Die Hard with a Vengeance | |
---|---|
Directed by | John McTiernan |
Screenplay by | Jonathan Hensleigh |
Based on |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Menzies Jr. |
Edited by | John Wright |
Music by | Michael Kamen |
Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (United States, Canada and Japan) [1] Cinergi Productions (International) [a] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 128 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $90 million [4] |
Box office | $366.1 million [4] |
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action thriller film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jonathan Hensleigh, which is based on the screenplay Simon Says by Hensleigh and the characters created by Roderick Thorp for his 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever . Die Hard with a Vengeance is the third film in the Die Hard film series after Die Hard 2 and was later followed by Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard .
The film stars Bruce Willis as NYPD Lieutenant John McClane and Samuel L. Jackson as McClane's reluctant partner Zeus Carver. McClane and Carver team up to stop an East German terrorist group headed by "Simon" (Jeremy Irons), who have planted bombs across New York City and plot to steal the gold bullion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The film was released on May 19, 1995, and it initially received mixed reviews and became the highest-grossing film of the year.
The Bonwit Teller department store in New York City is blown up by a bomb during the morning commute. A man identifying himself as "Simon" telephones the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and claims responsibility. Making demands in the form of a 'Simon Says' game, he threatens to detonate another bomb unless Lt. John McClane is sent to Harlem wearing an intentionally provocative sandwich board. The NYPD comply and send McClane to Harlem, where he is confronted by an electrician and shop owner named Zeus Carver. McClane explains his situation before a group of gang members also confront McClane over his sign. Carver intervenes and saves McClane, and they escape in a taxi.
They arrive at 1 Police Plaza, where Simon demands that the pair follow a timed challenge or he will set off more bombs. They agree and McClane eventually boards the 3 train heading towards the Wall Street station in order to defuse a bomb that Simon planted on it. Carver arrives at the station before McClane finds the bomb and throws it on the tracks just as it explodes. McClane and Carver regroup with the NYPD and meet some FBI and CIA agents, who initially inform the pair that Simon is "Peter Krieg", a mercenary and former colonel in the National People's Army. They then reveal that Krieg's real name is Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, who McClane killed years earlier in Los Angeles. [b]
Simon then places another call to the NYPD, informing them that he has planted an explosive in one of the city's elementary schools which is set to explode once class ends and can be triggered by the same radio frequencies utilized by law enforcement. Simon offers to give the authorities the school's location if McClane and Carver follow another timed challenge, warning that he will detonate the explosive if any evacuation attempts are carried out. While the pair solve Simon's next challenge, the NYPD begin to search all elementary schools in the city. McClane realizes that Simon is attempting to distract the NYPD away from Wall Street, which has no schools, and travels to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building. He discovers that Simon's men have stolen $140 billion of gold bullion from its vault using dump trucks. He follows the trucks into the under-construction New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 while Carver continues Simon's challenges.
Simon blows up a cofferdam to flood the tunnel, but McClane escapes and reunites with Carver. Surviving a car chase with Simon's men, the pair find all the men were carrying exactly enough money to pay a bridge toll. The pair sneak aboard a tanker docked in the Long Island Sound, but Simon's associates capture them and tie them up next to a bomb. Simon explains that his school threat was fake and broadcasts a message claiming that he is planning on destroying the tanker filled with the bullion to destabilize the Western world's economy. After he leaves, Carver and McClane free themselves and escape the tanker just before the bomb detonates. As McClane and Carver are debriefed by the NYPD, McClane informs them that none of the bullion Simon's men stole was in the tanker's cargo hold, having deduced that Simon had intended to keep all of it for himself, using his knowledge of the Gruber family's modus operandi .
While attempting to place a call to his estranged wife Holly, McClane glances at a bottle of aspirin given to him by Simon onboard the tanker and notices that it was purchased at a truck stop in Quebec on the Canada–United States border. McClane informs the NYPD of his discovery, and joins them and Carver as they rush towards a warehouse near the truck stop where Simon and his men are redistributing the bullion and planning their escape. The rest of Simon's men are quickly apprehended by law enforcement personnel, though Simon and his girlfriend Katya attempt to escape in a helicopter, attacking McClane. McClane shoots at an overhead power line which falls onto the helicopter, causing it to crash and explode, killing Simon and Katya. While they are celebrating their triumph, Carver persuades McClane to place another call to Holly.
