effort in the series and he expertly handles the film's action scenes and also keeps up the suspense nicely throughout. McTiernan also provides the best intro scene in the franchise here with the use of Lovin Spoonful's "Summer in the city" playing over a New York sunrise and then we suddenly see a big explosion on the streets. Its a pity that McTiernan didn't return to the franchise for future films although around the time of the 5th and so far final film, McTiernan was serving a federal prison sentence, so was obviously not available. 

MUSIC 

As for the music, the film is once again scored by Michael Kamen, who provides another very good score for the movie although it does of course feature some of the familiar music cues we have already heard in the previous Die Hard movies. However one of the more standout aspects of the score is Kamen's rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" a well known song from the American civil war era. The soundtrack also features tracks from other artists most notably "Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful as I mentioned already and plays at the start of the film.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)   

As for flaws...yes, DHWAV does have some. 

For starters I would have to say that the film really does push the whole racial angle a bit too much regarding Zeus's contempt and mistrust of white people and how we constantly get him complaining about being stereotyped e.g. for being able to lockpick or not knowing how to use a gun. And this all culminates in the scene where McClane finally has had enough of Zeus's accusations and calls him out for being a racist to white people. This is further emphasised in the scene where a New York businessman steps into a cab that Zeus is in (that McClane commandeered earlier) and Zeus attempts to explain its not a cab for hire and the passenger says "What? You don't like white people?!". So, yeah the film makers try to throw the whole racial thing in your face in a very non subtle way, which it could have easily done without. 

Another issues I have is the scene with the police psychologist explaining the psychosis of "Simon" and how "we are talking about a pyschopathic personality, with possible schizophrenia, and he wants control over McClane, and his actions".  Its just really feels superflous to the whole film, and unecessary exposition, we don't really need a psychologist to explain all this stuff as its something we can all pretty much work out for ourselves, even McClane knows what Simon is all about without the help of the "shrink".

There are also some bizarrely convenient moments in the film such as Zeus's ability to work out riddles in their first puzzle call from Simon over the "St Ives" riddle as Zeus says to McClane "Shut up, McClane! I'm good at this!". Yep how convenient, Zeus! Perhaps Simon knew something a bit more about Zeus than he let on, as thought "Hmm, good samaritan! He must be good at puzzles!". 

This is followed up by the rather ridiculous scene where McClane somehow manages to avoid being drowned after Simon had the dam blown as McClane drives through the tunnels and get's flooded with water and somehow manages to cling onto a ladder rail and is sent flying up a tunnel into the open air by the rush of water. And the big coincidence is of course when Zeus just so happens to be driving by at the EXACT moment we see McClane flying out of the tunnel into the air! How's that for timing?! 

I also felt the inclusion of Simon's stutter was a bit pointless as well in the film as we hear him stammer twice, first on the phone where McClane pushes him and Simon says "You c-c-c-couldn't catch me in my chair with me sitting in it!". And later near the end where he addresses his men over the victory of their heist and he speaks of the NYPD's "g-g-g-g-gullability!". I mean this only occurs twice in the whole film and because of that alone its totally unecessary especially as Simon is so in control for the rest of the movie. 

And last of all is the film's silly ending with McClane going after Simon in a helicopter after he tracks him down to Canada (thanks to the label on the aspirin bottle Simon gave him). And of course in the scene, Simon is about to have it off with Katya, only for then we see the helicopter lights outside and we hear McClane's voice from a megaphone say "Hey, dickhead! Did I come at a bad time?!".  Its also pretty daft as the writer of the screenplay, Johnathan Hensleigh pointed out in the DVD commentary, that Zeus would come along with McClane in the chopper ride, as he really isn't needed, but I guess maybe Zeus wanted to see it through to the end (well that's the only thing I can think of that makes any sense here!). 

So, that's it for the flaws. 

SUM UP 

So, to sum up, Die Hard With a Vengeance is a very solid entry in the series and in my opinion is easily the second best film of the franchise as it features two solid leads in Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson, who enjoy some good onscreen chemistry together as they bicker and argue but also work well togther. The film also has a more memorable villain in Simon Gruber, the brother of the late Hans Gruber, who McClane killed off at the end of Die Hard and Jeremy Irons really succceds in actually making him appear somewhat less ruthless and more practical as a villain, doing what is necessary to get the job done. 

And yes there are some minor plot issues and the film pushes the black/white racial angle a bit too much and yep the ending is really dumb but that all aisde, DHWAV is still well worth a look 26 years on since its initial release.

So, Die Hard With a Vengeance gets...

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another post.

Till then its bye for now!