Its kind of hard to preface a movie like The Fifth Element. After all, it’s a brightly colored, shiny, largely optimistic space opera/Adventure! that was released in 1997. And its got Bruce Willis in it.
Story
Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) is a former military pilot who’s now a down on his luck cabbie (in THE FUTURE!). His mom nags him, his wife divorced him, and he can barely afford to keep up with his traffic violations. He’s about to have bigger problems. See, there’s this ancient EVIL which manifests physically every couple of thousand years in an attempt to kill all life in the universe. So it falls to Commander Shepherd and his crew to--wait, sorry.
The only way to stop the EVIL is the lost “Fifth Element” (as opposed to fire, earth, air & water, oh, and DUN DUN DUN!). There is a faith based around this Elemental power, and its current priest, Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) is desperate to convince the Earth government that the only thing that can stop the EVIL is this element. Some friendly aliens try to deliver said Maguffin, but get shot down by mercenaries. The Element is recovered and reconstructed by SCIENCE into Leeloo Minai Lekariba-Laminai-Tchai-Ekbat De Sebat (Milla Jovovich), a smokin’ hot little mama jamma fully capable of kicking anyone’s ass. She escapes from a hospital and falls (literally) into Korben’s cab, and a course is plotted for ADVENTURE!
I should add that along the way, we run into a DJ named Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) and the villainous Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman), and it seems to me that the two spend their screen time trying to out-ham each other. I’m okay with this.
Visuals/Effects
Directed by Luc Besson, the film is, again, very, very bright and colorful. It really jars against the more cynical and darker visuals of its contemporary sci-fi movies (like Dark City and The Matrix). There’s a lot of makeup, model work and wacky outfits, and all of it (aside from some of the weirder costumes) is really well done. And the fight scenes are really badass, which is a plus.
Writing
Screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and based off a story Besson wrote back in the 70s. It’s got action, its got a LOT of comic moments and funny dialogue, and its got some reeaaalllly memorable characters. About the only complaint I have is that the ending is a little bit anti-climactic.
Sound
The original music by Eric Serra is an interesting blend of electronica, opera and a blend of international touches. It’s a bit hard to describe, but the one fight scene juxtaposed with the opera scene is easily one of the best in the movie.
Conclusion
Yeah, so I will admit to being late to The Fifth Element party. I’d seen clips here and there and thought it was cool and all, but never sat through it all the way before. I concede the awesomeness of the movie and feel a little ashamed that I haven’t experienced it until now. It’s good. Real good. One of the better surprises this year. Hell, if I had seen this back in the 90's like God intended, it might've become one of my favorite movies ever.
Hey look, another Bruce Willis movie. This time starring in an American remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo that isn’t A Fistful of Dollars. Well, what it lacks in Sergio Leone, it makes up for in Christopher Walken. Here's 1996's Last Man Standing.
Plot
So it’s a small border town in Texas during the Prohibition. Our hero drives into town and by chance, finds a small gang war going on between Irish and Italian bootleggers and wouldn’t you know? One of the Irish guys pisses him off and there’s a duel. Our hero wins and finds himself stuck in town with two gangs that alternately want to kill him and get him to work for him. Sensing a quick buck, our anti-hero decides to work for both gangs, playing them off each other, until a Texas Ranger comes into town with an ultimatum: in ten days there had better be only one gang in town, otherwise the Rangers will wipe out both of them.
Characters John Smith: Bruce Willis plays our stone-faced man without a past. He’s headed down to Mexico for reasons unknown, but he seems to be leaving Chicago. A tough guy, he does have a soft spot for women and helps several of them get away from the town throughout the film. I’m not entirely sold on the idea of Bruce Willis, an action guy with comedic charm, channeling Clint Eastwood’s humorless stoicism.
Joe Monday: William Sanderson (a veteran character actor) plays the town bartender and probably the most honest, likable guy in town. He lets Smith rent out a room and becomes a valuable source of information and scuttlebutt.
