 Die Hard (1988)Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Veljohnson
Directed by: John McTiernan
Produced by: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver
One of the greatest action movies of the late eighties, DIE HARD, ushered in a new standard for action films. With the dissolution of the Cold War, both the stereotypical Russian threat (TOP GUN, RED DAWN) and the destructive egoist (OCTOPUSSY) became less fearful. With DIE HARD, director John McTiernan introduced Hollywood to a new type of villain: the terrorist entrepreneur. Alan Rickman stars as Hans Gruber, an relentless businessman whose lethal tactics achieve his goals.
Unlike most 1980s film villains who committed globally dangerous acts for liberty, genocide, or megalomania, DIE HARD’s Gruber uses guns, explosives and cunning to storm the Takagi Corporation’s Christmas party and heist millions of dollars form the company. In addition, DIE HARD also saw the development of the clumsy or bad luck hero, John McClane (Bruce Willis) – a man in the wrong place at the wrong time who chooses to intervene.
McClane overcomes incredible odds in attempting to foil Gruber’s plot. Action fans would see this misfit hero archetype again in UNDER SIEGE (Steven Segal) and THE PHANTOM MENACE (Jar Jar Binks). Although DIE HARD contains many action movie cliches (one-liners, pyrotechnics), it also broke new ground in its genre.
MPAA Rating: R.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Dennis Franz, John Amos, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Produced by: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, Charles Gordon
Renegade commandos seize a major international airport to rescue a drug lord from justice. Detective McClane, there to meet his wife, must battle incompetent airport security, hard-headed, gung-ho anti-terrorist squads and a deadly winter snowstorm to break the terrorist's grip before his wife's plane runs out of fuel. Based on the novel "58 Minutes" by Walter Wager.
MPAA Rating: R.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox.
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, Jeremy Irons, Graham Greene, Colleen Camp
Directed by: John McTiernan
Produced by: Michael Tadross, John McTiernan
Superhero cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) returns in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE. Freshly expelled from the NYPD, McClane encounters a number of threatening phone calls from a terrorist calling himself Simon (Jeremy Irons). Simon tests McClane’s wits, and allows him the chance to stop each bomb by solving a riddle. In addition to using his previously learned anti-terrorism tactics (DIE HARD, DIE HARD 2) , McClane enlists an angry store clerk, Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) to decipher Simon’s tricky enigmas.
 DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE finds director John McTiernan returning to the creative helm of the series he began in 1987(Renny Harlin directed DIE HARD 2). For the third film in the detonative series, McTiernan creates a story line which floats from psycho terror to sonic action to interracial comedy relief. The acting is something to be marveled at as well. Bruce Willis miraculously evokes sympathy whilst playing the angry police man and Jeremy Irons’ performance as the villainous Simon is reminiscent of an Eastern European James Bond megalomaniac. Samuel L. Jackson’s is also worth mentioning as he gives an angry discourse in racism and then pops off one liners, both ice cold and slick.
MPAA Rating: R.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox.
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