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July 13, 2018 7:36 AM   Subscribe

 
Man, if only we had a Die Hard reboot opening this weekend that we could all watch...
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:41 AM on July 13, 2018 [6 favorites]


Aliens is the best action movie ever. Die Hard is pretty good though. Having said that me and the SO stumbled across the lodge from Cliffhanger last week so this weekend we might well have a Stallone double bill of that plus Escape to Victory, which I guess sort of qualifies as an action movie, with the unusual quality of having its action scenes choreographed by Pele.

I was lucky enough to hear the soundtrack from Skyscraper (the DH reboot JoeZ mentions) last night. Its just a shame I was watching Soldado in the screen next door at the time.
posted by biffa at 7:56 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


It's the clickbait of movies. It's the template of eyecatching distraction that lasts for 90mins, and signifies nothing. It's the first patient of a plague of indifference and desensitization. It's what's funny about someone being shot in the face. It's a violent celebration of America, Christmas, and guns. It's a family movie. It's a revenge porno. It's individualistic, libertarian, completely full of shit, and all-American.

It's fun in the same way taking a stupifying drug is. Yes, you're stoned, nothing makes sense and there are no rules, and that's amusing.
posted by adept256 at 8:00 AM on July 13, 2018 [17 favorites]


Mentioned in the Nothing Lasts Forever link and I also just learned last night on the Thirty Twenty Ten podcast that Die Hard was initially meant for Frank Sinatra. I can't even imagine what that movie would be. Even with a young Sinatra it would be very different but especially with 1988 Frank.

I do like Die Hard 2 but they're not wrong that it's a bad Die Hard knock off. The thing that made the first so great was that McClane was not invincible and the story was at least a tiny bit plausible. Each movie in the franchise made him more superhero and the bad guys more super-villains.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:04 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


So in the book, "John" is "Joe" (a widow), "Holly" is "Stephanie" (Joe's daughter), "Hans" is "Anton" or "Little Tony", and Stephanie goes out the window with Anton. Merry Christmas, Joe.
posted by pracowity at 8:11 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Aliens is the best action movie ever.

Aliens is a war movie with some action movie elements. (Die Hard is an action movie with some heist movie elements.)
posted by Etrigan at 8:20 AM on July 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


Whereas Alien is where I hoped every franchise of Big Brother turned to.
posted by adept256 at 8:29 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


The Best ‘Die Hard’ Quotes That Keep On Living

I suspect there are a few absent here, but I am definitely missing "Gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess."
posted by ODiV at 8:39 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's the template of eyecatching distraction that lasts for 90mins, and signifies nothing. It's the first patient of a plague of indifference and desensitization. It's what's funny about someone being shot in the face. It's a violent celebration of America, Christmas, and guns.

Interestingly, Henry Miller said almost the same thing about Bonnie And Clyde.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:42 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'll just leave this here...
posted by The Power Nap at 8:46 AM on July 13, 2018 [7 favorites]


"Yippie Kayak, Other Buckets!", to sum up Brooklyn 99's love affair with Die Hard. Apologies if it's already referenced in the Original Post.
posted by WedgedPiano at 8:51 AM on July 13, 2018 [6 favorites]


Definitely my favorite Christmas movie of all time.
posted by ShakeyJake at 8:51 AM on July 13, 2018 [7 favorites]


From the second link: Crazily enough, that means Die Hard was originally meant to star a 73-year-old Frank Sinatra instead of a 33-year-old Bruce Willis. Can you imagine the stair-climbing alone?

Willis is 63 now and shows no signs of turning down a paycheck for any movie project, I'd bet anything that he's still making Die Hard sequels in ten years.
posted by octothorpe at 8:57 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVAR!!! I watch it every year :)
posted by supermedusa at 8:58 AM on July 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


originally meant to star a 73-year-old Frank Sinatra instead of a 33-year-old Bruce Willis.Can you imagine the stair-climbing alone?

