Die Hard with a Vengeance


Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action-thriller film directed by John McTiernan. It was written by Jonathan Hensleigh, based on the screenplay Simon Says by Hensleigh and on 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 series, after Die Hard 2. It is followed by Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard.
The film stars Bruce Willis as NYPD Lieutenant John McClane, Samuel L. Jackson as McClane's reluctant partner Zeus Carver, who team up to stop bomb threats across New York City carried out by "Simon". It was released on May 19, 1995 to mixed reviews and became the highest-grossing film of the year.

Plot

In New York City, the Bonwit Teller department store is destroyed by a bomb during the morning commute. The New York City Police Department gets a call from "Simon" claiming responsibility. Simon threatens to detonate another bomb unless suspended police officer John McClane is dropped in Harlem, wearing a sandwich board with "I Hate Niggers" printed on it. The NYPD complies, and a hungover McClane is picked up from his apartment. The sight of McClane wearing the board attracts the attention of Zeus Carver, an electrician who owns a nearby shop. McClane informs Carver that he is a police officer on a case, but he is soon attacked by a group of black men. The two manage to escape and retreat in a taxi. They arrive at NYPD's headquarters, where they learn that a large quantity of binary liquid explosives, which caused the Bonwit explosion, were recently stolen. Simon calls again and demands that both McClane and Carver follow his continuing instructions.
Simon sends the two on a series of riddles, which ultimately require them to reach the Wall Street subway station within 30 minutes to stop a bomb planted on a Brooklyn-bound 3 train. McClane boards the subway while Carver drives to the stop. Though Carver answers Simon's call and McClane locates the bomb, Simon detonates it immediately after McClane throws it off the train, derailing the train and damaging the subway station. As McClane and Carver regroup with the police, they meet FBI agents Bill Jarvis and Andy Cross, who reveal Simon has been identified as "Peter Krieg", a former colonel in the East German People's Army and a mercenary-for-hire. However, Krieg's real name is actually Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, whom McClane had killed years earlier in Los Angeles.
Simon then calls the police, knowing the FBI is there, to inform them that he has placed a bomb in a NYC public school that is rigged with a radio detonator triggered by the use of the FBI and police bands. Simon tells them that he will give McClane and Carver the school's location if they continue to play his games, but threatens that evacuating any school will lead to the device detonating. While McClane and Carver set off on Simon's next task, the police organize all NYC's public works to search schools, using 9-1-1 to coordinate activities. As McClane and Carver solve Simon's riddles, McClane realizes that Simon is using the school bomb as a distraction to draw the police away from the bomb damage at Wall Street. They return there to find that Simon and his team used fake repair crews to dig into the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and steal $140 billion of gold bullion in dump trucks. They follow the trucks to an aqueduct in the New York City Water Tunnel No. 3. McClane has Carver continue Simon's game while he follows the trucks.
Within the tunnel, McClane kills some of Simon's men. Simon destroys a cofferdam, flooding the tunnel, but McClane escapes through a vent, ending up near Carver. After surviving a car chase with Simon's men who had followed Carver and finding that they were carrying a roll of quarters, they recognize that the roll of quarters would pay for a toll bridge, and they head to a tanker vessel in the Long Island Sound. They sneak aboard, learning that the bullion isn't there, and are captured by Simon and his crew.
Simon confirms McClane's suspicions that the school bomb was a trick to distract the police before handcuffing the two to the real bomb. He says he is going to destroy the tanker, redistributing the bullion across the Sound, to destroy the economies of the world. Before Simon leaves, McClane jokingly asks him for some aspirin for his hangover, much to Simon's amusement. He happens to have a bottle of aspirin and tosses it to McClane. After Simon leaves, Carver manages to free them with a cable splinter. They barely escape before the bomb detonates, sinking the tanker.
As McClane and Carver are debriefed by the police, McClane reports that none of the bullion was on the tanker. McClane notices the bottle of aspirin came from a truckstop located in Quebec at the Canada–US border. McClane, Carver, and the police arrive at a warehouse near the truckstop where Simon and his men are in the process of distributing the bullion and planning their escape. The rest of Simon's men are captured, while Simon and his girlfriend Katya attempt to escape in a helicopter. McClane shoots an overhead power line that falls onto the helicopter, destroying it and killing Simon and Katya. After celebrating their triumph, Carver convinces McClane to call his estranged wife, Holly.

Cast

Additional cast members include Simon's goons: Richard Council as Otto, Mischa Hausserman as Mischa, Phil Theis as Erik, Robert Sedgwick as Rolf, Sven Torvaid as Karl, Timothy Adams as Gunther, Tony Halme as Roman, Greg Skrovic as Kurt, Bill Christ as Ivan, Gerrit Vooren as Nils and Willis Sparks as Klaus. Michael Cristofer and Charles Dumas appear as agents Bill Jarvis and Andy Cross respectively. Aldis Hodge and Michael Alexander Jackson appear as Raymond and Dexter respectively, Zeus's nephews caught in the school bomb panic; Hodge would later play a different role in A Good Day to Die Hard.

