Die Hard

[MojoJojo]

The problem with the sequels is that nothing can match the feel good ending of the first when Sgt Al Powell realises he can kill again.

Ha, yes - it's weird how  that arc often gets overlooked.

I don't really see how Die Hard 3 breaks the formula. It's not as if McClane was trapped by himself in the airport in 2. So I suppose the main difference is he his wife isn't involved.

I actually read the book Die Hard 1 was based on. It's weird the way it's different and the same. So in the book it looks like a heist, but is actually a terrorist/political thing (I think Gruber says stuff about the bonds are actually corrupt or something in the film, can't remember how well it matches the genuine motives in the book). And a very long desciption of McClane breaking that guys neck. But overall, a bit tedious.

[kidsick5000]

Technically, another Bruce Willis film - Tears Of The Sun - was going to be Die Hard 4, but, er, stuff happened.

I can see Speed being pitched as a potential Die Hard sequel. The Under Sieges must have been thrown the Die Hard franchise's way before settling for the Zen Ponytail of Death.

[Dead kate moss]

A guy I later realised was a complete liar told me he'd written the script for Die Hard 3 (and met Bruce Willis in Paris to discuss it) but eventually they went with a different one. Anyway, in his story McClane was trapped (which I do think was a nice motif for the series, although it got copied a bit) on a small/medium sized island. I still think this could make a good setting for a Die Hard movie, rather than like in 4 he can just go anywhere like any other action movie.

And his kid is his sidekick in this one? Fuck off, I'm not watching that.

[Dead kate moss]

Can we have a filter where 'Bruce Willis' becomes 'Die Hard'? Because he said in an interview he hates it when people call him Die Hard in the street, etc.

[MojoJojo]

Anyway, in his story McClane was trapped (which I do think was a nice motif for the series, although it got copied a bit) on a small/medium sized island.

Is it really a motif for the series if it only happens in one of the films?

[Dead kate moss]

Is it really a motif for the series if it only happens in one of the films?

He's kinda trapped at the airport in the second one, and after the first it became one of the film's defining features, as we got 'Die Hard On A Boat' etc.

[Obel]

Also the plot element of it turning out his "wayward" son is actually working for the CIA is a bit too close to Black Dynamite for me to take seriously.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Referring to the main character of an action film by the film's title is a long established tradition and Die Hard can complain all he wants but that's just the way it is.

[Kane Jones]

Referring to the main character of an action film by the film's title is a long established tradition and Die Hard can complain all he wants but that's just the way it is.

Yeah, like Dirty Harry, Broncho Billy, Joe Kidd & The Outlaw Josey Wales.  You don't see Clint Eastwood complaining.

I prefer to call him Clyde though.

[Blumf]

Mr. Or My Mom Will Shoot is okay with it, as is Hercules in New York.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I liked it when Skyfall fell off the train, when First Blood kicked off in the police station, when Raw Deal shot up the gravel pit, when Taken hid under the dead bodies.

[monkfromhavana]

 Also the country Val Verde from Commando is mentioned in Die Hard 2, so that means the films take place in the same universe. The petition for a cross-over, Matrix vs. McClane, John vs. John starts here.
[/quote]

This has to happen.

[kidsick5000]

Also the country Val Verde from Commando is mentioned in Die Hard 2, so that means the films take place in the same universe. The petition for a cross-over, Matrix vs. McClane, John vs. John starts here.


This has to happen.

Both their daughters turned out nice, there could be scope for something there

[monkfromhavana]

Both their daughters turned out nice, there could be scope for something there

Go Commando Another Day would be a good title. I'm up for pitching it to all and sundry.

[Kane Jones]

I liked it when Skyfall fell off the train, when First Blood kicked off in the police station, when Raw Deal shot up the gravel pit, when Taken hid under the dead bodies.

I like it when Under Siege 2 is dangling off of a cliff, right? And this baddie, right? This baddie comes down on a rope to get him, right?  And Under Siege 2, right?  Rather than just shooting the baddie dead, right?  He shoots through the rope instead so the baddie plummets down a ravine, screaming to his violent death and bouncing off the cliff on the way down instead of being killed instantly.  I love Under Siege 2 - he's nails.

[Kane Jones]

Go Commando Another Day would be a good title. I'm up for pitching it to all and sundry.

There's only one thing I'm pitching right now, right lads?  Eh?  EH?!![nb]an erection in my pants[/nb]

[monkfromhavana]

The best bit in action films is in Lethal Weapon where Roger Murtaugh turns into Jimmy Savile.

