Barnes & Noble

Bruce Willis and John McTiernan -- the star-director team that established an often imitated action-movie blueprint with 1988’s Die Hard -- reunited for this explosive, thrill-a-minute 1995 sequel. Willis reprises the role of tough, taciturn cop John McClane, playing cat-and-mouse yet again with a vicious terrorist. In a nod to the original film, the sadistic madman tormenting McClane is Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons), brother to the character played by Alan Rickman in Die Hard, who’s out to avenge his sibling’s death at the cop’s hands. With bombs planted in schools all over New York, Gruber sends McClane on a succession of fool’s errands before implementing the plan calculated to ensure his revenge. Although the Willis character fought alone in the first two Die Hard films, McTiernan gives him a reluctant sidekick in the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson, here playing a Harlem shopkeeper caught up in the terrorist’s game. The Willis-Jackson bickering gives Vengeance a Lethal Weapon feel and offers viewers a few seconds to catch their breath between suspenseful action set pieces. The episodic plotline and driving pace is reminiscent of an old cliff-hanger serial, and like those continued-next-week thrillers of yore, Die Hard with a Vengeance will keep you perched on the edge of your chair. The new two-disc Five-Star Edition offers a commentary by McTiernan, an interview with Willis, two TV specials about the film, a making-of featurette, behind-the-scenes vignettes, a sequence shown in storyboard form, and special-effects breakdowns, plus various trailers and TV spots. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Bruce Willis returns as misfit cop John McClane in the third film in the Die Hard series. McClane has fallen on hard times; after moving to New York City and breaking up with his wife, he's developed a drinking problem and has been suspended from the NYPD. However, his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Simon (Jeremy Irons), a terrorist bomber who has been using McClane as his contact as he plants a series of bombs in public places and gives McClane inane "clues" to their whereabouts in the form of riddles and bizarre games. McClane soon discovers he's been involved in Simon's scheme as part of a personal grudge; while associated with an international terrorist group, Simon is also the brother of the man McClane threw off the side of a skyscraper several years back (in the original Die Hard). Now McClane, with the help of a Harlem shopkeeper named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson), has to find out where Simon has planted the bombs, guess where he'll strike next, and try to find his base of operations before more bombs go off and thousands of people die. The supporting cast features Graham Greene and Colleen Camp; singer Sam Phillips made her acting debut as a member of Simon's terrorist group (Phillips never speaks, so as to not to reveal her Texas accent). Mark Deming

Chicago Sun-Times

Die Hard With a Vengeance is basically a wind-up action toy, cleverly made, and delivered with high energy. It delivers just what it advertises, with a vengeance. Roger Ebert

Product Details

• UPC: 024543440925
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Language: English
• Editions: Repackaged
• Time: 2:11:00
• Sales Rank: 27,433

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Die Hard Collection
• Die Hard Collection
• Die Hard: the Ulitmate Collection

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