Die Hard With a Vengeance

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Cast & Crew

Bruce Willis
John McClane

Jeremy Irons
Simon Gruber

Samuel L. Jackson
Zeus Carver

Graham Greene
Joe Lambert

Colleen Camp
Connie Kowalski

Larry Bryggman
Insp. Walter Cobb

Anthony Peck
Ricky Walsh

Nick Wyman
Mathias Targo

Sam Phillips
Katya

John McTiernan
Director

Roderick Thorp
Writer

Jonathan Hensleigh
Writer

Buzz Feitshans
Executive Producer

Robert Lawrence
Executive Producer

Andrew G. Vajna
Executive Producer

Michael Tadross
Producer

John McTiernan
Producer

Michael Kamen
Original Music

Peter Menzies Jr.
Cinematographer

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Critic Reviews for Die Hard: With a Vengeance

Audience Reviews for Die Hard: With a Vengeance

• Jun 20, 2016

  While the second film was not nearly as good as the first, Samuel L. Jackson almost single handedly brought this film nearly back to the quality of the first film. Great script and interesting premise. It is funny to know that the FBI actually interviewed the screenwriter because his heist was so well thought out.
  

  Patrick W Super Reviewer
• Feb 15, 2015

  An argument could be made that Die Hard With A Vengeance is superior to the first Die Hard, but regardless on your feelings of ranking, it's most certainly worth watching if you're a fan of the series to this point.
  