I try, but I can only imagine Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra flubbing all the lines. "Yippie kai yai yay Sinbad O'Connor!"
SNL
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:01 AM on July 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


Man, if only we had a Die Hard reboot opening this weekend that we could all watch...

Saw it last night. Not enough Hans Gruber, too much duct tape.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:03 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm wavering on best ever because there's also Fury Road, but yes. If not the best, Die Hard is certainly close to it. Apart from all other measures of action movie quality, Die Hard is the best because the protagonist is scared.

John McClane is tough, he never backs down, shouts and blusters and jokes--but he's also not bulletproof and he knows it. You can see it in his eyes. His voice often wavers as he shouts. He's not fighting because he knows he can bad-ass his way through all the bad guys; he's doing it because he has no other choice. And when he gets hurt along the way, it has an actual impact on the course of events.

It doesn't hold up as much for the rest of the series, but for the first, it means everything. I want more action movies where the protagonist shows real fear, because it makes all the difference.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:07 AM on July 13, 2018 [40 favorites]


Yeah, it's definitely one of the greatest action movies of all time. A contender for very best, along with ROAD WARRIOR, FURY ROAD and HARD BOILED.
posted by brundlefly at 9:13 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I horrified my husband this past week in that I have never seen Die Hard, but it has bled so much into pop culture that when he asked what I thought it was about and I told what I knew of the plot via said pop culture, he replied, "Yeah, you did pretty well on the summary."

(To be fair, I was horrified that he had never seen Jaws, but we remedied that sometime in year 6 of our marriage.)
posted by Kitteh at 9:18 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yeah, it's definitely one of the greatest action movies of all time. A contender for very best, along with ROAD WARRIOR, FURY ROAD and HARD BOILED.

YOU FORGET THE RAID!
posted by Fizz at 9:29 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


AND NOW THE ANTS ARE EVERYWHERE!
posted by biffa at 9:41 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


arguably the greatest action movie of all time

Pffft. The Blues Brothers had worse villains, better heroes, a better soundtrack, way more guns, way more destroyed cars, Carrie Fisher with a flamethrower AND came out eight years earlier.

As for the reboot: double pffft. A good day to try hard.
posted by flabdablet at 9:50 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


So we are as far away from Die Hard as it is from Touch of Evil. Also we are as far away from Thriller as it is from the surrender of Japan.

Sigh.

Gonna go sit in the Old corner.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2018 [15 favorites]


I say Commando is up there too for best action movie, and it's just as funny. The 1980s really were the pinnacle of action movies. The '90s and beyond really suffer by having to top all those movies so the heroes get more bulletproof, more baddies die, and more cities must be destroyed.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:56 AM on July 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Ever since we got the dog, the mister and I have had to abandon our tradition of spending Christmas Eve at the casino, so now December 24 is Die Hard Day.
posted by Ruki at 9:59 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Die Hard is a good nominee for "best action movie" because (1) almost all complaints about it miss the point, like people who criticize Full House for being corny; and (2) people who love action movies don't care about any complaints whatsoever because, dude, it's Die Hard.
posted by cribcage at 10:09 AM on July 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


I say Commando is up there too for best action movie

I love Commando solely for the joy this stupid exchange has given me in my life -

Arnold: "Remember when I promised to kill you last?"

Guy about to be killed: "Yeah, Yeah you did!"

Arnold: "I lied."

Guy about to be killed: "AHHH!"

My brother and I would say these lines at a drop of a hat. It was our go to bit of trash talking. The 80's really were peak action film and it is a bit of shame that North America doesn't really make films much like this anymore. You do still see this kind of stuff in the Asian and to a lesser extent the Russian film industry though.

BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVAR!!!:
I prefer the original Black Christmas personally.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:12 AM on July 13, 2018 [6 favorites]


The connective tissue between Die Hard and Fury Road is that they were shot and edited by people who understand that films are 2D representations of 3D space and that the more understandable you make the faux 3D space the more involved the viewer is. This insight is amazingly rare for some reason. The setting is a character; don't leave it out of focus for the entire film.
posted by selfnoise at 10:15 AM on July 13, 2018 [12 favorites]


The Die Hard franchise's self-parodying nature is so strong that, honestly, I can't keep the movies or the plots straight or in order in my head

I sometimes mix up scenes from the Die Hards and the Lethal Weapons for this reason. Gibson makes re-watching the Lethal Weapons kinda rough. Although, on reflection, their real life politics make casting Gibson as the childlike antisocial violent loon and Glover as the grounded family man with concern for other humans kinda poetic.

