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The Die Hard series is dead, right?

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Rich!

Member
oh yeah, my ranking:

1. DIE HARD
2. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
3. Hostage
4. DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER
5. Die hard 4

Yes, Hostage is in my mind a Die Hard film. Just pretend Willis' character is McClane, and there you go, a good Die Hard film. Pretend it's set before Die Hard 1 in some alternate dimension where he has a different family
 

Korigama

Member
Why not just do a remake with his son as the main character? Bruce Willis doesn't seem like he enjoys acting anymore.
I'd question the idea of anyone considering that desirable. His son was the blandest, most forgettable sidekick in the series to date.
 

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
I sat down to watch 5 because it was on tv one night, and I knew how bad it was, I had a few beers to prepare, and I still cut it off half way through. Die Hard is one of my favorite movies and the series has turned into an abomination. The premise for 6 sounds like an improvement but I'm sure it will suck. Sadface.

1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5

It's science. I don't get the love affair that people have with 3, it follows the trend of the movies progressively getting further away from what made Die Hard great, and it introduced the trend of John McClane needing a comedic relief buddy / sidekick that continued in 4 and 5.
 
On the 30th anniversary of the Nakotomi Hostage Crisis, retired New York City Police detective John McClane is invited to Tokyo by the Nakatomi Corporation to be commended for his bravery and efforts in saving 36 lives. Accompanied by Zeus Carver, the pair soon discover a vengeance from the past and that Nakatomi is not all that it appears to be.

Well, I'm ok with this.

Pretty sure that was a made up plot by some terrible fan fiction writer. Found it's way into a Hollywood rag and got picked up by all the other news outlets.
 

jtb

Banned
I love me some Die Hard but it's so hard to even call it a series. There's one (the best, obviously), then there's the second one, which isn't particularly great, then there's a bunch of other movies that happen to share the same name but really have nothing to do with the series whatsoever. Of those, the third is obviously the best and the rest are complete garbage, but it's barely even a Die Hard movie.

so I guess, 1 > 3 > 2, but really 1 is the only one that matters
 

zma1013

Member
Die Hard has had 1 bad movie. I don't see a reason why it should completely kill off the franchise but I do think they should wait until Bruce Willis is ready to "care" about the movies he's in before doing another one. He's currently on autopilot and has been for some time just going through the motions in any movie he's in.
 

zma1013

Member
I've heard that Die Hard 5 was the only movie specifically written to be a Die Hard movie. All the others were adapted from other stories or initially completely different properties that were turned into Die Hard movies.
 

Sephzilla

Member
My heirarchy for Die Hard movies goes

1>2>4>3>5

I really don't understand the love affair people have with Die Hard 3. Tons of people rip off Die Hard 2 for being "Die Hard 1 but in an airport" when Die Hard 3 is a bigger copy/paste of the first movie than 2 ever wishes it was.
 

zma1013

Member
My heirarchy for Die Hard movies goes

1>2>4>3>5

I really don't understand the love affair people have with Die Hard 3. Tons of people rip off Die Hard 2 for being "Die Hard 1 but in an airport" when Die Hard 3 is a bigger copy/paste of the first movie than 2 ever wishes it was.

Die Hard 3 is just more entertaining. The chemistry between Willis and Jackson is just amazing and the Simon villain is just more memorable than whoever the villain was in 2.
 
My heirarchy for Die Hard movies goes

1>2>4>3>5

I really don't understand the love affair people have with Die Hard 3. Tons of people rip off Die Hard 2 for being "Die Hard 1 but in an airport" when Die Hard 3 is a bigger copy/paste of the first movie than 2 ever wishes it was.

Except that it's completely different. How is it a "copy/paste" of the first movie?
 
I like the original and Die Harder the best. The rest I'd cluster as pretty forgettable. Once they lost the confined setting of an office building and an airport respectively, it becomes a bit more generic action film.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Except that it's completely different. How is it a "copy/paste" of the first movie?

-Villain is a Gruber
-McClain is paired with another African American buddy by circumstance
-The relationship between Jon and Holly is set back to pre-Die Hard 1 status
-Non McClain police are borderline incompetent
-Villain's big plan (revenge on Nakatomi / revenge on McClain) is actually just a ruse for a robbery

The main significant difference between the two movies is that they subbed out an LA high-rise for New York.
 
Die Hard 3 is just more entertaining. The chemistry between Willis and Jackson is just amazing and the Simon villain is just more memorable than whoever the villain was in 2.

That's William Sadler (aka Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey). C'mon naked karate kata in the dark was pretty memorable!
 

Sephzilla

Member
That's William Sadler (aka Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey). C'mon naked karate kata in the dark was pretty memorable!

I actually think Colonel Stewart (DH2's villain) is a more clever character than Hans Gruber was. Stewart's plan was actually a lot more solid and well engineered while Hans' plan had a couple of moments that relied on a good deal of luck to pull off.