  Gimly M Super Reviewer
• Dec 05, 2013

  "Christmas with the McClanes" came a little early in 1995, so much so that they just finally decided to scrap that whole Christmas theme, outside of a few cute, but somewhat forced winks at "Die Hard" and Christmas fans, either because these films are running together too much as it is without the Christmas theme, or because the "Christmas in July" novelty was old back in the '80s and '90s. I don't know about a Christmas theme, but this film is certainly bringing back John McTiernan, or at least I think they are, because, like I said, the first "Die Hard" and "Die Hard 2" ran into each other so much that I couldn't even tell the difference between direction. Well, if Renny Harlin was, by chance, key in their decision to give "Die Hard 2" the subtitle "Die Harder", then you can definitely feel his absence, as "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is a pretty cool title, even though I doubt the effectiveness of a vengeance exacted when you're dead, and in a hard fashion no less. You know what, I think this film's title gets a whole cooler when you see it on the poster, right above Samuel L. Jackson's name, which, of course, makes everything a little bit cooler. By that logic, this film's title, alone, was downright awesome five years later, when Jackson did a certain other cop film, because people could look back and think of this as the ultimate super-cop team-up between John McClane and John Shaft. Shoot, and on top of all of that, they're going up against Jeremy Irons, who was born to play a clichéd, intellectual terrorist mastermind, so they may as well have kept up the Christmas theme, as this is a Christmas present to action thriller fans if I've every heard of one. ...Nah, nevermind, because the filmmakers were right if they did, in fact, feel that, even without the Christmas theme, these films carried too many similar elements, including certain flaws that haven't gotten any less forgivable the third time around. As much as I joke about how much this series' installments run together, seeing as how the first two entries were too close in content for comfort, this particular film is pretty distinguished from it predecessors, although it's hardly different from thrillers of its nature, and no matter how much the attempts at complexity work to settle predictability, it's pretty easy to tell where this trope-heavy path is leading, no matter how much it stretches on. Longer than the still draggy "Die Harder", this film runs around the same length of the original "Die Hard", which was, of course, by no means reasonable, so, as sure as sunshine, while there is a touch more eventfulness to this narrative than the ones, or rather, "one" followed by the predecessors, storytelling is still packed with draggy material and even some excessive filler. The final product is arguably not quite as overlong as one might think when comparing the layers of this story concept and the interpretation's final runtime, but this is still about as overdrawn as the first two films, as its story concept is still too thin to sustain a length of almost two hours and a quarter, no matter how many questionable paths they try to take. Sure, there are some cheesy moments in dialogue and comic relief, but it's the plot structure that is most questionably drawn by writer Jonathan Hensleigh, who all but convolutes the narrative with overblown set pieces, but not without placing some thinness to characterization. As one might expect, this script is hardly subtle, and it's hard to ignore this when director John McTiernan bloats his storytelling atmosphere with a momentum that may be fun in its tightness and all, but carries some sense of overambition that stresses problems, which are limited in quantity, but considerable in magnitude. What missteps there are in this perhaps intentionally flawed, over-the-top blockbuster are very recurring, and while I'm not asking for much out of this effort, this is still kind of an underwhelming thriller, like its predecessors. Of course, also like its predecessors, this film sure provides plenty of fun, enough so to succeed as an action thriller, complete with, well, some thrilling action. Not quite as directly brawl-driven as the first two installments of this series, this film's action aspects even deliver on thrilling non-combat set pieces whose tight momentum reinforces a sense of race against time, while the hand-to-hand, or gun-to-gun, or explosion-to-explosion set pieces that we all know and love about this franchise prove to be well-staged and choreographed, with a certain intensity and slightly over-the-top grandness to both entertain and keep up some tension. What combat there is is as thrilling as it usually has been in the series, at least up to this point, and when we're looking at relatively simple chase sequences, you can also expect plenty of thrills, yet this is still a less action-oriented installment in the thriller saga, so don't expect too much biting action. Of course, that's not to say that the story, alone, doesn't have some bite to it, because even though meat is limited, partly due familiarity and largely due to this flick's being barely, if at all less minimalist than its relatively simple predecessors, the formula is distinguished from the formula followed by "Die Harder" and "Die Harder" for you to gain a particularly firm grip on intrigue, which is very present, thanks to riddle-driven complexities and other colorful, if questionably drawn attributes that trip up the mind in a fairly fun fashion, often complimented by tension, and near-consistently brought to life by John McTiernan. McTiernan is about as bombastic in his storytelling as he was when he worked with the first "Die Hard", but an overtly brisk pacing does more than just beat you over the head and flavor up thrilling action, sustaining a velocity that graces heights in conflict handling with tension, and never lets up on a colorful atmosphere to entertain thoroughly. McTiernan's storytelling is tense about as often as it is faulty, yet fun never abates, driving the film, at least as a fluff piece, complete with all of the thrilling action and "complexities" that I addressed earlier, as well as the colorful performances that you might expect from a cast like this. The supporting players are pretty decent and all, with Jeremy Irons being convincing and even morbidly charming in his portrayal of a flamboyant and dangerous intellectual antagonist, but it's the leads who really keep things going, with Bruce Willis not being given the dramatic material that he sometimes had to reinforce a sense of consequence in the first two films, but still delivering on that classic action star charisma, which Samuel L. Jackson all but matches with his trademark, over-the-top intense charm, whose bonding with the charm of Willis produces a delightful frenemy chemistry that does much justice to the buddy aspect which drives this particular "Die Hard" installment in a lot of ways. Willis and Jackson keep the momentum up about as much as anyone, and there are plenty of people and aspects to sustain a fun factor, which ultimately crafts quite the entertaining thriller, regardless of the shortcomings that we've come to expect out of films like this. Overall, while this film is distinguished from its predecessors, by no means is it all that distinguished from formulaic thrillers of its type, featuring bloating in both unsubtle storytelling and length to only stress the natural shortcomings that secure the final product as underwhelming, yet are challenged enough by thrilling action, an intriguing narrative, thoroughly well-paced direction and a colorful cast - headed by the delightfully charismatic duo of Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson - that "Die Hard with a Vengeance" is able to stand as a fun, if overtly fluffy third round in a classic popcorn saga. 2.5/5 - Fair
  Cameron J Super Reviewer
• Aug 18, 2013

  An entertaining movie full of action and humor, no doubt better than the atrocious second installment even if not in the same level of the original film. And despite a flawed last half, it has Samuel L. Jackson stealing the scene and Jeremy Irons as a great villain.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer

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