Sheriff Ed Galt: Bruce Dern (another veteran character actor) plays the town’s crooked sheriff. Kind of a jerk at first, he comes to not-hate Smith eventually since he finds the two gangs outsmarted by one guy somewhat amusing (and with the Rangers breathing down his neck, sees John as a guy who can do the sheriff’s job for him).
Fred Strozzi: Ned Eisenberg plays the head of the Strozzi gang and the first gang to hire Smith. Smith returns the favor by seducing Strozzi’s girl Lucy (Alexandra Powers).
Doyle: David Patrick Kelly plays the head of the Irish gang and he’s a lot more on edge than Strozzi. He’s also really paranoid about people looking at his girl, Felina (Karina Lombard), something Smith capitalizes on.
Hickey: Christopher Walken plays Doyle’s top enforcer, a cold-blooded killer with a nasty reputation, a hoarse voice and an appreciation for the Thompson submachine gun. Hickey is also the only crook who starts to figure out just what Smith is doing, which makes him pretty damn badass.
Captain Tom Pickett: Ken Jenkins plays the Texas Ranger who comes into town with the ultimatum. It’s a one-scene appearance, but come on, it is totally awesome seeing Bob Kelso with a big moustache bossing around Bruce Willis.
Visuals/Effects
Directed by Walter Hill with Lloyd Ahern as director of photography. The movie certainly looks good. Visually, it’s a cross between a Western and a gangster flick, so that’s rather fresh. The action scenes are often brutal and it is quite entertaining watching Mr. Smith gunning down hoods with dual pistols.
Writing
Alright, so the screenplay is by Walter Hill and based on Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima (which in turn has some similarities to some Dashiell Hammett novels that aren’t The Maltese Falcon or The Thin Man). While this film doesn’t have any glaring plot holes or whatever, it certainly feels a bit on the recycled side, probably because Yojimbo & A Fistful of Dollars are both so very well known. Big shoes to fill and all that. The atmosphere of this film is also surprisingly dark, with a lot of death, destruction and unhappy people. Things get pretty bleak at times.
Sound
The original music by Ry Cooder is…very 90s, and not really in a good way. Eschewing the big orchestral or jazz sounds that you would expect of a movie like this, a lot of synthesized elements dominate the soundtrack. Moody, sure, but kind of an ill fit for this kind of movie.
Conclusion
There’s not much to say about Last Man Standing. It’s all right I suppose. I didn’t regret watching it and there were a few cool action scenes, so it did what it sought out to do. The cast was full “hey it’s that guy” moments and Willis & Walken both did adequately with the material. However, there isn’t a whole lot this movie does that isn’t done better by other films. This is the kind of forgettable movie that goes great with a hangover; interesting enough without having to tax your brain too much. Not really recommended.
I’ve noticed that Bruce Willis has been popping up a lot here at RMWC over the course of the past year. That’s not a bad thing, of course, since he’s been in quite a few successful films over the years.
1991’s Hudson Hawk is not one of them. Let’s explore!
Plot
So our hero gets out of jail after ten years with every intention of going straight and leaving cat burglary behind. And he wants a cappuccino. Unfortunately, it seems like everybody in the world wants to blackmail him into stealing several of Leonardo Da Vinci’s artifacts. What follows, in no particular order, are crooked CIA agents, the Mob, some insane corporate types, the Vatican and a device that can turn lead to gold, which on paper sounds much less insane than it actually is.
Characters Eddie “Hudson Hawk” Hawkins: Bruce Willis is our Hero, a guy down on his luck who just can’t seem to get away from his old life. He’s likable enough, though this movie is definitely more in line with his earlier comedy roles than his later badass roles.
Tommy “Five-Tone” Messina: Danny Aiello plays Eddie’s buddy, contact on the outside and partner in crime. He and Eddie synch up a heist not by setting watches, but by singing show tunes. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I’m leaning more toward “amusing” than “stupid.”
Sister Anna Baragli: Andie MacDowell plays a nun working for a secret branch of the Vatican that sort of falls for Eddie, even though he’s trying to steal some of the Church’s treasures (and you know, the whole vow of celibacy thing). Things get a little weird between them.