That being said, Gruber was written much better character wise and had a better actor playing him.
 

zma1013

Member
-Villain is a Gruber
-McClain is paired with another African American buddy by circumstance
-The relationship between Jon and Holly is set back to pre-Die Hard 1 status
-Non McClain police are borderline incompetent
-Villain's big plan (revenge on Nakatomi / revenge on McClain) is actually just a ruse for a robbery

The main significant difference between the two movies is that they subbed out an LA high-rise for New York.

McClain always gets paired up with someone in every movie, typically by circumstance, including 2, where he gets paired up with the janitor. At least in 3 him and Zues are actually traveling together and doing things together and not just always talking through the radio. That's a pretty significant change as well.

All non-McClain police are borderline incompetent in every Die Hard movie, including 2.

I mean, if you want to rest your case on the wife and ruse/robbery stuff, but there are enough differences in the movie that I wouldn't be calling it a copy/paste job anymore than any of the others. All the movies have a pattern to them, a structure that they follow.
 

Sephzilla

Member
McClain always gets paired up with someone in every movie, typically by circumstance, including 2, where he gets paired up with the janitor. At least in 3 him and Zues are actually traveling together and doing things together and not just always talking through the radio. That's a pretty significant change as well.

All non-McClain police are borderline incompetent in every Die Hard movie, including 2.

I mean, if you want to rest your case on the wife and ruse/robbery stuff, but there are enough differences in the movie that I wouldn't be calling it a copy/paste job anymore than any of the others.

To be fair, the janitor in 2 is more or less just 3 scenes. His buddies in the other 4 movies are all with him or interacting with him a lot more in comparison.

McClain must be a real jerk when he's not doing Die Hard stuff if his wife left him after he saved her life twice.

The one thing none of the sequels I thought really did well in comparison to the original was really nail the incompetent police officers. The cops in the first movie are so blatantly inept that it becomes funny, the sequels don't do that nearly as well.
 
What's great about DH3 is the comedy is so damn genius. There are sooooooo many memorable lines. Also, the small characters in DH3 are great, too. The blonde lady at the police station yelling, "Charlie you're gonna wear that chair up your ass!" to McClane's boss. Even the terrorists are great.

I seriously don't get how the movie scored so low.
 
The next Die Hard needs to be heavily inspired by The Raid, not unlike Dredd. In effect, it would thus be quite similar to the original, in a way.
 

Imm0rt4l

Member
My heirarchy for Die Hard movies goes

1>2>4>3>5

I really don't understand the love affair people have with Die Hard 3. Tons of people rip off Die Hard 2 for being "Die Hard 1 but in an airport" when Die Hard 3 is a bigger copy/paste of the first movie than 2 ever wishes it was.
1 and 3 are nothing alike
 

Zodzilla

Member
My order is:

1>3>4=2>>>>>>>>>>>>WALKING ON SHARDS OF GLASS WITH NO SHOES ON>>>>>>GETTING CHUNKS OF BRIDGE WIRE STUCK IN YOUR SHOULDER>>>>>>5

Live Free or Die Hard is a lesser xerox copy of 3's formula much like 2's a xerox copy of 1's. It at the very least has some pretty decent action and a couple of laughs.

Die Hard 5 is a fucking abomination.

There's no script.

The action is dull as shit.

There's no humor.

John McClane only has one fucking line "I'm on fucking vacation" which wasn't funny the first or fifth time it was said.

There's a shitty "touching" moment where he and some who gives a fuck guy talk about their kids, that has no relevance to anything.

His son, (who was a pretty charismatic actor in Jack Reacher) could've easily been fit into the smartass son role, but the director made him have zero redeeming features.

The gun fights are literally just people walking into a room and spraying without any choreography whatsoever.

The "twist" is predictable. More than any twist in recent memory.

There is no villain, just a bunch of useless people trying to look "sexy" for the camera without actually speaking.

The car chase that was supposedly filmed over the course of a month is somehow less tense and exciting than watching a car chase in an episode of Alias.

My hatred of Die Hard 5 has no bounds. Anyone who even qualifies it as being a Die Hard movie or equates it to Die Hard 4 (which was good at best, mediocre at worst) has clearly never actually seen it.
 

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
Sephzilla, I actually strongly agree with you

I don't get the love affair that people have with 3

I really don't understand the love affair people have with Die Hard 3. Tons of people rip off Die Hard 2 for being "Die Hard 1 but in an airport" when Die Hard 3 is a bigger copy/paste of the first movie than 2 ever wishes it was.

But I actually dislike 3 because I feel like it's even further away from 1 than 2 is. I like that 2 is just Die Hard 1 in an airport.

McClain always gets paired up with someone in every movie, typically by circumstance, including 2, where he gets paired up with the janitor. At least in 3 him and Zues are actually traveling together and doing things together and not just always talking through the radio. That's a pretty significant change as well

Exactly, and that's one of my big problems with 3. In 1 and 2 his "sidekicks" were pretty ancillary characters in the grand scheme. In 3 it's more of a co-starring role, and that's bullshit. John McClane flies solo.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I actually liked Die Hard 4 if that's the one with the hackers.

