Perhaps we should be following Douglas Adams and going with a trilogy in five parts? Or sticking with the quadrilogy, because let's face it, no one actually likes five... do they?
Action movies have always been my weakness. (I know that now all movies are my weakness, but this was before I developed a severe watching habit.) The Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series were my go to watches. Some things don't really change, apart from maybe which one is my favourite.
As John McClane arrives in LA to spend Christmas with his wife and kids things go awry when mercenaries take over the Nakatomi building and hold the party goers hostage.
Surely this is everyone's favourite Christmas film. I don't care what anyone says... we all know it IS one. End of.
I will even go so far as to say that this might be my favourite Christmas jumper of all time... oh my god I just had a fantastic idea for this year's Christmas jumper... anyway...
You've got to love Alan Rickman in this one. Our favourite Die Hard villain, with a dubious accent and that slightly unfortunate slow motion death scene. But if you talk Die Hard and that "ho ho ho" you always have to say it in his accent.
Holly is rocking the big hair, I'm not sure her shoulder pads were big enough for someone in her position at a major company, but we can let that slide. Quality powerful woman moment when she makes her demands of Gruber. Well done, Holly.
The one thing I always find dubious about this movie is the fact that McClane gets a little maniacal at times... but he does go through the ringer a bit so that's understandable.
John arrives at the airport to pick up Holly when Christmas shenanigans happen all over again, this time with terrorists taking over the tower and blacking out the airfield as a blizzard sets in.
I'm not going to lie, about 10% of the reason I like this one is because of William Sadler doing naked tai chi.
Could you imagine Die Hard 2 filmed these days? There'd be no tasing Dick, what a disappointment.
Of the few things that bother me about this one the film's yippee ki-yay for me could have been better timed. He's got the perfect moment coming up, if he'd have just left it until after he lit the fuel... "Yippee ki-yay, motherf*****!" *two beats* BOOM.
Sadly Die Hard 2 is my least favourite out of the four... like I said, we don't count the fifth one. Not that that's a bad thing, it's still damn good, it's just up against some stiff competition.
In the first one McClane has Powell, in Vengeance he has Zeus and in 4.0 he has Farrell. For some reason in 2 they didn't give him someone to properly develop a relationship with, there are lots of people there for him to interact with, but nothing really lasts very long before he's off to the next one.
John McClane, permanently hungover and on suspension, is called back to work when a terrorist blows up a building and requests his presence for a few minor tasks.
I love McClane's banter in this one, he's really upped his game. Which is apt as Simon is fond of his games.
Some incredible stunt driving... I'm not sure how that taxi managed to sail out into traffic and survive, but it was impressive. Then they find another car to drive off the side of a bridge... that yet again survives?! It's a solid year for car manufacture.
I think the reason I liked this one the most for so long is that John and Zeus make a great double act. Zeus is logical and sarcastic while John is a little bit gung-ho and... well, also sarcastic.
Cue me yelling at the screen... Fill the 3 and pour it into the 5. Fill the 3 again and pour it into the 5. You'll have 1 left in the 3. Empty the 5 and pour the 1 from the 3 into it. Fill the 3 again and pour it into the 5... you now have 4.
My only dislike of this film is that you can't play vest roulette. It stays particularly white most of the way through. Oh sorry, and the terrible effects they use for the water in the tunnel, but I do love that Zeus manages to see McClane pop out of the access port in the spout of water.
I brought the blu-ray box set to replace my aging DVDs... and that is how I discovered there is an alternative ending to the film. I can't say I'm a fan of it. It takes McClane's character through the film, opens a window and throws it all out. It turns him into a rather cruel version of himself, and there would have been no coming back from that.
John travels to Russia to find his son, intel says that he's in prison. Once he's there nothing is quite what it seems.
Where 4.0 managed to get in on some of the current trends, A Good Day To Die Hard decided it wanted to be like Jason Bourne whilst forgetting that John McClane isn't the sleek spy that Bourne is. We've gone from fun and enjoyable action films to something that takes itself way too seriously. At no point did I crack a smile, or scream "oooooooh" at the screen when one of McClane's completely ill matched fist fights goes awry.
A dancing, carrot eating villain who likes to play with his hostages... give me strength.
As for the extras on this disc you should certainly checkout Maximum McClane, mainly for the compilation of yippee ki-yays at the end.
*deep sigh*... who knows?!
And so I've completed the box set. God those last two hours were trouble.
If I'm honest I don't know why I brought these on blu-ray. Yes I learnt that Vengeance had a hideous alternative ending, but older films have very few proper extra features like we get with modern ones. Despite having extras listed on the back of the boxes, 1, 2 and 4 auto-played and no matter how I tried I couldn't access any menus apart from settings. This may require some Googling later as I'd actually quite like to see extras on 4.
John McClane being the troubled family man really loses the plot in 5. In the other four you get something of a progression but in the end they've tried to create a mini McClane, and having two of them in the film doesn't really work... McClane is not a sidekick.
I don't have much of a desire to explore the details of the upcoming film, partly because I don't want to spend too long over thinking it and partly because I'm happy for my brain to think that it won't be any worse than A Good Day To Die Hard. A girl can hope!
Happy watching!
Action movies have always been my weakness. (I know that now all movies are my weakness, but this was before I developed a severe watching habit.) The Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series were my go to watches. Some things don't really change, apart from maybe which one is my favourite.
Die Hard
As John McClane arrives in LA to spend Christmas with his wife and kids things go awry when mercenaries take over the Nakatomi building and hold the party goers hostage.
Surely this is everyone's favourite Christmas film. I don't care what anyone says... we all know it IS one. End of.
