Die Hard with a Vengeance
 | This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. (July 2022) |
| Die Hard: With a Vengeance | |
|---|---|
 Official Logo | |
| Directed by | John McTiernan |
| Written by | Jonathan Hensleigh |
| Based on | Characters by Roderick Thorp |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Peter Menzies Jr. |
| Edited by | John Wright |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 128 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90 million[2] |
| Box office | $366 million[2] |
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action movie directed and produced by John McTiernan, written by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Bruce Willis as John McClane. It is the sequel to Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990) and the third installment in the Die Hard film series. The film also stars Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson, and features Graham Greene, Colleen Camp, Larry Bryggman, Sam Phillips and Tony Halme.
In the film, NYPD Lieutenant John McClane is embroiled in a plot by a mysterious terrorist calling himself "Simon" (Irons), who extorts the city of New York by threatening to detonate several bombs unless McClane solves a series of games scattered across the city. McClane reluctantly partners with a shopkeeper named Zeus Carver (Jackson), and learns the terrorists plot to steal the gold bullion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Adapted from a spec script written by Hensleigh, Die Hard with a Vengeance was the first film in the series not directly based on a literary source material, and the first not to be produced by Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon after both producers had a fall-out with Willis, instead being produced by Andrew G. Vajna’s Cinergi Pictures. Principal photography took place in New York City and South Carolina.
The film was released on May 19, 1995 by 20th Century Fox and grossed $366 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, and initially received mixed reviews from critics. However, the film has received positive reevaluation over time and is now largely considered the best sequel in the franchise.[a] The film was followed by Live Free or Die Hard in 2007 and A Good Day to Die Hard in 2013.
Plot
[change | change source]A terrorist called Simon is out to kill John McClane. Simon blows up a building in New York City. He says that he will blow up another one unless the police do what he tells them to do. His first task is to have McClane to go Harlem and stand around for 15 minutes with a racist sign with his gun taped to his back so that he cannot reach it. A group of black men attack McClane. A shopkeeper named Zeus Carver saves McClane by grabbing the gun and getting into a taxicab.
The next task that Simon has them do is to reach a pay phone. He then gives them a riddle and has them call back within 30 seconds to the right phone number (the answer to the riddle is the last four digits) or else the trash can full of explosives will be detonated. They call back with the right phone number but it is past 30 seconds. Carver and McClane duck out of the way as Simon laughs.
The third task that Simon sets for them is to reach the Wall Street subway station by 10:20 a.m. or else the station will be blown up. McClane and Carver steal a taxicab and cut through the park to reach the station in time. McClane stops at an earlier station and gets on the train. He then searches the train for the bomb and finds it. He throws it out of the cab car. Carver gets to the Wall Street station and picks up the phone, but because McClane is not there, Simon says they did not follow his rules. The train rolls over the detonator and sets it off. The bomb explodes and destroys a large part of the station. McClane is injured but is alive.
The FBI come in and tell him that the man's name is Simon Gruber and that he is the older brother of the villain from the first movie, Hans Gruber. Simon calls in again and tells him that he has placed a bomb inside one of the schools in New York City. Any attempt to get the children out will result in the bomb being blown up. He tells McClane and Carver to head to a park. The entire police force goes out and starts to search every school to find the bomb.
With the police gone, Simon Gruber and a bunch of dump trucks come in. They kill the security guards and begin to steal the gold from the vault in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. McClane and Carver arrive at the park and find another bomb. They use a five-gallon and three-gallon jug to make four gallons and put it on the weight to disable it. McClane catches a kid stealing something; the kid says that there's not a cop for miles around. McClane then goes to the Federal Reserve building and walks in. As Gruber's men escort him down, he asks them about lotto numbers and realizes that they are not the real cops and kills them.
McClane then drives a car out to intercept Gruber and his men. He has Carver go out to Yankee Stadium since that's what Gruber originally told them to do. Gruber drives into a aqueduct. McClane follows them in, but they flood it, causing a ton of water to rush out. McClane grabs a ladder and is sent flying into the air. Meanwhile, Carver went to Yankee Stadium and did not find anybody. Two of Gruber's men with sniper rifles are there to kill him, but decide to follow Carver instead since McClane is not with him. Carver is driving on a highway and sees McClane as he is thrown into the air. A car chase and gunfight take place as Gruber's men show up to try to kill them.
McClane and Carver find Gruber loading the gold onto a cargo boat in New York Harbor. After getting in, a few battles take place and Carver and McClane are captured by Gruber's men. They are then tied up and Gruber sets the fuse to blow the boat up. Before leaving, Gruber tosses McClane a bottle of aspirin. Gruber claims he is blowing up $100 billion of gold bullion but there is nothing inside; he is trying to make the value of gold higher by "destroying" the supply. McClane and Carver work their way out of the cuffs and jump to safety as the ship blows up.
They are rescued by the police. On the ship, McClane takes a quarter to call his wife. As he is being connected, he takes an aspirin, looks at the bottom, and realizes that Gruber is heading to Canada. They intercept him and fly a helicopter over his ship. In the ensuring fight, Gruber gets in his own helicopter and shoots and hits their helicopter, forcing them to land. McClane starts running to make Gruber shoot at him. He notices a bunch of power lines and shoots them. The lines fall on Gruber's helicopter and kill him.
Related pages
[change | change source]Other websites
[change | change source]- ↑ "Die Hard with a Vengeance". British Board of Film Classification. August 10, 1995. Archived from the original on April 15, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
Approved Running time 128m 24s
- 1 2 "Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ↑ "DIE HARD WITH a VENGEANCE Review. DIE HARD WITH a VENGEANCE Stars Bruce Willis". Collider. February 13, 2013.
- ↑ "Ranking the die Hard Movies". December 19, 2016.
- ↑ "Ranking Every die Hard Movie from Worst to Best". August 6, 2021.
- ↑ "These Are The Best Bruce Willis Movies, Ranked". MovieWeb. November 29, 2021.
<ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).