FAQ for
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Die Hard With a Vengeance can be found [link=]here[/link].

Unlike the first two movies, Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990), both of which were based on novels, as well as the sequel Live Free or Die Hard (2007), which was based on a magazine article, Die Hard With a Vengeance is the only Die Hard film with an original storyline. The screenplay was actually written by American screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh as a spec script for Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) but eventually was picked up by the director of the original Die Hard, John McTiernan, as another sequel to Die Hard. Its Lethal Weapon roots are arguably visible, in that it's much more of a "buddy movie" than the first two Die Hards.

Police Lieutenant John McClane (Bruce Willis), now back with the NYPD, has been suspended from the force for reasons due to a drinking problem. McClane is reinstated when a bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller Department Store and someone calling himself 'Simon' (Jeremy Irons) contacts Inspector Walter Cobb (Larry Bryggman) to insist that McClane (and ONLY McClane) must do as he says or he will detonate another bomb. With the help of Harlem electrician Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), McClane is forced to race all over New York City playing 'Simon Says'...until McClane realizes that the bomb scare is a ruse and the stakes are much higher.

The expression 'with a vengeance' isn't very well known with non-native English speakers. It means 'with intense motivation and/or in a violent manner'. Die Hard 2 had the subtitle 'Die Harder', to indicate that the challenge would be tougher than in the original movie. This third installment adds 'with a vengeance' to suggest an even more increased intensity. It also works in the literal sense, as vengeance, or revenge, plays a significant part in this movie's plot.

There are no clues in the movie to show any sequential relationship to Die Hard 2, but they do mention the Nakatomi incident from Die Hard, so it's safe to say that Die Hard with a Vengeance takes place after Die Hard. In fact, It has been suggested that Die Hard with a Vengeance may chronologically take place after Die Hard but before Die Hard 2. However, the internal timeline of the series rules this out. In Die Hard with a Vengeance, Zeus mentions Hillary Clinton becoming the 43nd President, indicating that Bill Clinton is the 42nd. Clinton was elected President in 1993, so Die Hard with a Vengeance definitely takes place in or after 1993, whereas Die Hard was set in 1988 and Die Hard 2 in 1990.

No. Die Hard With a Vengeance starts with the song 'Summer in the City', and people can be seen walking around in short sleeve shirts. At one point in the movie, one of the officers comments on how he takes the elevator when it's this hot out. McClane, while investigating at the Federal Reserve Bank, mentions that it's an Indian summer, and one of the department stores had a sign that said 'Back to School Sale', so the likelihood of it being the Christmas season is nonexistant. Best guess is that it was sometime after the kids went back to school after their summer vacation...perhaps in late August or in September.

John explains that Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) is still in Los Angeles and that they've been separated for a year. He further explains to Zeus, while handcuffed on the ship, that Holly and he got into a fight over the phone, she hung up on him, and he never called her back. John's separation from Holly was most likely invented as a way to get the action to New York and Holly out of the storyline.

Simon is quickly identified to be Simon Peter Gruber, brother to Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who McClane killed in Die Hard.

He was watching from above and may have had one of his men standing around to identify who was in the car. The agents were obviously specifically assigned to track and capture Peter Krieg/Simon Gruber. Gruber may have already had a few run-ins with them. He also ran an infiltration unit, so he may have had his men find out which agents were on his case, judging by the fact that he knows the men's first names and even Bill Jarvis' (Michael Cristofer) habit of chewing on his glasses. Gruber also finds out surprisingly quickly who Zeus Carver is and where his nephews go to school, indicating that he is very well connected.

Both the 'young cop' and Ricky Walsh are played by Anthony Peck, so it could be said that John befriended the 'young cop' in Los Angeles. Then when John transferred back to New York, the 'young cop' aka Ricky Walsh came with him. It was suggested that they were partners or at least good friends in this film. It is also notable that Walsh is the one who reminds everyone of 'that thing in LA', so he obviously has some knowledge about what happened in Die Hard.

In order to complete the last four digits of a phone number, McClane is given the following riddle: As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks. In every sack was seven cats. Every cat had seven kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks and wives, how many were going to St. Ives? At first, McClane and Carver attempt to answer the question by multiplying 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 (or 7^4) = 2401, until they realize that only one person...the teller of the riddle...was going to St Ives, thus the phone number must end in 0001.

Carver replies, 'An elephant,' which didn't make sense to a lot of viewers. The full answer should have been, 'An elephant, because it always carries a trunk.'