Production

Development

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. One script, originally titled Troubleshooter, had McClane fighting terrorists on a Caribbean cruise line, but was rejected for being too similar to Under Siege. Troubleshooter was later repurposed for .
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. 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 Fox and rewritten as a Die Hard film.
Andy Vajna replaced Joel Silver and Larry Gordon as the producer on the film due to a fall-out with Willis. As a result, Vajna's company, Cinergi, acquired foreign rights to the film. Disney and Summit Entertainment bought Cinergi's rights in a number of territories, while Fox retained domestic rights.

Casting

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.

Alternative endings

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. 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; but he is still tracked down to his foreign hideaway. 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.
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.
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 plane where the terrorists find the briefcase bomb they left in the park and which Carver gave back to them. 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, so it was never actually filmed. The rocket-launcher sequence was the only alternative ending to be filmed.

Reception

Box office

Die Hard with a Vengeance opened in the United States on May 19, 1995 and earned $22,162,245 in its opening weekend. The film earned $100,012,499 in North America, while it earned $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.

Home media

Die Hard with a Vengeance was released on LaserDisc on January 17, 1996, on VHS on May 14, 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. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2007 and 2013.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. 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." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
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." On the contrary, Entertainment Weeklys Owen Gleiberman disliked the film, stating that while "John McTiernan| McTiernan stages individual sequences with great finesse... they don't add up to a taut, dread-ridden whole." James Berardinelli thought that the explosions and fights were "filmed with consummate skill, and are thrilling in their own right." 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." 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."
Empire magazine's Ian Nathan applauded the film with 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." In the Crime Time Filmbook, which archives various UK film reviews, the film was given a 5/5 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.
Empire considered it to be one of the 50 greatest film sequels in 2009.

Soundtrack

RCA Victor album

returned to score the third film, again incorporating other material into his score, but excerpts from his score for Die Hard and Die Hard 2 were tracked into the new film. The soundtrack was released by RCA Victor.
  1. Summer in the City – The Lovin' Spoonful
  2. Goodbye Bonwits
  3. Got It Covered – Fu-Schnickens
  4. John and Zeus
  5. In Front of Kids – Extra Prolific
  6. Papaya King
  7. Take A-nother Train
  8. The Iron Foundry – Alexander Mosolov
  9. Waltz of the Bankers
  10. Gold Vault
  11. Surfing in the Aqueduct
  12. Symphony No. 1 – Johannes Brahms
  13. Symphony No. 9 – Ludwig van Beethoven

    La-La Land album

In 2012, La-La Land Records released a limited edition two-disc soundtrack containing the Kamen score.
All tracks composed by Michael Kamen except where noted.
  1. Summer in the City – The Lovin' Spoonful
  2. Main Title
  3. Goodbye Bonwits
  4. John and Zeus
  5. Taxi
  6. Neat Bomb
  7. Papaya King
  8. 72nd Street Phone
  9. Taxi Chase
  10. The Subway, Pt. 1
  11. The Subway, Pt. 2
  12. Take a-nother Train
  13. Feds
  14. Rings a Bell
  15. Infiltration
  16. Bank Invasion
  17. Back to Wall Street
  18. Fake Cops
  19. The Federal Reserve
  20. Bank Elevevator
  21. Gold Room Aftermath
  22. Panic
  23. Aqueduct
  24. Santa Claus
  25. Yankee Stadium & School and Tunnel
  26. Refrigerator Bomb
  27. Surfing in the Aqueduct
  28. Ticking Refrigerator
  29. Mercedes Chase & School Assembly
  30. Aftermath & Waiting and Falling
  31. Hooking the Boat
  32. Bunny & Fire Drill
  33. Running in the Halls
  34. Bomb Goes into Hold
  35. John Makes it Mad
  36. Holly & Celebration
  37. Oh, Canada!
  38. Johnny Comes Marching Home
  39. Regret
  40. Hooking the Boat
  41. On the Freighter & John Makes it Mad
  42. Wall Street Station
  43. The Subway, Pt. 1
  44. The Subway, Pt. 2
  45. Ode to Johnny
  46. No Rush
  47. Escape
  48. The Foundry – Alexander Mosolov
  49. Waltz of the Bankers
  50. Gold Vault
  51. Somebody Had Fun
  52. Johnny Comes Marching Home

    Novelization

A novelization by Deborah Chiel was first published on May 28, 1995. The novel is written in third person omniscient and has a somewhat darker tone in comparison to the final film.
The novel provides a deeper exploration into McClane's psyche and shows how angry and broken he has become since leaving Holly and becoming an alcoholic. McClane's introduction is also different. In the film, McClane is first seen in the police van to Harlem while being briefed on what is going on. The novel includes a scene before this where Connie and Joe find McClane in his messy apartment.
Simon's henchwoman Katya appears much later into the story than she does in the film. She is not involved in the Federal Reserve robbery and instead appears just before Simon and Targo take off in one of the dump trucks. Like the final film, she ends up killing Targo for Simon.
The original placement of the "Yippee-Ki-Yay" line is included. Instead of being used at the end, McClane uses the line when talking to Simon over the radios while in the aqueducts. This was meant to be in the same vein as the original use of the line in the first movie.
Zeus' original backstory is presented in the novel, explaining why he is looking after his nephews and why he hates white people. During the car chase, Zeus explains that his brother was killed during a drug raid. When McClane suggests that it was his brother's own fault, Zeus explains that his brother was never involved in drugs and the only reason he was there was to bring Zeus home.
The novel also uses the "McClane Says" ending rather than the film's version of the finale.