George Kaplan: James Coburn is the CIA chief who blackmails Hawk into stealing art pieces for a device that can alchemically transmute lead to gold. That’s a sentence I never expected to write. Coburn leers like a champ in this though, so that’s good.
Snickers, Butterfinger, Almond Joy & Kit Kat: Don Harvey, Andrew Bryniarski, Lorraine Toussaint & David Caruso (yes, THAT David Caruso) are Kaplan’s candy bar code named agents. They don’t really have much in the way of personality aside from a few lines. Well, except for Caruso’s Kit Kat, who actually gets the most amusing schtick by having all of his “dialogue” written on little cards he hands to people. A fact I’m sure leaves you a little….speechless.
Darwin & Minerva Mayflower: Richard E. Grant & Sandra Bernhard are the craziest things in the movie, which is saying a lot. They are straight up card carrying villains that want to take over the world by saturating the gold market. Or something like that.
Alfred the Butler: Donald Burton is the Mayflowers’ butler who also happens to be really, really good at killing people with a blade concealed in his sleeves. He’s the badass of the film.
Cesar & Antony Mario: Frank Stallone (yeah, THAT one) & Carmine Zozorra are two brothers who run a local crime family and are the first ones to blackmail Eddie into doing their dirty work.
Visuals/Effects
Michael Lehmann competently directed the film and there is no shortage of memorable scenes/visual gags. A highway chase with Willis rolling along on a stretcher, the heist synched up with “Swingin’ On A Star,” and the insane and improbably storming of “Da Vinci’s Castle” at the end of the movie. It moves quickly, but if anything, there’s TOO much stuff going on in the movie and that ends up dragging it out.
Writing
Bruce Willis & Robert Kraft on story and Steven E. deSouza & Daniel Waters on screenplay. The movie bombed because it’s a nonsensical farce that was marketed as a normal action film. Yes there’s action, but the majority of the movie is quirky dialogue and Eddie trying to outwit a bunch of psychopathic characters that would really like to see him dead. Not all of the jokes hit. Okay, a lot of jokes miss the mark, but there’s something kind of charming about the madcap cartoonishness of the plot & characters.
Sound
Original music by Michael Kamen (which is always good) and Robert Kraft. There’s Bing Crosby’s “Swinging On A Star” in a memorable sequence and a couple other songs thrown in for good measure.
Conclusion
It’s a weird, weird, weird, weird movie. I mean, a WEIRD movie. While I wouldn’t go out on a limb calling it a great movie or anything, I was consistently entertained by it and waiting to see what new insanity the film would throw at me. In some ways, the experience reminds me of Road House or TheLast Dragon.
Might as well make it a double feature of Tarantino films that I get weird looks for not having seen before. Here’s 1994’s Pulp Fiction, which is considered one of Tarantino’s best.
Plot
So…its complicated. We’ve got the interlacing stories that all connect to a crime boss. One story involves the misadventures of a pair of loquacious hitmen trying to get a MacGuffin in a briefcase to their boss. Another involves one of the hitmen taking the boss’s wife out on the town, and finally we get the story of a boxer who tries to cheat the crime lord by not throwing a fight and then trying to get away with it. Now take those three main storylines, and just mix them up out of order into several chapters that you have to piece together like a jigsaw.
Characters Vincent Vega: John Travolta became a respectable actor again after this. The not-coincidentally named Vega is a pretty dumb lug who’s just back from Europe. Vincent is a (mostly) competent hitman, but he’s also incredibly sloppy, a heroin user, and has absolutely terrible trigger discipline that causes more problems.
Jules Winnfield: Samuel L. Jackson in the movie that made Samuel L. Jackson the badass he is today. Jules is the jheri curl wearing, eloquent and smarter member of the hitman duo (and its fun watching him act circles around Travolta). Jules is awesome and everything he says is awesome too. He has a religious experience that convinces him to give up his murderin’ ways.
Marsellus Wallace: Ving Rhames is our crime boss. He’s got a hot wife, a strip club, and would like to make it very clear that he does not like being treated like a bitch.
