FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

An unknown madman who has dubbed himself Simon blows up a department store in the middle of New York City. He’s promising there will be more unless John McClane is put on the case. McClane is brought out of suspension and thrown into the fire as he must adhere to Simon’s every whim. When his first task leads him to Harlem, Zeus, a shopkeeper gets inadvertently involved. Now the two must team up to solve riddles and puzzles to prevent more bombs from going off and causing massive destruction around the city. Can they beat this high-risk game of Simon says?

If the Die Hard franchise has to be back, at least they also brought back director John McTiernan. None of this Renny Harlin crap they tried to pull in the inexcusable sequel. And what do you know, the movie is actually good again. Huh. Who would have thought talented people could make movies better? So, since it’s better for forget that “Die Hard 2” happened at all, how does it compare to the first one? Well, I’ll tell you.

First, this one starts with a bang. A big one. Instead of building things up and re-introducing characters or establishing anything, we’re jolted into the movie right away with the aforementioned store explosion. Don’t expect it to keep that pace, however, because as my little synopsis up there suggests, this film is more cerebral oriented than shoot ‘em up action. The games force McClane to use a different kind of smarts while solving the riddles and games necessary to fuse the bombs. He has to use logic instead of various random items around the room to defeat the bad guys, at least for most of the picture. Just wait until closer to the end and you’ll see the McClane we’re used to.

So, the games and things are an interesting concept and the film flows quickly enough, but I still would have liked to see a couple more fights instead of Bruce Willis (John) and Samuel L. Jackson (Zeus) running around the city. Driving fast through the park is exciting, but chasing or being chased is more exciting. Still the movie is effective, because it revels in tension. The time constraints Simon imposes in solving the tasks play out as close to real time as a motion picture can allow. Plus the storytelling works well. Writer Jonathan Hensleigh keeps you involved by somehow making the criminal’s real motivation something of a subplot for the majority of the picture. But I think what he’s really trying to get across is a morality message. I mean the bomb on the subway train would have been fine if Zeus and McClane would have just stayed together. See? It’s about building teamwork and togetherness amongst the races. All joking aside, there is a little social commentary about racism in the picture that is about as deep as you can get in an action movie without seeming preachy or lame.

The movie isn’t amazing, but it’s still certainly better than average. The games and riddles could have been a pathetic gimmick, but instead they’re a fun aspect that provides us with some great back and forth between Willis and SLJ. I could have done without hearing the Ants Go Marching song for ten minutes during the heist scene, and the ending isn’t as thrilling as it could be. But hey, sequels are rarely as good as the first one. That this one does so well is good enough for me.

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