‘Die Hard’ Works Same Plot Line One More Time

It seems incredible, but the third “Die Hard” installment, “Die Hard With a Vengeance,” is once again a battle between John McClane and hoards of terrorists.

This is one of the worst cases of Hollywood milking one character, or movie, for all it’s worth. Basically, like “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” this film is another rehash of the superior original. The filmmakers have taken a scenario, a cop (McClane) fights terrorists, and squeezed three movies out of it.

This is blatant; there is no real attempt at originality, except to put the scenario in a different location. Instead of setting the film in a building or an airport like the predecessors, “Vengeance” is set in a city. New York, to be exact. And the NYC locations are used to the full effect as McClane and his new sidekick run all over the city trying to defuse bombs and kill bad guys.

The plot concerns a bomber with a German accent who is blowing up public places and has some connection to McClane. McClane must comply or more innocent people will die. And he has a new partner named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) who runs a pawn shop. Zeus is sucked into the mess and soon the two of them are working together to kill all the terrorists.

The McClane of “Vengeance” is more of a standard action hero than the McClane of the original. In fact, he is virtually the same character that Willis played in last year’s dreadful “Striking Distance.”

He drinks, he swears, and he feels virtually no emotion. What happened to the fear and loneliness that McClane felt in “Die Hard”?

This time around the filmmakers also have made another small change. This is a buddy movie. McClane and Zeus contrast each other enough to heartily disagree on many topics, but are enough alike that they eventually work well together to defuse bombs.

Despite the flaws, “Vengeance” is a pretty entertaining movie. This is due mainly to director John McTiernan’s assured and expert direction (he also directed the original).

McTiernan knows how to build the suspense and then lose nothing in the payoff. An incredibly well-done shootout in an elevator car is a prime example.

The villains of “Vengeance” are hilarious. They’re not the fashion models with machine guns of the first one, but they are scene stealing in their own way.

These European terrorists scowl a lot or have half smiles on their faces and look extremely dangerous in their sharp suits.

The funniest scenes are when they bicker among themselves, or merely walk along looking extraordinarily out of place.

Willis is a capable action star (at least he’s not hateful like Seagal), but has little screen presence here. Opposite him is Jeremy Irons, who does. Although he plays virtually the same character Alan Rickman did in the original, Irons still commands attention as a creepy mass-killer. Jackson is not given enough room in his role to do much; his zealot character is mainly there to provide some colorful exchanges with McClane.

Ex-Christian rock singer Sam Phillips deserved notice for her portrayal of a terrorist who likes to fillet people. She does not utter one word, but is chilling nevertheless.

This is not a new movie; it contains nothing we haven’t seen before. But it is well-made and contains some exciting sequences. Rent the first one again for a better ride. And notice the end of “Vengeance” is like nearly every other action movie: Everything is happy and OK, even though A LOT OF INNOCENT PEOPLE HAVE DIED.

Imagine if they made an action movie where a federal building in Oklahoma City blew up, killing 168 people, and ended on an upbeat note.

Grade: B