Butch Coolidge: Bruce Willis is a boxer in the twilight of his career who agreed to throw a fight for Wallace, didn’t and gets into quite a bit of trouble because of it (and because he wanted to get his watch back)
Mia Wallace: Uma Thurman is Wallace’s sexy actress wife who likes to party. Ultimately a minor character in the grand scheme of things, she and Vincent have a night out that ends badly.
Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe: Harvey Keitel is a “cleaner” who gets called in to clean up a mess Vincent made in the backseat of Jules’ car. Manages he is the badass of the film (even out-badassing Jules).
Captain Koons: Christopher Walken plays an army veteran in a flashback that brings Butch’s father’s watch back home. Is it really necessary to the story? Not really. BUT its Christopher Walken going off on a truly insane monologue, so who cares?
Ringo/Pumpkin & Yolanda/Honey Bunny: Tim Roth & Amanda Plummer are two small time crooks who try to rob a restaurant that Jules & Vincent happened to stop into.
Marvin: Phil LaMarr (a guy who’s done a TON of voice work, including Samurai Jack and Green Lantern on Justice League) is Marsellus Wallace’s inside man that Jules & Vincent meet up with. Vincent’s trigger discipline leads to the "Bonnie Situation." Tarantino must have a thing against guys named Marvin.
Visuals/Effects
Quentin Tarantino had more of a budget here, and the presentation is incredibly slick with lots of great colors and scenes. Editing is outstanding too, since it maintains coherence throughout the breaks and stops in narrative.
Writing
Quentin Tarantino (with some help from Roger Avary) keeps going with the snappy dialog and sudden twists and turns. He juggles a lot of plots in this, and succeeds in keeping them all in the air and interesting. And for those counting F-bombs, its used 265 times.
Sound
No score, but plenty of music. This time most of it is drawn from the 1950s, including some surf guitar. Everything is better with surf guitar.
Conclusion Pulp Fiction, while it doesn’t really have much of anything to do with the pulp serial novels of the 1930s, is a hell of a ride. Slick, stylish and eminently quotable, at times it feels a little too slick for its own good, but never gets bogged down in how cool it is. It’s a great movie, though I do like Reservoir Dogs better.
Winding down our X-MAS X-PLOSION X-TRAVAGANZA with a Die Hard sequel that is a little out of place. It wasn’t made until 2007, a full twelve years after the last one. I mean, you’d think the franchise was played out, right? Well, this is AMERICA, and every franchise has a right to Live Free or Die Hard according to its own merits. Or according to the merits of its unrated director’s cut.
Plot
Something something terrorism but not really. Its 4th of July Weekend in DC and some disgruntled computer program leader guy decides to hold the entire country hostage by taking over all of the internets. Or something like that. Its…pretty shaky, but its an excuse to start killing off hackers that helped him achieve this. One manages to survive because of John McClane, and here we go again with the whole explosions and car chases and banter and the like.
Characters John McClane: Bruce Willis once more as the New York detective who’s in the wrong place at the right time. His life still sucks. Now he’s divorced from his wife, his grown-up daughter doesn’t want to talk to him, and he feels like a man that the world is leaving behind. Then he gets called up to bring in a hacker for questioning, ends up saving said hacker’s life and gets embroiled in the efforts to stop a disgruntled former government computer systems designer from extorting many dollars cash. John proceeds to survive even more insanely lethal things, like launching a car at a helicopter and later indirectly managing to destroy an F-35 VTOL fighter jet with a truck (its…complicated).
Matt Farrell: Justin Long plays a pretentious, smug but easily pushed around hacker who gets in way over his head. He was duped into helping the bad guys out and just barely survived their attempt to cover their tracks thanks to John McClane. Matt’s important to the plot and he’s not unbearably annoying, but he’s no Samuel L. Jackson.
Freddie “Warlock” Kaludis: Kevin Smith plays genius hacker who lives in his mom’s basement surrounded by Star Wars memorabilia. Anyway, John & Matt go to him for some help/information.
Lucy Gennaro McClane: Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays John McClane’s all grown up and really beautiful daughter. She gets unwillingly dragged into things, but proves to have some of the McClane feistiness.