Like most of the films in the series, the premise of this film was repurposed from a stand-alone project. Various scripts were written for Die Hard 3; a number of them were ultimately rejected by Bruce Willis on the grounds that they felt like retreads of the action movies that came in the wake of the first film. [5] One script, originally titled Troubleshooter, had McClane fighting terrorists on a Caribbean cruise line, but was rejected for being too similar to Under Siege . [6] Troubleshooter was later repurposed for Speed 2: Cruise Control . [5]
The script ultimately used was intended for a film entitled Simon Says, originally positioned as a Brandon Lee vehicle and the character of Zeus was written with an actress in mind, but the project was cancelled after Lee's death during filming of The Crow . Warner Bros. bought the script and rewrote it as a Lethal Weapon sequel. Warner Bros. later put the script in turnaround, only to be purchased by 20th Century Fox and rewritten as a Die Hard film. [5]
Andy Vajna replaced Joel Silver and Larry Gordon as the producer on the film due to a fall-out with Willis. [6] As a result, Vajna's company, Cinergi, acquired foreign rights to the film. In most regions, the film rights were acquired by Disney and Summit Entertainment, while Fox retained domestic and Japan rights. [1] In July 1997, Cinergi sold its 50% stake in the film to Fox for $11.25 million. [7]
Laurence Fishburne was originally offered the co-starring role of Zeus Carver, a part also written for him, but wanted a higher fee. Producer Andy Vajna held out on the deal. Fishburne had earlier turned down the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction , which was eventually played by Samuel L. Jackson. Fishburne was talked out of playing Jules by his representatives who wanted him to only accept leading parts, otherwise he would be stuck career-wise as a supporting actor. Subsequently, Pulp Fiction premiered at the Cannes Film Festival during the same time as Fishburne's pay negotiations. Vajna also attended the event to support Willis who was appearing in the Quentin Tarantino film. Tarantino recalled that Vajna was so impressed by Jackson's performance that he offered him the part of Carver instead. Fishburne later filed a lawsuit against Vajna's company Cinergi for reneging on a verbal agreement. [8] [9] The lawsuit was settled before going to trial, with Fishburne receiving $750,000 and a guarantee that Cinergi would option a screenplay he had written. [10] [11]
Michael Kamen returned to score the third film, again incorporating other material into his score (most notably "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", not included on the soundtrack album). Excerpts from his scores for Die Hard and Die Hard 2 were also included in the new film. The soundtrack was released by RCA Victor.[ citation needed ] In 2012, La-La Land Records released an expanded version of the soundtrack, containing music that Kamen had composed but went unused in the final film. [12]
Unlike its predecessors, Die Hard with a Vengeance did not take place during Christmas, instead being set during the late summer. It opened in theaters on May 19, 1995, five years after Die Hard 2 . Despite concerns about the film portraying bomb threats and terrorism with the Oklahoma City bombing having occurred the previous month, the film was released as originally scheduled. [13]
Die Hard with a Vengeance was released on VHS on December 19, 1995, in the United States by Fox Video with a THX-certified version, while it was released in international countries by Touchstone Home Entertainment and released in South Africa on VHS by Ster-Kinekor Home Video. [14] It was then released on LaserDisc on January 17, 1996, and on DVD on March 9, 1999. A special edition was released on DVD on July 10, 2001, and then re-released in February 2005 and 2007. [15] The film was released on Blu-ray in 2007 and 2013. [16] A 4K release of the film has been made available for digital purchase on services such Apple TV, Amazon Video, and the Microsoft Store, plus free 4K streaming on select platforms such as Disney+. [17]
An alternative ending to the one shown in the final movie was filmed with Jeremy Irons and Bruce Willis, set some time after the events in New York. It can be found on the Special Edition DVD. In this version, it is presumed that the robbery succeeds, and that McClane was used as the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. He is fired from the NYPD after more than 20 years on the force and the FBI has even taken away his pension; it is also mentioned that McClane and his wife Holly have divorced. Nevertheless, he still manages to track Simon using the batch number on the bottle of aspirins and they meet in a bar in Hungary. In this version, Simon has double-crossed most of his accomplices, gotten the loot to a safe hiding place somewhere in Hungary, and has the gold turned into statuettes of the Empire State Building in order to smuggle it out of the country. McClane is keen to take his problems out on Simon, who he invites to play a game called "McClane Says". This involves a form of Russian roulette with a small Chinese rocket launcher that has had the sights removed, meaning it is impossible to determine which end is which. McClane then asks Simon some riddles similar to the ones he played in New York. When Simon gets a riddle wrong, McClane forces him at gunpoint to fire the launcher, which fires the rocket through Simon, killing him. [18] [19]
In the DVD audio commentary, screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh claims that this version was dropped because the studio thought it showed a more cruel and menacing side to McClane, a man who killed for revenge rather than in self-defense. The studio was also displeased with the lack of action in the scene, feeling that it did not fit as a "climax" and therefore chose to reshoot the finale as an action sequence at a significant monetary cost. Hensleigh's intention was to show that the events in New York and the subsequent repercussions had tilted McClane psychologically. This alternative ending, set some time after the film's main events, would have marked a serious break from the Die Hard formula, in which the plot unfolds over a period of roughly 12 hours. [19]