So what was the McTiernan guy in prison for? Sounded like wiretapping another director but they really screwed this poor guy over. Even Samuel L. Jackson and Alec Baldwin are apparently fighting for his release.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
My order is:

1>3>4=2>>>>>>>>>>>>WALKING ON SHARDS OF GLASS WITH NO SHOES ON>>>>>>GETTING CHUNKS OF BRIDGE WIRE STUCK IN YOUR SHOULDER>>>>>>5

Live Free or Die Hard is a lesser xerox copy of 3's formula much like 2's a xerox copy of 1's. It at the very least has some pretty decent action and a couple of laughs.

Die Hard 5 is a fucking abomination.

There's no script.

The action is dull as shit.

There's no humor.

John McClane only has one fucking line "I'm on fucking vacation" which wasn't funny the first or fifth time it was said.

There's a shitty "touching" moment where he and some who gives a fuck guy talk about their kids, that has no relevance to anything.

His son, (who was a pretty charismatic actor in Jack Reacher) could've easily been fit into the smartass son role, but the director made him have zero redeeming features.

The gun fights are literally just people walking into a room and spraying without any choreography whatsoever.

The "twist" is predictable. More than any twist in recent memory.

There is no villain, just a bunch of useless people trying to look "sexy" for the camera without actually speaking.

The car chase that was supposedly filmed over the course of a month is somehow less tense and exciting than watching a car chase in an episode of Alias.

My hatred of Die Hard 5 has no bounds. Anyone who even qualifies it as being a Die Hard movie or equates it to Die Hard 4 (which was good at best, mediocre at worst) has clearly never actually seen it.

Die Hard 5 is actually the best DH movie. You just can't see it.
 
oh yeah, my ranking:

1. DIE HARD
2. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
3. Hostage
4. DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER
5. Die hard 4

Yes, Hostage is in my mind a Die Hard film. Just pretend Willis' character is McClane, and there you go, a good Die Hard film. Pretend it's set before Die Hard 1 in some alternate dimension where he has a different family

Hostage sucked though.
 
Is this true?

I hope he gets the chance to make more action movies, he is probably the best in that regard.

Yep. Already planning a movie, but it sounds like a low-budget quick cashgrab.


John McTiernan has signed to direct Hannibal Classics’ action project “Red Squad” following his expected release later this month from federal prison in North Dakota.

McTiernan — whose credits include “Die Hard,” “Predator” and “The Hunt for Red October” — in April 2013 started his prison sentence in connection with a case ordering Anthony Pellicano to wiretap producer Charles Roven while they were working on 2002’s “Rollerball.”
 

dankir

Member
What's great about DH3 is the comedy is so damn genius. There are sooooooo many memorable lines. Also, the small characters in DH3 are great, too. The blonde lady at the police station yelling, "Charlie you're gonna wear that chair up your ass!" to McClane's boss. Even the terrorists are great.

I seriously don't get how the movie scored so low.

Cuz Targo didn't get enough screen time. Most scowliest of scowls ever seen on screen.
Also the dude getting cut in half by the tow cables is the greatest death in the series. 2nd is the icicle in the eyeball.

I watched Diehard 1, 2 and 3 every X-mas holidays.

My cousin works in the film industry and worked on Diehard 4, specifically the elevator scene and final action sequence with the plane had lot of his touches.

In any case he even says there is no Diehard after With a Vengeance.
 

xandaca

Member
Love Die Hards 1 and 3, 2 is alright, 4 veers between decent and dreadful, and the hour or so of 5 I endured was entirely dreadful. The descriptions of what 6 could be don't fill me with hope.

For me, McClane has always been the key to getting Die Hard right. When the character is written properly, he's a reluctant hero who can ground the excesses of an action movie like no other. His genuine sense of pain, constant annoyance, New York cynical sarcasm and its infuriating effect on his egotistical enemies make for a gloriously vivid, likeable character, particularly when set against a haughty villain growing increasingly sick of being unable to get rid of him.

Die Hard worked because that dynamic was never stronger than with Hans Gruber; Die Harder failed because it completely recycled the first movie, a typical example of diminishing returns, and worst of all, with a totally forgettable villain. Die Hard With A Vengeance not only writes McClane wonderfully, but it bounces him off a wonderfully hammy villain AND a sidekick just as cynical, annoying and stubborn as he is. The fact it doesn't try to remake the original movie AGAIN is a big plus to my mind. And it's hilarious. Live Free And Die Hard just about works when McClane's baiting the villain, but the action becomes so risibly stupid and over the top (McClane riding fighter jets, taking out a helicopter with a car, etc) that even an intermittently well written McClane can't bring it back to earth - and, once again, Timothy Olyphant's villain is a non-entity, albeit one with just enough ego to get a few sparks in his sparring over the phone. Die Hard 5 just got everything wrong from what I saw, McClane was reduced to a bland action hero, the villains were nobodies, the situations ludicrous... urgh.
 

boingball

Member
My ranking
1=3 > 2 > 4 > 5

Will watch 6, hoping that they go back to the roots. And if the Nakatomi reunion is true this might be the case.
 

Newlove

Member
I love Die Hard, they're some of my favorite action films. However the latest one looked terrible, reviewed terribly, and I am not inclined to ever watch it.
 
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