I used to work near the Fox "Nakatomi" Plaza. It's a minor tourist attraction.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:28 AM on July 13, 2018


Black Christmas, Die Hard, & Love Actually. This is the Christmas Trifecta around our house (in the middle of our street).
posted by parki at 10:36 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


About five years ago I walked downstairs to find my wife about 5 minutes into Die Hard on the couch. She tells me, "I've never seen it." SHUT UP, REWIND, I'M MAKING POPCORN!

And it really is the most American of movies: working class hero, foreign threat, news media is bad, everything is solved out of the barrel of a gun.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:38 AM on July 13, 2018


Man, there are WAY more than 9 memorable quotes from Die Hard.

Off the top of my head,

HOLLY: You're nothing but a common thief.

HANS: I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane...

...

"I'm going to count to three. There will not be a four."

"Mr. Takagai won't be joining us for the rest of his life."

"Fists with your toes."

"The police have got themselves an RV"

"... I read about them in Time magazine."
posted by wabbittwax at 10:41 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Oh, also, the joke where they bring the bad business man a Coca Cola. You know off screen he asked for some coke before the call to McClean. So good.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:43 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


I was lucky enough to see almost all the 80s action movies in the appropriate setting: grungy inner city movie theater. Me and two buddies would drive in from the suburbs in our goofy Ramones tshirts and army field jackets and have a hoot. The crowd was absolutely interactive with the screen, entirely welcoming of goofy whitebread kids, and a whole lot better than sitting in silence until approved laugh/gasp cues.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:46 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


"... I read about them in Time magazine."

My friends were always impressed that he referenced the FLQ when he made that demand.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:47 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


"I must have missed '60 Minutes'..."

I've said it before and I will likely say it again: The next one has to be called "Old Habits Die Hard".
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:53 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


I've posted several long diatribes about why Die Hard is the Perfect Action Movie, but it still holds up today. Gonna watch it tonight for movie night.
posted by Sphinx at 11:23 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Every Fouth of July Mr Gadgetenvy and I watch a movie with noisy explosions to mask some of the fireworks for our poor dog. This year it was Die Hard.
I noticed two things which I haven’t noticed before.
1. The moving van the bad guys use to bring their equipment is made to look so menacing like a shark. Just using the lights and terrain.
2. When so law enforcement types are ’sneaking’ up on the building they go through a flower bed of roses. You can hear them exclaiming in pain! Like they are tough and can take on these bad guys but a few thorns is too much.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 11:47 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Here’s what Die Hard did: it broadened the field of action films. I remember when it came out and the absolute bewilderment people had at Bruce Willis - a comedic actor at the time - being in an action film. That was the territory of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, playing ultra compentent special forces types. Who was gonna believe Bruce Willis as an action hero?

And he delivered in spades. McLean was more human, more vulnerable. And there were other heroes in the film - Al, the beat cop who was grappling with his own demons. Holly, who proves just as smart and sassy and resourceful as her husband. And then - you ask for miracles - I give you the Alan Rickman in an amazing debut performance as Hans Gruber.

Welcome to the party, pal.
posted by nubs at 11:50 AM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


I remember when it came out and the absolute bewilderment people had at Bruce Willis - a comedic actor at the time - being in an action film.