According to the DVD audio commentary, a second alternative ending had McClane and Carver floating back to shore on a makeshift raft after the explosion at sea. Carver says it is a shame the bad guys are going to get away; McClane tells him not to be so sure. The scene then shifts to the boat where the terrorists find the briefcase bomb they left in the park and which Carver gave back to them (in this version it was not used to blow up the dam). The film would end on a darkly comic note as Simon asks if anyone has a four-gallon jug. This draft of the script was rejected early on – possibly due to the similarity of the ending to Die Hard 2 , where all the villains board a plane that later explodes – so it was never actually filmed. The rocket-launcher sequence was the only alternative ending to be filmed. [19]
Die Hard with a Vengeance opened in the United States on May 19, 1995, and earned $22,162,245 in its opening weekend. [20] [21] The film ranked number one at the box office, beating Crimson Tide . [20] In Japan, it set a record opening for 20th Century Fox with a five-day gross of $13.5 million, beating Return of the Jedi and ranking number one for five consecutive weeks, grossing over $81 million. [c] Its opening in France set a summer record with a gross of $8.8 million in its first 8 days. [23] The film went on to gross $100,012,499 in the United States and Canada, and $266,089,167 in other markets, giving it a total worldwide gross of $366,101,666 and making it the highest-grossing film of 1995. [4] [25]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 60% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Die Hard with a Vengeance gets off to a fast start and benefits from Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson's barbed interplay, but clatters to a bombastic finish in a vain effort to cover for an overall lack of fresh ideas." [26] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [27] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [28]
Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, praising the action sequences and the performances of Willis, Jackson, and Irons, concluding: "Die Hard with a Vengeance is basically a wind-up action toy, cleverly made, and delivered with high energy. It delivers just what it advertises, with a vengeance." [29] Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman disliked the film, stating that while "[John] McTiernan stages individual sequences with great finesse... they don't add up to a taut, dread-ridden whole". [30]
James Berardinelli thought that the explosions and fights were "filmed with consummate skill, and are thrilling in their own right". [31] Samuel L. Jackson's performance in the film was also praised by critics. Desson Howe of The Washington Post thought that "the best thing about the movie is the relationship between McClane and Zeus," saying that Jackson was "almost as good as he was in Pulp Fiction ." [32] For Variety , Brian Lowry wrote the film was the "least accomplished" of the Die Hard series, but "even a subpar adventure won't kill this series, as the pic's built-in audience will make it a major summer attraction, if perhaps one lacking quite the stamina of the first two movies". [33]
Empire magazine's Ian Nathan gave the film a three out of five stars review, stating that "Die Hard with a Vengeance is better than Die Hard 2, but not as good as the peerless original. Though it's breathless fun, the film runs out of steam in the last act. And Jeremy Irons' villain isn't fit to tie Alan Rickman's shoelaces." [34]
In the Crime Time Filmbook, which archives various UK film reviews, the film was given a perfect 5-star review, citing it as "...simply the best Action film of the decade, leaving imitators like Bad Boys , Executive Decision , The Rock and Chain Reaction in varying depths of shadow. [35]
Retrospective rankings have called the film the best sequel in the franchise. [d] Empire considered it to be one of the 50 greatest film sequels in 2009. [40] Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant regarded it as the best sequel of the franchise. [41] Johnny Hoffman from Movieweb considered it a step up from the previous film and praised Willis and Jackson's chemistry and the action scenes. [39]
Walter Bruce Willis is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series Moonlighting (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero for his portrayal of John McClane in the Die Hard franchise (1988–2013).
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia, with Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner in supporting roles. Die Hard follows a New York City police detective, John McClane (Willis), who becomes entangled in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife during a Christmas Eve party.
Die Hard 2 is a 1990 American action thriller film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, co-produced by Joel Silver, and starring Bruce Willis as John McClane alongside Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, Art Evans, William Atherton, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz, Fred Thompson, John Amos, and Reginald VelJohnson. The second installment in the Die Hard film series, the film was released on July 4, 1990, in the United States.
John Campbell McTiernan Jr. is an American former filmmaker and a convicted felon. He is best known for his action films, including Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), and The Hunt for Red October (1990). The last three of his 11 feature films, ending with Basic (2003), were critical and box office failures.