It takes place about halfway through the film.
He gets up in the middle of the night, sneaks downstairs, sticks on a porno, and leafs through a high school yearbook. All the while he has this expression on his face that suggests some girl is going to be getting a bit of his "lethal weapon" soon.

[Dead kate moss]

This is the full script to Lethal Weapon 3

'Son Of A Bitch!'

'Riggs?' Riggs!'

'Son of a BITCH!'

RIGGS!!!! You son of a bitch!'

'Son of a... RIGGS! RIGGGS!!!!'

'Why that son of a bitch...'

'Riggs, NO!'

'RIGGS!!!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH RIGGS!!!'

'SHIIITTTTT!!!!'

'SONOFABITCH!!!!!!!'

Riggs? Riggs??'

'Why, you sonofabitch...'

The End.

[Wet Blanket]

The re-release of that has been re-edited to secure a 12A certificate:

This is the full script to Lethal Weapon 3

'Son Of [EXPLOSION]'

'Riggs?' Riggs!'

'Son of a [KLAXON]'

RIGGS!!!! You son of a [CAR BACKFIRES]!'

'Son of a... RIGGS! RIGGGS!!!!'

'Why that son of a [SCREECHING TYRES]'

'Riggs, NO!'

'RIGGS!!!!! YOU SON OF A [1920S TAXI HORN] RIGGS!!!'

'[WHISTLE]'

'[BELL RINGS]'

Riggs? Riggs??'

'Why, you [BUZZER]'

The End.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Are the Lethal Weapon films any good? The bits without Mel Gibson in, obviously.

[Kane Jones]

This is the full script to Lethal Weapon 3

'Son Of A Bitch!'

'Riggs?' Riggs!'

'Son of a BITCH!'

RIGGS!!!! You son of a bitch!'

'Son of a... RIGGS! RIGGGS!!!!'

'Why that son of a bitch...'

'Riggs, NO!'

'RIGGS!!!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH RIGGS!!!'

'SHIIITTTTT!!!!'

'SONOFABITCH!!!!!!!'

Riggs? Riggs??'

'Why, you sonofabitch...'

The End.

Almost correct.  You did, however, miss out a bit that I was slagging off on page one of this thread.  Namely, Gibson and Russo's flirtacious, quippy bantery bits being fucking irritating as fuck.

"Are you baiting me, are you baiting me?"
"I'm a master of it."

Eat shit, you pair of cunts.

[monkfromhavana]

Are the Lethal Weapon films any good? The bits without Mel Gibson in, obviously.

The first two were good, the last two were shite.

[Steve Lampkins]

Are the Lethal Weapon films any good?

Part 5 was OK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjhV1DavSRM

Slightly NSFW

[Pube]

I can't find much enthusiasm for Bruce Willis returning to John McClane. People generally don't blame him for the failings of Die Hard 4.0 but I think his performance was one of its biggest problems. At least, it certainly didn't help things. He seemed lethargic and uninterested throughout, in a similiar way to Harrison Ford in Crystal Skull.

Kevin Smith's account of working with Willis on Cop Put is also off-putting. He dedicates an entire chapter to it in his book and adds a lot of details that he hasn't mentioned in his talks and podcasts.

A month later we were standing on set in front of the villain's house in Brooklyn—perhaps the friendliest neighborhood on the planet—when a glazier truck stopped at the light, affording the passenger a perfect view of a bona fide movie star in his backyard.

"Oh, Die Hard!" the dude yelled at Bruce, naming him after his most famous flick. "I got Die Hard one, two, three, and four at home, bro! DIE HARD!!!"

The light changed, and the truck pulled away. It was charming as fuck. Seeing one of the most famous movie stars on the planet getting love from his audience made me smile ear to ear. It was a plenty big smile, and it needed to be—as Bruce was frowning.

"You gotta love that," I said, desperate to make conversation with or reach this unhappy man. "So awesome that they still love you."

He asked if I wanted people yelling shit at me from cars all the time, twenty years after I made a movie. He glowered, watching the car disappear into Brooklyn as if the people in it were responsible for Holly Gennaro's kidnapping.

"People still call me Silent Bob and yell 'Clerks,'" I countered.

He looked at me like I was a soggy ol' douche bag and moseyed elsewhere.