Yeah, it was a big joke. "That guy from Moonlighting in an action movie?" I just assumed that it would be laughably terrible but that summer was hot as hell and I went to see it to sit in the AC for a few hours. Even after I saw it I had a hard time convincing friends that it was a great movie.
posted by octothorpe at 11:53 AM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Does it make me a bad person if I don’t like this movie at all?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:59 AM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Thorzdad yes.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:07 PM on July 13, 2018 [13 favorites]


I was a lot more judgmental or snobby about mainstream US movies at the time (I was in college) but yeah there was a terrible heatwave, the summer of 1988, it was so horribly hot (in NJ, in a cheap apartment with no AC of course) so we'd go to see nearly any movie just to sit in blasting AC for 2 hours. my expectations of Die Hard were low, but wow, it is a really well made film and has such awesome characters and great action and one-liners for eternity. I couldn't say how many times I've seen it but its aged like a top-tier Bordeaux.
posted by supermedusa at 12:08 PM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


also the ultimate xmas double-header is Die Hard & The Long Kiss Goodnight. chefs do that.
posted by supermedusa at 12:08 PM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


Even the non-rebooted Star Trek movies (even V) had more worthwile plot than most of the Die Hard blow-up speelies did, and that's saying something

I know you're not trying to start a fight in here, and even Wrath of Khan has some idiot plot moments, but are you trying to say that the reboots ... never mind, remember what grandma always said, just walk away ...
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:52 PM on July 13, 2018


I give you the Alan Rickman in an amazing debut performance as Hans Gruber.

And Alan Rickman (rip) gives us:

"You ask me for miracles ... I give you the F ... B ... I"

It's Christmas, after all - the season of giving.
posted by theorique at 1:03 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Indiana Jones might have something to say about John McClane getting top Action Movie cred.

Just sayin’.
posted by darkstar at 1:16 PM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


Anyway, we already had the feet bloody scene, so instead of meeting and killing Theo, [McClane met Gruber].

They were going to kill Theo? Those monsters!
posted by ckape at 1:37 PM on July 13, 2018


So far we've overlooked Robocop, which is both plausibly the best action movie of all time and simultaneously the best satire of action movies.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:47 PM on July 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


Robocop is a sci-fi movie with action movie elements. The lines are blurry when you're parsing genre flicks. Personally, I consider Raiders of the Lost Ark the greatest action movie of all time. But I suppose it could be argued that it's an adventure film (distinction without a difference?).
posted by wabbittwax at 3:28 PM on July 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Raiders is a great adventure flick, but it is kinda slowly-paced. Action movie implies... well... action. There are great action sequences strung throughout Raiders, but not enough to make it an action flick.

Robocop is social commentary loosely wrapping in a satirical sci-fi premise with action elements, but I don't think it qualifies as an action movie, either - it's too self-aware and not really earnest enough.
posted by hanov3r at 3:46 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I watched "Die Hard" last year because of you people talking about it all the time. it was pretty good.
posted by acrasis at 3:54 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Like they are tough and can take on these bad guys but a few thorns is too much.

One the guys even stops and shakes his hand out. The movie constantly goes out of its way to paint the “tough guys” and anyone with authority as imbecilic no-nothings; the 911 supervisor, the police captain, the SWAT commander, the FBI. Which is part of what makes the movie work - Hans has planned based on the fact that a set rule book will be followed to the letter, even when it doesn’t make sense. It puts McClane firmly into the “Everyman” role; the guys with the common sense to see the problem for what it is and respond. He should be able to just sit back and relax once the police get involved, but (with few exceptions) everyone outside the building is incompetent.

Anyways, my favourite little character touch in the film is Khan, setting up to repel the police assault, stealing a candy bar from the kiosk he is in.
posted by nubs at 4:47 PM on July 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yippie-ki-yay, Metafilter.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:49 PM on July 13, 2018 [13 favorites]