Mai Lihn: Maggie Q plays the Bad Guy’s lieutenant and hot girlfriend. She’s fairly interesting since she knows what she’s doing and also knows how to mix it up in a melee.
Thomas Gabriel: Timothy Olyphant plays our Villain, not the giant beasties from Lord of the Rings. He glowers and he schemes and does all sorts of bad guy things, but he just doesn’t have the same it that Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons had in 1 and 3.
Rand: Cyril Raffaelli, an actual Parkour traceur (look it up) and stunt guy is this film’s badass. He’s one of Gabriel’s goons, true, but more than that, he’s an awesome goon. Doesn’t talk much, behaves in a very professional mercenary way and survives several encounters with John McClane. Let me repeat: He. Survives. Several. Encounters. With. John. McClane.
Visuals/Effects
Directed by Len Wiseman (who was one of the creators of the Underworld movies and happens to be married to Kate Beckinsale) definitely brings a lot of big, expensive action set pieces to this film, which at this point, is all that’s really needed. Pacing is fine if a little draggy in the middle. Special effects don’t get in the way of things either.
Probably my favorite part is not an action scene at all but the public announcement that the bad guys broadcast. Instead of some guy in a mask or blurred face & voice, you get a spliced together speech from various U.S. presidents. It is both fairly creepy and very cool.
Writing
Story by Mark Bomback and David Marconi with additional credit given to an article by John Carlin called “A Farewell to Arms” and “certain original characters” credit to Roderick Thorp. I’ll be blunt and say that this is not an intelligent movie. How most of the computer stuff occurs would probably shatter the brain of an actual computer science person. Still, on the character development front, the script succeeds in bringing some new stuff to the world of John McClane so at least the plot and characters feel somewhat fresh, even if it seems like the best Die Hard movies are the odd numbered ones.
Sound
Sadly, Michael Kamen died in 2003, so he couldn’t score the music for this movie. That task went to Marco Beltrami, though a bunch of Kamen’s themes from the previous movies were integrated, which is a nice touch. No Christmas music in this one, but “Fortunate Son” by Credence Clearwater Revival gets some major play throughout the movie. As someone who enjoys CCR quite a bit, I approve of this.
Conclusion
Look, its not a game changer or anything particularly innovative, BUT Live Free Or Die Hard is surprisingly fun for a sequel made a decade after the previous one. So its quite a relief that the franchise that can be called Live Free Or Die Harder With A Vengeance comprises four solid action movies. Which leads to a very Merry Christmas indeed.
Now, for your Holiday Pleasure, a recap of all four movies in musical form. Profanity and spoilers abound
1995. John McClane and John McTiernan were reunited, which is great, but it wasn’t Christmas anymore, which is sad. Instead we got Samuel L. Jackson. Its time to Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Plot
Its summer in New York City, and John McClane is a New York cop once again. Except he’s suspended and borderline alcoholic and estranged from his wife. Then some stuff blows up in the city and the Police get a call from the mastermind, demanding John McClane wear a very offensive sign in Harlem or else more explosions. John survives in part because of the intervention of a bystander, who then gets dragged along because the terrorist is pissed he interfered. Like always, a lot of money is involved, John’s trying to figure out who exactly wants it, and why. And he’s got a really bad hangover.
Characters John McClane: Bruce Willis (as always). It really sucks to be John in this one. He’s on the outs with his wife, has his superiors at the station constantly pissed at him, and he’s been drinking in the morning on a day. Then it turns out the bad guy knows who he is and is really pissed at him. So John’s being played as the bad guy’s pawn as he races around trying to figure out what’s going on and how to stop it. It’s a really bad day to be John McClane, however, he tends to be extremely badass on his bad days.
Zeus Carver: Samuel L. Jackson plays an engineer from Harlem who’s a loving family man, reasonable guy and doesn’t trust whitey. He pulls a Good Samaritan when he helps John not get killed in Harlem for being forced by the bad guy to wear a sign that, well, let’s just say it would get you killed in Harlem. They build up a typical buddy cop movie relationship, where they don’t like each other at all until near the end and Zeus plays the race card on John a lot with hilarious results.