You've got to love Alan Rickman in this one. Our favourite Die Hard villain, with a dubious accent and that slightly unfortunate slow motion death scene. But if you talk Die Hard and that "ho ho ho" you always have to say it in his accent.
Holly is rocking the big hair, I'm not sure her shoulder pads were big enough for someone in her position at a major company, but we can let that slide. Quality powerful woman moment when she makes her demands of Gruber. Well done, Holly.
The one thing I always find dubious about this movie is the fact that McClane gets a little maniacal at times... but he does go through the ringer a bit so that's understandable.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
John arrives at the airport to pick up Holly when Christmas shenanigans happen all over again, this time with terrorists taking over the tower and blacking out the airfield as a blizzard sets in.
I'm not going to lie, about 10% of the reason I like this one is because of William Sadler doing naked tai chi.
Could you imagine Die Hard 2 filmed these days? There'd be no tasing Dick, what a disappointment.
Of the few things that bother me about this one the film's yippee ki-yay for me could have been better timed. He's got the perfect moment coming up, if he'd have just left it until after he lit the fuel... "Yippee ki-yay, motherf*****!" *two beats* BOOM.
In the first one McClane has Powell, in Vengeance he has Zeus and in 4.0 he has Farrell. For some reason in 2 they didn't give him someone to properly develop a relationship with, there are lots of people there for him to interact with, but nothing really lasts very long before he's off to the next one.
Die Hard With A Vengeance
John McClane, permanently hungover and on suspension, is called back to work when a terrorist blows up a building and requests his presence for a few minor tasks.
I love McClane's banter in this one, he's really upped his game. Which is apt as Simon is fond of his games.
Some incredible stunt driving... I'm not sure how that taxi managed to sail out into traffic and survive, but it was impressive. Then they find another car to drive off the side of a bridge... that yet again survives?! It's a solid year for car manufacture.
I think the reason I liked this one the most for so long is that John and Zeus make a great double act. Zeus is logical and sarcastic while John is a little bit gung-ho and... well, also sarcastic.
Cue me yelling at the screen... Fill the 3 and pour it into the 5. Fill the 3 again and pour it into the 5. You'll have 1 left in the 3. Empty the 5 and pour the 1 from the 3 into it. Fill the 3 again and pour it into the 5... you now have 4.
My only dislike of this film is that you can't play vest roulette. It stays particularly white most of the way through. Oh sorry, and the terrible effects they use for the water in the tunnel, but I do love that Zeus manages to see McClane pop out of the access port in the spout of water.
Die Hard 4.0: Live Free Or Die Hard
Sent to collect a computer hacker wanted for questioning by the FBI, McClane gets more than he bargained for when he interrupts the efforts of a group of mercenaries mid-assassination plan.
I don't know what it is with Die Hard ladies renouncing the McClane name, I'm not sure I'd prefer Gennaro.
After 4.0 came out it definitely became my favourite. I like the more modern subject matter mixed with some traditional Die Hard personal grudge violence. Yet again we get a fun little double act, but this time with the slightly innocent Farrell with the technophobe McClane.
This movie shines a light on shoddy building work. I worry about the state of Farrell's whole building if McClane can punch through the (admittedly partly destroyed) wall to pull a bad guy's head through it.
Why do I like this film? Because he kills a helicopter with a car. I'm fairly sure that it wouldn't have worked, but I love the movie magic that made me believe it could. I presume that this is the same movie magic that allowed McClane to drive a car through a building and drive it up Maggie Q's... well, anyway...
While there's movie magic there's also completely ridiculous stuff... I mean come on... who's going to believe that the guy at Woodlawn managed to plug all those cables in the right way round first try?! What a joke!
I don't know what it is with Die Hard ladies renouncing the McClane name, I'm not sure I'd prefer Gennaro.
After 4.0 came out it definitely became my favourite. I like the more modern subject matter mixed with some traditional Die Hard personal grudge violence. Yet again we get a fun little double act, but this time with the slightly innocent Farrell with the technophobe McClane.
This movie shines a light on shoddy building work. I worry about the state of Farrell's whole building if McClane can punch through the (admittedly partly destroyed) wall to pull a bad guy's head through it.
A Good Day To Die Hard - Extended Cut
John travels to Russia to find his son, intel says that he's in prison. Once he's there nothing is quite what it seems.
Where 4.0 managed to get in on some of the current trends, A Good Day To Die Hard decided it wanted to be like Jason Bourne whilst forgetting that John McClane isn't the sleek spy that Bourne is. We've gone from fun and enjoyable action films to something that takes itself way too seriously. At no point did I crack a smile, or scream "oooooooh" at the screen when one of McClane's completely ill matched fist fights goes awry.
A dancing, carrot eating villain who likes to play with his hostages... give me strength.
As for the extras on this disc you should certainly checkout Maximum McClane, mainly for the compilation of yippee ki-yays at the end.
McClane - Announced/Coming soon/I don't want to live on this planet any more
*deep sigh*... who knows?!
And so I've completed the box set. God those last two hours were trouble.
If I'm honest I don't know why I brought these on blu-ray. Yes I learnt that Vengeance had a hideous alternative ending, but older films have very few proper extra features like we get with modern ones. Despite having extras listed on the back of the boxes, 1, 2 and 4 auto-played and no matter how I tried I couldn't access any menus apart from settings. This may require some Googling later as I'd actually quite like to see extras on 4.
John McClane being the troubled family man really loses the plot in 5. In the other four you get something of a progression but in the end they've tried to create a mini McClane, and having two of them in the film doesn't really work... McClane is not a sidekick.
I don't have much of a desire to explore the details of the upcoming film, partly because I don't want to spend too long over thinking it and partly because I'm happy for my brain to think that it won't be any worse than A Good Day To Die Hard. A girl can hope!
Happy watching!
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