So we were shooting Pollak and Brody, and Bruce was providing off-camera performance for his fellow actors—which is to say he was sitting there, barely looking at them, not doing the scripted dialogue. I had the boys looking at the dead center of the bottom of the matte box to represent the off-camera Bruce, and for some reason, this bugged Bruce. He wanted them to look camera left or right instead—not at the bottom of the matte box. It didn't matter that the director chose that eye line, nor did it matter that the director was also the editor, nor did it matter that it wasn't even a shot he was in: Bruce insisted we do one his way.

"Okay," I agreed. "Next take."

But Pollak and Brody crushed that take, rocking very funny, pitch-perfect ad-libs I could cut into the scene, possibly saving it. I was happy and I had everything I needed from them, so I indicated we were moving on with the standard, "Check the gate."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa ...," I heard Bruce say to me.

I looked at him and asked, "We're not done yet?"

"One more," said the guy who wasn't even in the shot.

"Yeah?" I asked, kinda hoping he'd hear the lack of enthusiasm in my voice.

Bruce waved me over for a private conference, and as I moved to do so, I said to the crew, "Flag on the play, everybody. I've gotta talk to the director."

And you'd have thought I was Hans fucking Gruber himself, the way Bruce Willis suddenly turned on me, saying, "We got a problem here?"

I was wide-eyed. This man had such an issue with my dopey director comment—a comment that was based on fact, since the man was now literally calling the shots in this scene—that he was stepping to me in front of the entire cast and crew.

"I don't have a problem," I said. "But it sounds like you do, Boss."

"Well maybe you should clear the set so we can talk about it," he said, giving me the hard McClane stare.

"You want me to clear the set?" I asked, trying to hide the terror I was feeling. From where Bruce was standing, he could easily hit me: He was in striking distance (movie nerd alert: He was also in Striking Distance). "Okay ..." And to everyone in that tiny, fake baseball card store, I said, "Can you take five, folks? Outside."

When everyone was gone, he yelled at me for not taking his suggestion. I said I had everything I needed for the scene and that I liked the eye line that I'd asked Pollak and Brody to give me.

Then, out of nowhere, he asked if I wanted to hit him. It was fucking insane. I'd compare it to high school theatrics, but I'd never engaged in so petty and faux-macho a standoff in my teens. And worse? We were wasting time and money—just so this lion in winter could show me he still had teeth. Me: the guy who took the 84 percent pay cut to make the movie with the big, stupid jerk.

I don't think Smith's word is gospel and there's two sides to every story, but his description of Willis - bitter, disdainful of fans, resistant to direction, only there for the paycheck - seems to fit perfectly with the actor's apathetic turn in Die Hard 4.0.

On the other hand, I heard he was fine in Looper, which is an action film, so maybe he's still got it in him.

[SteveDave]

I take it Pube you've heard Kevin Smith's interview with Rian Johnson? He can't believe that he & Johnson had the same actor in their films & comes to the conclusion that he only gets on with writer/directors. It's almost as if if you didn't write this Mr Director then I've got (I'm being Bruce now) as much right to say how it should go.

It makes sense. In a way.

[Pube]

I haven't heard that interview, I'll give it a listen in a minute. That's an interesting take on what the problem might be. If true, it doesn't bode well for A Good Day To Die Hard. Would Bruce Willis have much respect for the director of Max Payne?

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

If I ever see Bruce Willis, I'll yell "Oi! Moonlighting!" at the miserable cunt.

[Nuclear Optimism]

I think Smith comes across as just as much of a prick in those anecdotes. Well, maybe not as much of a prick. Somewhat less of a prick, but still a prick. Which by all accounts he is. He doesn't do anything to lessen the tension in either story.

So Willis doesn't like being heckled in the street, and tried to muck about with a shot. The way Smith goes on about it you'd think it was Herzog and Kinski all over again.

[Dead kate moss]

I still think we need that filter.

[kidsick5000]

I think Smith comes across as just as much of a prick in those anecdotes. Well, maybe not as much of a prick. Somewhat less of a prick, but still a prick. Which by all accounts he is. He doesn't do anything to lessen the tension in either story.

I haven't seen a Smith film in a long time, so I couldn't really have a strong case to back up my current opinion that he's a chancer who was able to get a film that made all the right pop-culture references at the right time and lashes out harder as soon as he feels like he's being found out.
I have no problem with the chancer part

I'd be interested to hear what Wes Anderson and Steven Soderburgh's experiences of Bruce Willis are, see if this auteur=nice Bruce holds water.

Then again, look up the stories about him and Cybil Shepherd on Moonlighting. It sounds like the grimmest work environment to be around.