Amazon.com Essentials:
The second sequel to the mold-making action film Die Hard
brings Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) to New York City to face a
better villain than in Die Hard 2. Played by Jeremy Irons, he's the
brother of the Germanic terrorist-thief Alan Rickman played in the
original film. But this bad guy has his sights set higher: on the
Federal Reserve's cache of gold. As a distraction, he sets McClane
running fool's errands all over New York--and eventually, McClane
attracts an unintentional partner, a Harlem dry cleaner (Samuel L.
Jackson) with a chip on his shoulder. Some great action sequences,
though they can't obscure the rather large plot holes in the
film's final 45 minutes. --Marshall Fine
Amazon.com video review:
Christmas is not a good time of year in the McClane family. Especially
for
John McClane, who
always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But if it
weren't for the heroics of this rugged, resourceful cop, many lives would be
lost and
megalomaniacal terrorists with various European accents would be having
their evil way. In 1988, director
John McTiernan and the phenomenal hit Die Hard introduced the world
to maverick Sgt. John McClane (Bruce Willis) of the New York Police
Department, and in the course of this film and two blockbuster sequels McClane was
frantically saving lives, buildings, airports, schools, cities, and even his
marriage from the threat of international terrorists, psychopaths, and
cagey mercenaries.
Now you can watch antihero McClane blast his way through all three movies.
Witness his
transition from a happy-go-lucky, slightly cranky cop to extremely
burnt-out, partially alcoholic
cop with a propensity to attract extreme violence and catastrophe. Yet the
one thing that
always overshadows his character flaws is his uncanny ability to spoil the
schemes of stylish villains with slick names such as Hans Gruber (the nasty
terrorist from the first film, played to perfection by Alan Rickman). Sit
down, pop some corn, grab a bottle of Coca-Cola, and
get ready to watch (in any order you please) the Die Hard Trilogy--a
must for any action buff
or fan of Bruce Willis, who owes his film career to the enduring appeal of
these global box-office hits. --Jeremy Storey