Man, 30 years.
Die Hard was hugely important to 16-year-old me. I had been a Bruce Willis fan since the Moonlighting pilot movie came out in 1985, and I latched onto the David Addison character as a template for fun adulthood. (Yeah, now I see all the ways that was wrong.)
I specifically went to see two movies in the same day for the first time in my life. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and then Die Hard. (The movie theater building is still standing, but seems to have closed down in the last couple years.)
And John McClane got added to my list of Role Models I Really Should Have Chosen Better Than. Because he could solve immediate problems either with his brains or violence, run on raw fumes for hours, and have a sparky relationship with Holly Gennaro, who is obviously smarter than him, and every bit a feisty New Yorker.
And I went off to college, viewing every room in every building with the question, "How would a Die-Hard-style action fight happen in here?"
And time went by, and sequels happened, and I changed the error message on my friend's Mac to "Yippee-kay-kay, mother^{ker." while she was sleeping. And I eventually lived on my own, and got the DH trilogy on VHS. And I scribbled bits of sequels ("Lucy McClane is named after Holly's mom, Lucia, obviously..") and homages ("The hero's a Toys-R-Us clerk trying to date this woman who's applying to the Police academy, and the terrorists take over the Massapequa Mall as a distraction so the real bad guys can steal weapons from Calverton."), and fortunately was too lazy to get too far.
And then fall 2001 happened. And watching movies about blowing up buildings, blowing up airplanes, and blowing up parts of NYC seemed less entertaining. Haven't watched any of the original three since then.
Didn't stop me from buying those Palz minifigs when they came out - or from being amused when the hairpiece fell off the John McClane figure nearly immediately.
I watched DH4 and DH5 in theaters, and I really regret it, because they were so bad. The only good part of those two movies was in DH4, when the terrorists put Lucy on the phone, and she calmly says, "Now there are only five of them."
I bought the prequel comics - and they had good character and setting moments, but they lost me at the end when they completely screw up by giving Holly a different last name - Petrillo. Seriously, her last name was a plot point in the original - how do you screw that up?
I still feel some fondness for it - the Leverage episode where they riff on DH made me chuckle happily. And made me agree with the fans who want Christian Kane as young John if we are going to have prequel.
But yeah, both DH and Moonlighting have aged poorly for me, and I don't think I can sit through either of them again. (Well, maybe the "Atomic Shakespeare" episode.) It's probably better this way.
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 5:21 PM on July 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Oh, and yes, I sought out and bought Nothing Lasts Forever and 58 Minutes in paperback form. ("Hey, this is by the guy who wrote the novel they based Telefon on!")
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 5:33 PM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I specifically went to see two movies in the same day for the first time in my life. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and then Die Hard. ... And John McClane got added to my list of Role Models I Really Should Have Chosen Better Than.

Coulda been worse, you could have chosen that goofball Roger....
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:37 PM on July 13, 2018


Actually I take that back, Roger would be a way better role model.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:38 PM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Definitely my favorite Christmas movie of all time.

My favorite "Christmas movie" in that vein is Trading Places. Although it goes to New Year's so maybe holiday movie.
posted by traveler_ at 6:52 PM on July 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


My ex-girlfriend has a son who was about 8 when I met him. Once he got to 14 or so, his mom gave me permission to show him some of my favorite movies (I have bloody tastes, I guess). He liked ALIEN and ALIENS and TOTAL RECALL, but he was bored out of his mind by DIE HARD. It takes so long for the film to lay out all the pieces by modern standards that he was tapping his foot waiting for the action. Pacing in genre cinema has changed so much since then. Personally, I love that pacing.

A fun comparison is between THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 and Tony Scott's remake. The first half hour (or more?) of the original is dealt with in the remake before the opening credits are done.
posted by brundlefly at 7:47 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Die Hard is good, but Midnight Run is better.
posted by rfs at 8:17 PM on July 13, 2018


But we all agree that Alan Rickman’s surprise face is pure awesome, right?
posted by Ruki at 8:51 PM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


There was also The Last Boy Scout. Directed by Tony Scott, and sort of fed his Beverly Hills Cop II thing back into the Die Hard formula.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:57 PM on July 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I saw this movie 4 times the week it was released. And have seen it a lot since then but never in a theater since then. It could be fun to see a restoration of it presented in a theater. I'd welcome that. But I'd only go once, and only if it weren't on a school night. Because I'm old now.

30 years is a long time.
posted by hippybear at 9:07 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Aliens is the best action movie ever.

