2. Die Hard 2 - Surprisingly, I was very bored by this. Especially compared to the rest of the Die Hard movies. The plot is overly complicated and kind of stupid. And it doesn't really make sense that they wouldn't just instantly reroute the plane to another airport in the area (Annapolis, Philly, JFK, Newark...the list goes on and they are all very close to each other). This also feels even more dated than the first one (I mean, air phones were the height of technology), maybe because plane travel/safety has changed so drastically. I also think that even thought the villain is even more ruthless - he is also somehow unmemorable. I rewatched these movies over a month ago (I'm behind on my posts again. Surprise, surprise!), and I couldn't even remember who the villain was and what his main evil mission was. I do love Bonnie Bedelia, so I'm happy that she gets a little more screen time in this one (at least it feels this way). I don't know...I just wasn't captured by this at all. It's in no way a bad movie (I rated it 3 stars, which means good!), but it's among my least favorite of these films (except the final one, obvi).
3. Die Hard with a Vengeance - Now this one I really enjoyed! I don't know, there's always going to be something more personal with an action film set in NYC. I LOVE the gritty 90s NYC vibe. I actually had very little memory of this going in, so I was shocked by the explosion in NYC right in the beginning! The danger is immediate and it just keeps the pace and intensity for the entire thing. And I COMPLETELY forgot that Sam L. Jackson is in this - and the chemistry between him and Bruce is incredible. I love that they don't shy away from the racial tension of it all. I do think this kind of copies off of Speed though - with the whole villain distracting the police with riddles (I mean, it's not a new concept, but Speed was released only a year before). I love Jeremy Irons, with his little slutty glasses and tight tank top, as the villain. I would say the only annoying part is that John McClane HAS A HANGOVER AND A BAD HEADACHE and he repeats this over and over again (he does the same thing in the 5th one, "I'm on vacation!"). I feel like the writers ran out of dialogue ideas, so they just make him even more cranky. Otherwise, this is a fun action film!
4. Live Free or Die Hard - I think in my head I mixed this and the next one into one movie. And I think originally I was really hard on this movie mostly because I'm not the biggest fan of Justin Long. But he doesn't really bother me that much in this, and I actually thought that this is a fun action movie! I love the rest of the cast too - Maggie Q (I'll always argue that she should have been a megastar!), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (and I'll always argue that she should have been an Oscar nominee for 10 Cloverfield Lane because that's such an incredible performance!), and JAKE McDORMAN??? LOL. And Timothy Olyphant! Obviously in a villain role. Overall, I actually liked this - and I think they give a reasonable plotline for *how* John McClane gets himself into *another* crazy terrorist plot. And I appreciate seeing the advancement in technology within this franchise. I also like that part of the film's location is revolved around Rutgers because that's right by my house! I do wish that they gave MEW a little bit more to do, but otherwise this is far better than I remember.
5. A Good Day to Die Hard - My original review on this blog for this is CRAZY! There is NO WAY that this one is *better* than Live Free or Die Hard??? What was I smoking??? This one is just as bad at the reviews suggest (it has a shockingly low Letterboxd score of a 1.9, which is almost unheard of!). I didn't have fun with it at all, and it doesn't even feel like a Die Hard movie. It's soooo boring. I hate Jai Courtney in this and I really think they were setting it up for him to take over the franchise, and I'm glad that idea seems to be scrapped. I hope they actually never remake or continue this franchise out of respect for Bruce. And I would love for Jai to step away from the American action hero roles and stick to what he's actually good at (Aussie villain roles - he's SO GOOD in Dangerous Animals!!!). Anyway, I don't have anything else to say about this. But I did love that they establish that he's the "007 of Plainfield New Jersey" because I know they talk about him being from NJ from the beginning, but I don't think they specify Plainfield until this one? That's literally 2 towns over from me! My sister-in-law lives there!
Ranking:
Die Hard
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Live Free or Die Hard
Die Hard 2
A Good Day to Die Hard
No comments:
Post a Comment