Andrew G. Vajna was a Hungarian film producer whose films include the first three entries in the Rambo series, Total Recall, Tombstone, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Evita, and Terminator 3. He founded the now-defunct production companies Carolco Pictures, Cinergi Pictures, and C2 Pictures, frequently in collaboration with Mario Kassar.
The Saint is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Wesley Strick, and starring Val Kilmer in the title role, with Elisabeth Shue and Rade Šerbedžija. The plot of the film revolves around the title character who is a high-tech thief and master of disguise, who becomes the anti-hero while using the moniker of various saints. He paradoxically lives in the underworld of international industrial theft and espionage. The film was a modest financial success with a worldwide box office of $169.4 million, rentals of $28.2 million, and continuous DVD sales.
Live Free or Die Hard is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It is based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin. The film's name references New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die".
Die Hard: Vendetta is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by Bits Studios and published by Fox Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games for the GameCube. It was later released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox only in Europe in 2003. Taking place after the first three Die Hard films, players take on terrorists as John McClane. Reginald VelJohnson reprises his role as Sgt. Al Powell. McClane's daughter, Lucy, is an L.A.P.D. member in the game. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
Color of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Buena Vista Pictures. The film was directed by Richard Rush, was jointly written by Billy Ray and Matthew Chapman and stars Bruce Willis opposite Jane March.
John McClane Sr. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Die Hard franchise, based on Joe Leland from Roderick Thorp's action novel Nothing Lasts Forever. McClane was portrayed in all five films by actor Bruce Willis, and he is known for his sardonic one-liners, including the famous catchphrase in every Die Hard film: "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". Per the franchise's name, he confounds repeated attempts to kill him, driving his enemies to distraction, by adding up and exploiting dumb luck.
Jonathan Blair Hensleigh is an American screenwriter and film director, working primarily in the action-adventure genre, best known for writing films such as Jumanji, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Armageddon, as well as making his own directorial debut with the 2004 comic book action film The Punisher.
Cinergi Pictures Inc. was an American independent film production company founded by Andrew G. Vajna in 1989, after he had sold his interest in his first production company, Carolco International Pictures. The company had a number of major hit films, most notably Tombstone, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Evita. However, the majority of their films lost money. A string of box office bombs – including Super Mario Bros., Renaissance Man, Color of Night, Judge Dredd and Burn Hollywood Burn – ultimately did the company in, and it was dissolved in 1998. Cinergi Pictures' library is now owned by Disney.
C2 Pictures was an American independent media-entertainment company that specialized in film and television production.
Die Hard is an American action film series and media franchise that originated with Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever. All five films revolve around the main character of John McClane, a police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of a crisis where he is both the only hope against disaster and the culprit's target.
12 Rounds is a 2009 American action film directed by Renny Harlin and produced by WWE Studios. The cast is led by John Cena, alongside Aidan Gillen, Steve Harris, Gonzalo Menendez, Brian J. White, Ashley Scott, and Taylor Cole. The film was released to theaters in the United States on March 27, 2009. The film received generally negative reviews.
A Good Day to Die Hard is a 2013 American action thriller film and the fifth installment in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane in his final film in the franchise. The main plot finds McClane traveling to Russia to get his estranged son, Jack, an undercover CIA agent, out of prison. He is soon caught in the crossfire of a global terrorist plot. Alongside Willis, the film also stars Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser and Yulia Snigir.
Die Hard: Year One is an eight-issue comic book limited series which serves as a prequel to the film Die Hard and was published by Boom! Studios and written by Howard Chaykin. There were 8 comic issues produced in the series between September 2009 and April 2010. Its story is set in 1976 and follows John McClane as a rookie cop in the NYPD.
Sergeant Al Powell is a fictional character from the 1988 action film Die Hard and the novel on which it was based, portrayed by Reginald VelJohnson. Powell is an off-duty police officer who gets called into work to investigate a potential hostage situation at Nakatomi Plaza. Powell then becomes a central character in the conflict, and a source of moral support for protagonist John McClane. VelJohnson would reprise his role in the sequel film Die Hard 2 (1990) and the second season of the action comedy/spy-drama television series Chuck (2008).
Die Hard with a Vengeance: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third instalment in the Die Hard film series starring Bruce Willis as John McClane. The film is scored by the recurrent composer of the series, Michael Kamen who incorporated his themes from the first two films as well as Johannes Brahms' 1st and Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony. Kamen's work has been positively received and won BMI TV/Film Music Award for his work in the score.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link)