Inspector Walter Cobb, Joe Lambert, Connie Kowalski and Ricky Walsh: Okay, these are the NY Cops involved in the case. Respectively, they are Larry Bryggman, Graham Greene (from Maverick), Colleen Camp (from Clue), and Anthony Peck. They’re all competent cops who are basically the B-team trying to keep things under control while John & Zeus do their thing, and they even get a moment to shine near the climax.
Charlie Weiss: Kevin Chamberlin plays the unlikely badass of the film. He’s a chubby bomb unit guy called in to help find and defuse the explosives planted in the city. While he starts off as a minor character, when they find one of the bombs in a school and evacuate it, he’s right there trying to shut the thing off. No such luck and he gets ready to get out, but then the cops find some kids who decided to hide out inside and he mans the fuck up and stays at it. Now, you expect badass things from Bruce Willis & Sam Jackson, but from a lowly secondary character to get that kind of moment, truly badass.
Simon Peter Gruber: Jeremy Irons is quite awesome as the German-accented, blonde mastermind of the attacks. He’s also a class A asshole, calling the police up and having John & Zeus jump through hoops trying to figure out his obfuscating (look it up) riddles that follow the “Simon says” format. Turns out he’s Hans Gruber’s brother, and at first you think that’s why he wants McClane dead, but it turns out that’s just a very welcome bonus objective to his main ambition, which involves stealing a LOT of money with his multi-ethnic-but-mostly-white army of mercenaries. He’s also got a hot girlfriend/lieutenant who’s a mute sociopath.
Visuals/Effects
From the very first shots framing New York City, you can tell John McTiernan’s visual style is just so damn effective. Then the movie wastes no time in getting into the thick of things as we get lots and lots of explosions and cutting it close to the wire. The pacing is frantic, but its also fairly focused. In a lot of ways, it feels a lot more like Die Hard than Die Harder did.
Writing
Writing credits go to Jonathan Hensleigh (who also happened to direct the 2004 Punisher movie) and to Roderick Thorp for “certain original characters” on IMDB. While its not exactly the character driven piece that Die Hard was, the interactions between John & Zeus are entertaining, Simon’s a great villain and its nice to see the B team of the other cops behaving as competent individuals. Still, characterization here is completely secondary to plot and explosions. The movie seems to know it can’t top Die Hard, so it just lays on the wildly entertaining action scenes that stretch the bounds of credibility and survivability. Which isn’t really so bad, because its done well here.
Sound
Michael Kamen back once again for the score, and once again it’s a very solid piece.
Conclusion Die Hard 3 With A Vengeance is not as good as the original, this is obvious. However, it is still a hell of a lot of fun and as far as sequels go, just seems to work so much better than 2 did. Recommended.
Die Hard was awesome. More Die Hard should be a good thing, yes? 1990 thought so, moving John McClane back to the East Coast and a busy airport for the Holidays. Buckle up cowboy, because the sequel names only get crazier from here on. Its time to Die Hard 2: Die Harder.
Plot
John McClane is in Dulles Airport in D.C. for the holidays and waiting for his wife’s plane to land. Then some mercenary dudes take over an old Church near the airport, hack into the systems and demand the safe landing and release of the dictator of some Banana Republic who’s being brought to the U.S. to stand trial for drug trafficking (its about money, ultimately). Its up to John McClane to kicks some ass and call the local airport security guys all sorts of names before a bunch of planes circling the airport run out of fuel.
Characters John McClane: Bruce Willis again, and this time he’s got shoes on. And a parka. And isn’t alone. Doesn’t help that much, since nobody in the airport is willing to believe that a terrorist (well, mercenary) attack is about to take place.
Holly McClane: Bonnie Bedelia is still McClane’s spitfire of a wife, only now she’s stuck on a plane that is circling the airport and running low on fuel. Still not a damsel in distress, she keeps her cool and gets some fun moments.
