DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
A film review by Nizam Ahmed
Copyright 1995 Nizam Ahmed
When Renny Harlin's DIE HARD 2 hit the big screen several years ago, it was to universal criticism. Christmas Eve again? Single-handedly saving an entire airport again? Most negative views centred around the film's huge body count and it's lack of screen sophistication and subtlety. But never believe the hype: DIE HARD 2 was as exciting, action-packed, adrenaline-pumping and fun as the first, if not more so. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE has attracted similar criticism to it's predecessors. But history has repeated itself: the film is Hollywood entertainment at it's best, a roller-coaster ride that is the most satisfying movie of the summer.
There are big changes this time round: no Bonnie Bedelia (as McClane's estranged wife), no enclosed setting, no ventilation shafts. But there is Samuel Jackson as a Harlem businessman with an acid tongue, accidentally finding himself running around New York with McClane at the beck and call of a German mad bomber with explosives planted in one of NY's 500 schools.
The whole thing is ridiculous fun, stretching credibility to the limit with a taxi drive straight through Central Park, surviving a 100 foot drop onto concrete, outrunning a million-gallon torrent of water in a truck (in reverse). This is where it suffers in comparison to DIE HARD and DIE HARD 2. Even amongst all the mayhem, there was still some contact with reality there. Some of the events depicted here are so over-the-top they're laughable. The dialogue between Zeus and McClane is funny at times, though never quite as snappy as it could have been, and the bad guys are not as mean as in the first two.
But forget that: this is still suspense, excitement, adventure on every level. Lightning has struck yet again. Watch this and the last thing you will have is a bad day.
OVERALL RATING: 80 %
-- Nizam U Ahmed University of Surrey at Guildford , UK E-mail : cs41na@surrey.ac.uk
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