Funny you should mention it in this context: there is an off bit of overlap. When [spoiler] Karl turns out not to be dead and the genial Al shoots him, there is a remarkably bombastic music cue. It was lifted from an unused bit of James Horner's score from Aliens. And then you can't unhear that.

It could be fun to see a restoration of it presented in a theater.

Mrs Biscuit and I saw it on the big screen again a couple of years ago. By far the strangest thing for me (and to most of the audience to judge by the shifting and muttering) was in the opening minutes, with McClane lighting up his cigarette in the airport.

1988 was a long time ago.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:05 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I am here to express my undying love for Alan Rickman as any character, including Hans Gruber.

He is the BEST.

Thank you for coming to my very brief TED talk.
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:27 PM on July 13, 2018 [6 favorites]


It's nuts to me that Die Hard was Rickman's first feature film role. He rocked that character and instantly became iconic. Probably my favorite cinematic villain.
posted by brundlefly at 11:32 PM on July 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


He liked ALIEN and ALIENS and TOTAL RECALL, but he was bored out of his mind by DIE HARD. It takes so long for the film to lay out all the pieces by modern standards

I was rewatching the special edition of Aliens a few months ago and it took 61 minutes to get to Vasquez shouting 'Let's rock!' and cutting loose. Prior to that the only action scene is the very short Ripley nightmare scene. In conclusion, James Cameron is a genius.
posted by biffa at 12:08 AM on July 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


As the meme says, it’s not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Plaza. It’s my favourite movie of the season and I watch it every Christmas Eve as I wrap presents.
posted by Jubey at 2:30 AM on July 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


I watched "Die Hard" last year because of you people talking about it all the time. it was pretty good.

Welcome to the party, pal.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:21 AM on July 14, 2018 [8 favorites]


Another difference between Die Hard and Aliens is that—at least among fans of each series—there's no debate about whether the first movie is the best, and there's something elevating about the first being best. Aliens would get more credit if Cameron's film had preceded Scott's.
posted by cribcage at 8:44 AM on July 14, 2018


I prefer ALIEN to ALIENS, but that's just a testament to how damn good ALIEN is because I love ALIENS a whole lot.
posted by brundlefly at 11:18 AM on July 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


Is it okay if I prefer DH3 due to the presence of Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irons, and Sam Phillips?
posted by gtrwolf at 11:54 AM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


DH3 has a lot going for it. It’s got tighter pacing, 1995 July NYC is used as a vivid character, the Jackson/Willis banter is great, and Irons is just so...kinky? in it. Also has one of the better jokes in the series:
Driving a commandeered taxi across crowded lawns in Central Park, narrowly avoiding running people down.
Are you AIMING for these people?
No! Well, maybe that mime.

It also taught everyone the solution to the old you have two buckets, one holds 5 gallons, one holds 3 gallons brain teaser.
posted by bartleby at 12:40 PM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


I prefer ALIEN to ALIENS, but that's just a testament to how damn good ALIEN is because I love ALIENS a whole lot.

Because it's a horror movie for adults, not an action movie full of tough-guy dialog for teenage boys?
posted by thelonius at 12:56 PM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


You secure that shit, thelonius.
posted by biffa at 2:46 PM on July 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


It doesn't even have a cat!
posted by thelonius at 2:57 PM on July 14, 2018


Because Ripley told the little shit to stay home.
posted by nubs at 3:20 PM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


HBO2 is doing a Die Hard marathon tonight. Just finished 1, just started 2. So much fun, and quite a bit richer for having read some of the links in this post!
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on July 14, 2018


Die Hard 2 is such a fucking mess.
posted by hippybear at 8:40 PM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


When they get to Die Hard with a Vengeance (Die Hard 3), it might be interesting to think about it in comparison to The Dark Knight, if you've seen it, since The Dark Knight seems to have been strongly influenced by Die Hard 3, taking much of the plot mechanics from the movie.

