Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance (1995)
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Movie Info
Bruce Willis returns as misfit cop John McClane in the third film in the Die Hard series. McClane has fallen on hard times; after moving to New York City and breaking up with his wife, he's developed a drinking problem and has been suspended from the NYPD. However, his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Simon (Jeremy Irons), a terrorist bomber who has been using McClane as his contact as he plants a series of bombs in public places and gives McClane inane "clues" to their whereabouts in … More
- Rating:
- R
- Genre:
- Mystery & Suspense , Action & Adventure
- Directed By:
- John McTiernan
- Written By:
- Jonathan Hensleigh
- In Theaters:
- May 19, 1995 Wide
- On DVD:
- Mar 9, 1999
- Runtime:
Cast
-
Bruce Willis
as John McClane -
Jeremy Irons
as Simon -
Samuel L. Jackson
as Zeus Carver -
Graham Greene (II)
as Joe Lambert -
Colleen Camp
as Connie Kowalski
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LoginCritic Reviews for Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (22) | DVD (23)
Degenerates into an improbable, confusing series of chases and an overly involved heist that takes far too long to set up.
There's little wit or originality on offer, just the familiar escalation of car chases and big bangs.
Pure action, with bigger and better explosions and stunts.
It's a tense, terrifically funny action dazzler with a wow level in special effects that will be hard to top.
The big set pieces don't build, really, they just pile up.
An audience on the edge of its seat doesn't quibble about plot points.
... Highlighted by Irons, whose slick and sinister Simon is second only to Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in the pantheon of "Die Hard" villains.
If you ignore the last half, it's quite a good entry.
Less hand-to-hand combat, but still a very violent sequel.
...ultimately closer in spirit to the original than the first sequel.
Should make us all feel a little queasy after the Oklahoma City bombing.
All in all, it's a fun movie, worthy of its predecessors, but ranking third of three.
So concerned with bigness that it forgets to thrill.
Surprisingly more entertaining than you'd expect a third film in a franchise to be.
John McTiernan pulls the stunts off with such finesse that the script problems are almost irrelevant.
Rarely are sequels this good
The best of the Die Hard movies -- Jackson and Willis are terrific together.
Holds its own within the steadiness of the trilogy.
Forsakes much of the occasionally clever, somewhat wry dialogue and situations of its predecessors in favor of a more generic action-adventure approach.
No believable characters are developed. The action sequences weren't believable, either.
A tepid continuation of the series saved only by some decent action scenes and Willis trading barbs with Jackson. Jeremy Irons is a poor follow-up to Alan Rickman.
They killed an interesting gimmick in order to squeeze it into an already tired franchise.
Who would have thought that the Die Hard series would sputter down to this sad, empty little film?
Audience Reviews for Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance
An entertaining movie full of action and humor, undoubtedly better than the atrocious sequel though still not in the same level of the original film. And even with a flawed last half, it has Samuel L. Jackson stealing the scene and Jeremy Irons as a great villain.
MoreSuper Reviewer
"Die Hard with a Vengeance" was the first "Die Hard" I saw in the theater and it's my favorite of the sequels. John McClane is back and this time he's not in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's the right man, being targeted by a terorrist bomber named Simon(Jeremy Irons) who wants to play a game of simon says. If McClane doesn't do as he says, then he will blow up anything from a subway to a school in New York. McClane gets help from Zeus(Samuel L. Jackson) a guy who saves his life in Harlem, and they try to stop Simon and find out why he is doing all this. John McTeirnan was the director of the first movie and this is the only sequel he came back for, probably why it's the best. The action is phenomenal, the story is exciting, and Irons' Simon is the best of all the villains in the series, besides Hans Gruber. There are some scenes that are very over the top, but this is probably the most grounded of the entire series. Great movie, and if your looking for a roller coaster ride of a movie, then pop this bad boy back in.
MoreSuper Reviewer
While starting off promising in the first act of the film, John McClane is teamed up this time with an Electrician, as they are being sent through a "Simon Says" game in the city, where they must obey the villain, who is shocking a big part of the first film, which was a pretty big cop out in my eyes. This film is filled with one lazy action sequence after another and some of the dialogue, if not all of it, is very confusing and makes to sense to the plot. When I was viewing this film I could not help but role my eyes during every scene. "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is absolutely everything I hoped it wouldn't be. Uninteresting characters, horrible dialogue, and a premise that tries way too hard to be smart. This movie sucks!
MoreSuper Reviewer
John McClane is back in the filthy vest as he attempts to foil a bullion heist with the aid of Samuel L. Jackson. John McTiernan is back at the helm and this feels much more like the original than the distinctly flaccid second film. It starts at breakneck speed and continues at that pace, as Willis is chased all over the city while trading wise cracks and jibes with Jackson, getting ever sillier as it goes. It is the turn of Jeremy Irons to display a motley collection of dubious accents as the Hollywood Euro-villain of the month and by the end logic has firmly taken a back seat as it settles into the usual action movie excesses. The female villain seems a little redundant and there's maybe one double cross too many, not that it really matters because nobody likes Die Hard for it's gritty reality. The buddy partnership works a treat, the jokes are funny and the set pieces exciting. A superior action film and solid sequel.
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Super Reviewer
Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance Quotes
- John McClane:
- You and Simon ruined a perfectly good hangover.
- John McClane:
- Say hello to your brother. [shoots down helicopter]
- John McClane:
- You know, you're brother was an asshole.
- Simon Gruber/Peter Krieg:
- [laughs] He was! He was an asshole. You got his number.
- John McClane:
- What is it that wall street doesn't have?
- Zeus Carver:
- What?
- John McClane:
- Schools [while watching at The Federal Reserve Bank of New York] And what do they have a shit load of?
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