Richard Thornburg: William Atherton is back as the colossal douche reporter, only now he’s on the same plane as Holly, and he makes a point of letting everyone know that he has a restraining order against her and that it is unlawful for him to be sitting that close to him. Hilarity ensues.
General Ramon Esperanza: Franco Nero is the living Macguffin that the bad guys want. He’s a notorious drug lord, but he’s also an ardent foe of Communism in South America, and the mercs want to make sure he can still do that. Not much to the character himself, he’s pretty much your standard Fidel Castro-looking South American Dictator.
Colonel Stuart: William Sadler (who was great in Shawshank) is our Villain, and while he gets introduced in a hotel practicing martial arts in the nude (which is…weird), it turns out he’s a former U.S. Military guy with a decorated record and is apparently a hero. He’s also gone rogue with a bunch of military guys that include John Leguizamo and Robert “T-1000” Patrick. Ostensibly what he does is to support a dictator who’s stance is anti-Communism, but ultimately, its about the metric assloads of money he’d be getting from the guy in reward. He’s not a bad villain, really, but he’s kind of flat when compared to the magnificent bastard that is Hans Gruber.
Captain Carmine Lorenzo: Dennis Franz (yeah, that one) is the head of security at the airport and a major obstacle in John McClane getting any real saving the day done.
Major Grant: John Amos is the special forces commander sent by the government to deal with a rogue agent gone wrong. A big scary dude, he develops something of a grudging respect for McClane, but he and Stuart have some history together which plays a part.
Samantha “Sam” Coleman: the “good” reporter. She’s at the airport and trying to get a story, but gets the brush off from just about everybody.
And we get a small but very important cameo from Sgt. Al.
Visuals/Effects
Renny Harlin, a Finnish director whose credits include Cliffhanger, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, and Cutthroat Island, goes big on the action sequences, which are frequent and continuously ramp up the absurdity until you’ve got the final explosion at the end which…well, doesn’t seem like the circumstances of that should be physically possible. Snow and nighttime dominate the visuals, which is appropriate. Still, there’s an energy missing that was present in McTiernan’s film.
Writing
Based on the novel "58 Minutes" by Walter Wager and adapted into a John McClane movie by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, the script and characters all work well. John’s still the lovable lug that he is and the interaction between Holly and Thornburg is great, but…I don’t know. Its still a lot of fun, but some of the plot elements feel really contrived, like the Glock 7 (which doesn’t actually exist) being a ceramic gun and that’s how it gets past security. I mean, even if the gun exterior would be ceramic, there would have to be metal bits like springs and whatnot within.
Sound
Michael Kamen brings another great soundtrack, but I didn’t notice all the subtle little cues that made Die Hard awesome musically. And of course we get some of that good ol’ Christmas music.
Conclusion
You know, its not as good. BUT, its not bad and is still a lot of fun. That about sums up my thoughts on Die Harder.
I have a confession to make. I’ve never seen any of the Die Hard movies. Well, since its Christmas time, I think now’s as good a time as any to change that. I think its time for an X-MAS X-PLOSION X-TRAVAGANZA! So strap yourselves in, ladies and gents as we kick off Christmas week with a boom with John McTiernan’s 1988 movie about a Christmas party gone wrong.
Plot
We have a New York City detective landing in L.A. to meet up with his somewhat estranged wife (who moved out west for work and took the kids) for Christmas. After getting picked up in a limo and driven to the unfinished skyscraper where her company’s Christmas Party is being held, there is a brief reunion that shows their relationship is in trouble, when suddenly…Terrorists! Well, not really terrorists, since they’re only interested in the millions that are being held in the vault downstairs, which makes them super thieves. Anyway, our everyman cop ends up the only one loose in the building who’s either not a crook or a captive, so its up to him thwart their evil plans. With bullets. And Explosions. And taunts. And Christmas Spirit.
