One constant theme from the first two films was the fact that Bruce Willis’ John McClane was always in control. Even when the odds weren’t in his favor, he always found a way to turn the tides and take control of the situation at hand. This film takes a great turn and forces McClane to play catch up throughout the course of the antagonist’s game. While the first two films were fantastic, it was, most certainly, time to change the pacing of the series. Forcing the hand of McClane and his new “partner” Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) was a great spin on the series and I thought that making this decision was great for the film’s cause. Director John McTiernan made a number of very large decisions that could have made or broken this film. Choosing to make McClane the underdog was a risky choice due to the fact that viewers, at this point, would have been one hundred percent in his corner; they would have believed that McClane could have done no wrong and placing any man above him in his own series could have killed this film before it was started. Choosing to circle back to the first film (in a way) and introduce Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) as the brother of the late Hans Gruber could have, like other decisions, been looked down on by audiences. I thought this choice was clever and was great as a way to end the series. The series was, at this point, meant to end, and McTiernan did a great job of doing just that. He had the series run full circle and come to a successful close and I felt there was no way better to do this than to connect this film directly to the first. The acting, like in each of the other films, was done phenomenally and really made everything that happened in the film believable. Willis and Jackson have an incredible chemistry that I have not often seen come out of Hollywood. Zeus was a swiss army knife of a man. He can hotwire a car, fly a helicopter, disarm a bomb, drive a cab (Fast and Furious style) through rush hour, New York City, traffic and ultimately save the lives of thousands without hesitation. Unlike the film’s predecessors, this character’s ability is neglected until it is needed, making him the most unique and, in some ways, most frustrating character in the series to date. Like I mentioned before, this film was certainly meant to end the series and I truly believe that everyone involved did a great job of making that so. From wrapping up the story from the first film to allowing the audience the opportunity to imagine John McClane and his wife getting back together, Willis, Jackson and the rest of the crew worked magic when finding a way to end one of the greatest stories in Hollywood history. Die Hard with a Vengeance was the perfect ending to an incredible series and one of Hollywood’s greatest action heroes. Yippee Ki-Yay M***** F*****! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112864/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
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