IMDb > Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
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Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 68 | slideshow) Videos (see all 7 NEW)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) -- John McClane and a store owner must play a bomber's deadly game as they race around New York while trying to stop him.
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) -- John McClane has to get through New York City in a very short time without using a police vehicle.
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) -- ZuGuide.com - Trailer (Flash)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   79,366 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 27% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John McTiernan
Writers (WGA):
Jonathan Hensleigh (written by)
Roderick Thorp (certain original characters)
Contact:
View company contact information for Die Hard: With a Vengeance on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 May 1995 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller more
Tagline:
Think fast. Look alive. Die hard. more
Plot:
John McClane and a store owner must play a bomber's deadly game as they race around New York while trying to stop him. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
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User Comments:
Great entry into a great series more (275 total)
US TV Schedule:
Mon. Nov. 167:00 PMSPIKETV   

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Die Hard 3
Die Hard New York (USA) (working title)
Simon Says (USA) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence and pervasive strong language.
Runtime:
131 min
Country:
USA
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Sean Connery was John McTiernan's very first choice for the role of Simon Gruber. He turned down the role, saying that he didn't want to play such a diabolical villain. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: Simon and Katya are making their escape from the cargo ship supposedly in Long Island Sound. The boat they lower off the side has a hull identification number starting with CF. These letters stand for "California Fleet" and are only used on boats in California. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Inspector Cobb: Alan, Bomb Squad, Special Services, State Police and the F.B.I. Lt. Jurgensen, you, Plummer, I want you to go to St. John's Emergency in case we got any walk-ins from the street. Kramer, get the City Engineer. I got to find out our damage report.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The X Files: The Pine Bluff Variant (#5.18)" (1998) more
Soundtrack:
Westwood on a Friday Night more

FAQ

Why is McClane suddenly in the NYPD again? It was made clear that he was working for the LAPD in Die Hard 2.
What happened to McClane's wife?
How did Simon know who was in the van when the FBI was interviewing McClane?
more
32 out of 41 people found the following comment useful.
Great entry into a great series, 28 November 2001
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Someone calling himself Simon detonates several bombs in the centre of New York City. He then sets a series of dangerous tasks for Officer John McClane to achieve or he will detonate more. McClane sets out to meet the demands of the terrorists with bystander Zeus Carver in tow.

This is the third in the Die Hard series and it makes an immediate improvement on the second by bringing back the original director John McTiernan. Here the film doesn't try to repeat the formula of the first film (terrorists/wife/rescue) but instead takes on a whole new plot while still tying it into the first film. The second movie tried to repeat the first film's plot but set in an airport, here the different angle makes this feel a lot fresher and feel like a movie in itself. The tie-in to the first film is clever and not too much of a stretch of the imagination - happily this is not the reason for the action itself - instead the terrorist's main aim is the gold held in vaults in the Federal Reserve on Wall Street, but the game with McClane is a special treat.

McTiernan was great in the first film, making everything feel tense and claustrophobic. Here he has the whole of NYC to run across and the camera shows this new found freedom. In action scenes the camera swings wildly round and zooms into focus on the action. During scenes set in offices etc containing a lot of dialogue the camera slowly prowls round like it's dieing to rush off to the next action scene. It's the opposite to the style in the first film and again makes this feels different enough to be a film in it's own right.

Usually film series can get a lot of baggage (watch Lethal Weapon 4 for proof), but here all the repeat characters are dropped, even McClane's wife only features as a voice on the phone. And that works well here and the only characters that are brought back here are McClane (of course) and Hans Gruber (in a flashback). This frees the film up to basically go where it wants without having to squeeze in old characters the way the second film did. However it links the films by having Simon Gruber taking supposed revenge for the death of his brother. The fresh active feel to this movie really gives it life and lifts the series out of the hole that the second film had threatened to put it.

The chemistry between Willis and Jackson is great and lends a lot of comedy to the film, there's lot of racial humour between the two and Jackson is more than the "black sidekick" that exists in many films. Irons continues the fine tradition of English actors playing Hollywood villains and is good for the most. His ticks and stutters stop him being anywhere near as good as Rickman was in the original role but he's still good. Willis gets good support from the likes of Graham Greene, Larry Bryggman and Colleen Camp as fellow cops but really him and Jackson carry the show.

Some of the scenes are a little forced and the plot doesn't always join together easily (a scene where Willis is fired out of a water pipe just as Jackson happens to drive by is a little too convenient) but many iffy bits can be overlooked if you focus on the action. The most effective thing that returns from the first film is the musical score. In the first film the score used variations on Christmas music to dramatic effect, here the score uses music well to add tension and comedy in a different way. It's difficult to put into words but this effect was missing from the second film.

The film has a hatful of nice twists towards the end and the only problem is that the conclusion in Canada doesn't feel like it fits in (the original ending was changed following the Okalahoma bombing) but this is a minor problem in a film that is a great addition to the action packed Die Hard series.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (275 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
A few too many coincidences for my liking... Rjz5600
The short haired blonde female cop? chyler1978
Simon really has a french accent megaskunk
I don't get the ending HenryCW
How could he tell loadofsmith
Are you having a nice day sir? rodneyauthority
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