There are actually two solutions to the riddle. SOLUTION 1: Fill the five gallon jug and pour three gallons into the three gallon jug, leaving two gallons in the five gallon jug. Empty the three gallon jug and pour in it the two gallons from the five gallon jug, leaving space for one gallon in the three gallon jug. Refill the five gallon jug and pour water from it into the three gallon jug until the small jug's full. That leaves exactly four gallons in the big jug. Put the five gallon jug (now holding four gallons) on the scale, and the bomb is disarmed. SOLUTION 2: Fill the three gallon jug and pour the water into the five gallon jug. Refill the three gallon jug and pour it into the five gallon jug until the big jug is full, leaving one gallon in the small jug. Empty the big jug and transfer the one gallon from the small jug into the big jug. Refill the three gallon jug and pour it into the five gallon jug, resulting in four gallons in the big jug. Again, place the big jug on the scale, and the bomb is disarmed.

He saw the number 6991 on the badge worn by one of the guys. That badge actually belonged to Ricky Walsh, who was joking earlier about using his badge number 69-91 every week when he played the lottery. McClane knew that the stranger now wearing Ricky's badge must have killed him in order to filch it.

Simon told Zeus and John they needed to be at the Wall Street subway station which was so far away that it would be almost impossible to reach in the time allotted. On their way, John decides to get on the subway train to find the bomb while Zeus continues in the cab. Did Simon anticipate this? If he hadn't, his plan would have failed. If John and Zeus did exactly what Simon asked and went to the phone booth in the station together, then the bomb on the subway would have detonated killing dozens of people both in the subway and in the station. Even if Zeus and John had made it in time, Simon still would have blown the bomb (it was triggered by the arriving train, not by anything John or Zeus did or didn't do) because that was essential to breaking into the Reserve. With all those bodies in the subway station, authorities would not have left immediately, even if there was another bomb in a school, because they would have to clean up all the casualties. Simon and his men wouldn't be able to break into the bank with the authorities still at the scene.

It's a suspension of disbelief moment of course, BUT there was a brief bit of dialog between Zeus and John right before John went into the tunnel with Jerry the truckdriver that almost (but not fully!) validates it: John charges Zeus with going to Yankee Stadium to follow up on a lead from Simon. Moments before that, John tells Zeus to meet him about 20 miles north where the aqueduct being constructed was going to join a larger one. After checking out Yankee Stadium and believing it to be a worthless lead, Zeus drove north to the aqueduct junction and happened to see John being spewed out of the manhole. What's mostly unbelievable is that, a) while being shot up by the water, John would come out at that precise spot when the tunnel is miles long, and b) Zeus would have seen him or be driving by at that exact location. But this is a movie -- an action movie at that -- and how plausible are they ever?

By picking the locks on their handcuffs with a splinter of cable, Zeus and John escape the tanker just before the bomb detonates. Later, as they have their wounds tended, the police call for dredges in order to start salvaging the gold from the ocean floor. John tells them not to bother and informs them that there was no gold on the tanker, so Simon must have moved it elsewhere, and no one knows where he's gone. Admitting their defeat, Zeus tosses a quarter to John and tells him to phone Holly. John places the call while taking some aspirins from the bottle that Simon tossed him. Before Holly can even get on the line, John notices a name on the aspirin bottle that reads 'Nord des Lignes', the name of a huge truck stop on the U.S./Quebec border. John and Zeus in helicopters lead a raid on a nearby warehouse where Simon, Katya (Sam Phillips), and their platoon are celebrating their success and distributing their gold. Simon sends all the trucks scurrying for Nova Scotia while he boards a helicopter and attempts to shoot down McClane. Zeus' helicopter gets hit, and he's forced to land, and John's helicopter follows suit. Zeus can't get his seatbelt unbuckled, so John tries to distract Simon, who comes bearing straight toward him. With only two bullets left in his gun, John is able to shoot down a power line. The line gets caught in Simon's copter blades, and the helicopter explodes. In the final scene, John and Zeus sit together on the curb waiting for the police to arrive, and John remembers his phone call to Holly that got interrupted. Zeus tells him that she'll get over it and that he should call her again. John points out that Holly is a very stubborn woman, but he places the call.

The British BBFC 15 version is missing six short violent scenes like some of the shooting in the elevator and so on. A definitive comparison between both versions can be found here.