One of the things that Die Hard did that really had something of an unexpected lingering appeal to later filmmakers was in the "twist" of Gruber being out for the money instead of acting out of belief as a terrorist. That twist came about, it seems, in reaction to movies of the seventies having political belief as a motivating force for action. In Die Hard that is shown as a false value, which both speaks a bit to how the emotional plot, of McClane's separation from his wife, is to be understood and perhaps as a bit of a social claim itself, where the supremacy of money and capitalism is the only value open for response. McClane, at first, believes he's dealing with someone whose beliefs may be counter to his own, but are nonetheless real, which has him on the ropes, it's only when the claimed beliefs are revealed as empty that McClane is able to regain the confidence to take charge of the situation and turn the tables on Gruber.

The relationship of that to McClane's marriage is left implicit, but many of the situations McClane faces has echoes between the two plot strands. Like his attempt to withhold his name from Gruber, going with "cowboy" instead, and Holly discarding McClane's name until reclaimed at the end. Or Hart Bochner's most excellent Harry Ellis (the "Hans, bubby" guy) providing the link between Gruber's actions and normative corporate action, same goals, different means. McClane is a force operating, or even thriving in chaos due to his base in traditional values, which Holly's desire for a divorce seemed to threaten only to be "fixed" in the end.

The Dark Knight sort of halfway returns things to questions of quasi-political values, not so much real political concerns as much as the existence of values that go beyond money. The Joker in aping Gruber's brother from Die Hard 3, but actually meaning it, to the extent of wishing for chaos, places him and Batman between the poles established in the Die Hard series, where each has something of McClane in them. I don't really think The Dark Knight works very well, but the locating of the locus of action where it is, seems to come in response to the Grubers and McClane's interactions in the Die Hard series in the sense of asking what if Gruber(s) really were interested in political unpheaval? Where would that come from and who and how would it be responded to? This isn't the place to go into the problems with that, I just thought it might provide some interesting context for looking at Die Hard 3 and the series.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:47 PM on July 14, 2018


Sorry hippybear, when praising DH3 I forgot to warn folks away from DH2.
Beware that 4 and 5 are also total garbage.
posted by bartleby at 8:49 PM on July 14, 2018


Oh, and speaking of Die Hard 2, I was seriously disappointed when the airport attacks didn't occur on McClane's way home from the events of the first movie. I really wanted them to double down on the more ridiculous aspects of things just for the fun of it.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:50 PM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


So, the Die Hard that had the young computer kid I thought was good in that it felt like a hand-off episode and that they might do more Die Hard movies only with the younger generation. And then they did the next one and it was pretty tired.

The motorcycle/helicopter collision was cool, although I don't know if that was in-camera or CGI.

I much prefer in-camera stunts.
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on July 14, 2018


And I'm only continuing to watch Die Hard 2 because Die Hard 3 is next. I can't believe I saw this in the theater. Holy fuck it's awful.
posted by hippybear at 8:55 PM on July 14, 2018


re: DH4, I would have been down for a handoff to the younger generation move.
BUT...one in which DH5 starts with the computer kid, and then he gets stuck at home and in peril playing the guy in the chair, while Lucy (McClane's daughter, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), now affianced to computer kid, is out doing the bloody tank top action stuff and talking to herself sarcastically.
crawling through ductwork with a lighter, wearing a headset, pauses: "Oh god, I'm turning into my dad." "what was that?" "Nothing"
posted by bartleby at 9:11 PM on July 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


bartleby: you need to move to Hollywood and write action movie sequel scripts. That's brilliant.
posted by hippybear at 9:18 PM on July 14, 2018


Die Hard 3 is much better already.
posted by hippybear at 9:39 PM on July 14, 2018


Die Hard 3 is actually a fine movie, thus far.
posted by hippybear at 10:08 PM on July 14, 2018


Actually, the continual racial commentary by SLJ's character during this movie makes it one of the most forward looking pieces of cinema I've encountered.
posted by hippybear at 10:14 PM on July 14, 2018


DH3 is a lot of fun, weak ending aside. Irons is great.
posted by brundlefly at 3:19 PM on July 16, 2018


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