I watched Die Hard for the first time today

[bgmnts]

Good christ to fuck this film is perfect isn't it? Willis is perfect, Rickman is perfect, the setting is perfect, the pacing is perfect, the music is perfect, the ancillary cast is perfect, the action is perfect, the plot is perfect.

Perfect.

[willbo]

I loved Die Hard 2 as a kid. I definitely watched it more than the first one. It's just non stop crazy fun.

[greenman]

I remember it being on ITV more often than the original.

[BeardFaceMan]

I don't think anything beats the butchered edit of Die Hard that ITV to used to show with incredibly bad audio editing for the nasty swears. Yippee Ki- Yay, Kemosabe!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Good christ to fuck this film is perfect isn't it? Willis is perfect, Rickman is perfect, the setting is perfect, the pacing is perfect, the music is perfect, the ancillary cast is perfect, the action is perfect, the plot is perfect.

Perfect.

No. We've been through this and I'm definitely correct.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Re-watched 2 last night. Plenty of fun although there seemed to be a lot of really awkward quips like "No frequent flyer miles for you" and "What sets off the metal detectors first? The lead in your ass or the shit in your brains?" (which obviously doesn't make sense), which seem like they were shoehorned in last minute by the studio.

[QDRPHNC]

Q Jr. and I watched it this morning. I like how it builds its atmosphere of dread from the very beginning, even with the rather benign sequences of Willis picking up his bags at the airport and arriving at Nakatomi Plaza. On that point, it captures very well that eerie sensation of being in a normally busy place (like a big office building) around the holidays, when you could hear a pin drop and the skeleton staff are putting the time in until they can go home.

Wish they'd left out the last bit, Sgt. Powell learning to shoot again. It doesn't seem necessary in order to finish his arc and... it's just so stupid.

Cracking explosion when drops the semtex down the elevator shaft though.

[BeardFaceMan]

Re-watched 2 last night. Plenty of fun although there seemed to be a lot of really awkward quips like "No frequent flyer miles for you" and "What sets off the metal detectors first? The lead in your ass or the shit in your brains?" (which obviously doesn't make sense), which seem like they were shoehorned in last minute by the studio.

Die Hard 2 is a great action flick, the problem is it tried to make everything bigger and better than Die Hard and up the ante, and in the process it turned into the kind of action film that the original was so different from.

[notjosh]

I remember it being on ITV more often than the original.

When I watched it a couple of days ago I could still remember all the bits where the adverts used to come in.

"Time we don't have..."

[dissolute ocelot]

Die Hard 2 is a great action flick, the problem is it tried to make everything bigger and better than Die Hard and up the ante, and in the process it turned into the kind of action film that the original was so different from.

Scenes in 2 like the big fight on the luggage conveyers are very Arnie-esque (Commando has an escalator fight) and totally different to 1 where the fight scenes are grounded in McClane's frailty.

[Mister Six]

Aye. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot bigger and looser and dafter, and McClaine quipping as he blows away an endless stream of generic, personality-free, crew-cut soldiers is substantially less interesting than him struggling to beat a gaggle of odd-looking quirky "terrorists".

Plus, all the racing to and from the air traffic control tower and the gaggle of allies around John does sap some of the tension from the story, even with the ticking clock of the soon-to-be-crashing planes. The action is pretty relentless, but with bodies being carried out of the airport and SWAT teams and army backup being shipped in, it feels a bit too open and free.

Eloquently put. I think opening with McClane getting towed was good. He was a hero one Christmas, then everyone forgot about it.

I know it's just a generic action movie with Bruce Willis wandering around in it, but it did annoy me in Die Hard 4 when Timothy Olyphant's terrorist was asking who McClaine was and the screenplay didn't just have him check Wikipedia and immediately shit himself as he realised his big master plan was just another crappy day for John McClaine.

[Blinder Data]

the Script Apart podcast recently interviewed Steven E de Sousa who wrote the screenplay of Die Hard (though someone else was responsible for the first draft).

he's a bit of a Hollywood blowhard (reminded me of Marc Maron) but he's v forthcoming and even rags on the other die hard films. an interesting listen, though uberfans probably won't learn anything new

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

For a long time, I thought it was a Shane Black script, what with the Christmas setting.

[lipsink]

For a long time, I thought it was a Shane Black script, what with the Christmas setting.

I still reckon Vengeance steals a bit from the Last Boy Scout: Starting with a hungover Willis whose family life and career is in the toilet. He plays a lowlife more in the Joe Hallenbeck mode. Plus the buddy movie setup is reminiscent of Willis and Wayans in the earlier film (both films have a scene where someone says they can't leave a bomb lying in the street in case a kid finds it)

Rewatching Vengeance and it really gets the seriousness/fun balance right much more than the 2nd film. Sam Jackson is phenomenally fun in it. Die Hard 2 is great but maybe too serious for a long stretch. (the English plane crashing bit is a bit grim)

[Blumf]

[PlanktonSideburns]

Amazing image

[Marner and Me]

I still reckon Vengeance steals a bit from the Last Boy Scout: Starting with a hungover Willis whose family life and career is in the toilet. He plays a lowlife more in the Joe Hallenbeck mode. Plus the buddy movie setup is reminiscent of Willis and Wayans in the earlier film (both films have a scene where someone says they can't leave a bomb lying in the street in case a kid finds it)

Rewatching Vengeance and it really gets the seriousness/fun balance right much more than the 2nd film. Sam Jackson is phenomenally fun in it. Die Hard 2 is great but maybe too serious for a long stretch. (the English plane crashing bit is a bit grim)

One of my favourite films that is. Really enjoyable.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'm just watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones has been taking a right kicking. It's as if John McClane wasn't some new breed of vulnerable action hero at all.

Not to sound vindictive, but everyone who disagreed with me on this point have big fat smelly poo brains.

[Lungpuddle]

I don't think McClane was necessarily a "new breed of vulnerable action hero", you have a point there, but I do think Die Hard is trying to do something too different for much of a comparison. I'm not saying Indiana Jones is bad, apart from the one with aliens in it (the second one is only not-bad because it's insane). Indiana Jones' world isn't trying to be grounded the same way as Die Hard's (I'm only talking about the first one), but fair do's to that bit where Harrison Ford gets punched a lot, always willing to see that. The difference between the set ups is pretty important. One man fighting nazis who are after a magical ark, and one man trapped in a building in his bare feet fighting men with guns pretending to be terrorists so they can rob a vault.

Jones also has his students being in love with him, which he (presumably) never takes advantage of, which I think is a way for the filmmakers to say "see? he's NOT a paedophile despite sleeping with underage Marion" (I may have misinterpreted this). McClane has his wife attempt to make up with him, despite him being an utter dick, which he throws back in her face. There's no point to this last bit, I just wanted to point out that both characters are scum, I guess.