Characters John McClane: Bruce Willis in the role that shifted him away from comedies and cemented him as an action star. McClane’s a New York cop on a trip to L.A. to see his wife. The relationship’s a little strained, but the two do seem to love each other. John’s an everyman who’s not a fan of heights. Its mostly luck that keeps him from being caught when the bad guys show up, but its his sheer tenacity and resourcefulness that keeps him alive (well, and a lot of luck) through the movie. John’s a great character, and while he manages to survive stuff that in a real world would kill him, at least he does get the shit kicked out of him. It’s a tough call, but he’s the biggest badass of the film, largely because he does everything barefoot.
Holly Gennaro McClane: Bonnie Bedelia is the wife of John, and a very strong, stubborn woman and bucks the whole “damsel in distress” thing. When the bad guys take over, she keeps her cool and rises to a position of leadership within the hostages.
Argyle: De’voreaux White is the limo driver who picks up John at the airport and brings him to the skyscraper. A decent guy, he offers to find John a hotel if things don’t go well with the wife and consequently spends most of the movie in the parking lot in the basement, completely oblivious to everything going on above him.
Richard Thornburg: William Atherton (Walter Peck from Ghostbusters, only without a beard this time) is a muckraking television reporter, not a major character, but they guy is fantastic at playing a douchebag.
Harry Ellis: Speaking of douchebags Hart Bochner plays Holly’s sleazy co-worker. Basically he’s all of the stereotypes of a sleazy 80’s businessman, he’s a fast talking, insincere, sycophantic and (heavily implied) coke snorter.
Sgt. Al Powell: Reginald VelJohnson (Carl Winslow himself) plays an L.A. cop who happens to be close enough to the skyscraper to investigate the possible disturbance. Long story short, he becomes John’s only real ally on the outside and they feed information to each other. Al is awesome.
Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi: James Shigeta is Holly’s boss. He doesn’t last long.
FBI Special Agents Johnson and Johnson: Robert Davi (Big J) and Grand L. Bush (Little J) show up when the threat of the bad guys gets real, but they’re more interested in gung-ho explosions and flying choppers and firing machine guns and other manly things than actually trying to help all the hostages survive.
Hans Gruber: Alan Rickman is one hell of a Villain in this movie. Rocking a beard and German accent, he’s a mastermind of a villain, ruthless, but civilized. Willing to sacrifice his men in the line of duty, but not to throw them away for simply displeasing him. He’s a perfect foil for John’s blue collar schlub and runner up for badass of the film. He’s evil. Classy evil.
Karl: Alexander Godunov is Hans’ number two guy. A big, mean, blonde he starts behaving…unprofessionally when the first bad guy John kills happens to be Karl’s brother.
Visuals/Effects
John McTiernan, as we’ve established before, is a very, very solid director. Pacing is wire tight, tension is palpable and the action sequences are logical explosions of that tension. Keeping all of that together is a rock solid visual direction that really knows how to frame a scene. I now understand why this movie is held up as one of the gold standards of action movies.
Writing
Based on a novel by Roderick Thorp (“Nothing Lasts Forever”) and screenplay by Jeb Stuart (probably no relation to the Confederate General) and Steven E. de Souza, the characters, dialog and plot are all skipping merrily along at rocket fast speeds. True, most of the movie is a collection of action movie tropes, but it plays all of them up with complete conviction, and the character development is so well done that you’re actually delighted when the last bad guy is shot by a character who its been revealed earlier in an offhand way hasn’t been able to fire a gun in a long time thanks to psychological issues. Incredibly cliché in retrospect, but my God, it actually works here.
Sound
Michael Kamen’s score is incredible for this movie, especially in how subtle and restrained it often is. Probably the most memorable bit is all of the quiet variations on “Ode to Joy” that Kamen quietly inserts as Hans Gruber’s theme, eventually soaring to the full fanfare as the vault doors finally open up and he gains access to all that money. It. Is. Glorious. There are also several appropriately Christmas-y songs, like “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”, “Winter Wonderland” and “Christmas In Hollis” by Run-D.M.C. (it was the late 80’s and white folks were starting to take notice of rap).
Conclusion
I may have been late to the Die Hard party, but damn am I glad I finally showed up. Not much to say other than it was everything I was led to expect, and more.
Trailer music doesn't get any more 80's than this.
