Episode 45 - "Yippie-Kai-Yay Motherfucker!"

Die Hard - John McClane (Bruce Willis) has been a New York cop for eleven years. A few months ago his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) was offered a job that she couldn't turn down working at the Nakatomi building in Los Angeles, California. After months of arguing over the phone, John has decided to visit Holly and his son and daughter in Los Angeles for Christmas. Arriving late on Christmas eve, John is met at the airport by a limousine which takes him to Nakatomi Plaza where there is a party taking place on the 30th floor to celebrate the holidays and a large deal closed by the company that morning. Not long after John's arrival at the party, a group of approximately twelve terrorists led by the evil Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) arrive at the building, which is vacant aside from the members of the party upstairs and the single security guard in the lobby. As the terrorists seize the employees of the Nakatomi building and begin working to crack a rather secure safe filled with six hundred and forty million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds, McClane slips away to one of the building's upper levels undetected. Barefoot, in a strange building, and armed only with a pistol and his wits, John must bring an end to the attack on the building and possibly save his marriage in the process. Fortunately, McClane manages to get the attention of a desk-jockey cop by the name of Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) who is on his way home for the night. Unfortunately, the terrorists know that John is in the building and it's only a matter of time before they either catch him or realize that his wife is among their hostages. If you look up "action star" in the dictionary, you will see a picture of John McClane. The original Die Hard is easily the best action movie ever committed to film. It is the movie from which all others in the action genre since it's release have taken their cues, and there are several good reasons for that. Let's begin with the star. Bruce Willis made a name for himself with this movie. There are numerous action stars out there who look like they could fend off swarms of bad guys, but none of them are as human as Willis' John McClane, which is what really sets Die Hard apart from other movies of this genre. McClane will often come out of an incredibly dangerous situation laughing and/or cracking jokes. He bleeds like a normal human being, he curses like a normal human being, and his reactions to incredible situations are those of a normal human being. The stereotype is that every man would like to be an action star, and perhaps the draw behind McClane is the fact that anyone can relate to him. This is mainly due to Bruce's portrayal of the character, but some of the credit must also go to the director who first gave us the adventures of John McClane: John McTiernan. McTiernan is a master of chocking his films full of action while simultaneously loading the cast full of character. While your average director will merely have background characters in a scene, seemingly everyone in a John McTiernan film has a life of their own and comes off as a believable human being. It is his attention to detail and reality in the midst of an unbelievable situation that allows his movies to be so enjoyable. Assisting McClane in Die Hard are Reginald VelJohnson in the defining feature film role of his career as officer Al Powell and De'voreaux White as Argyle the cab driver. Opposing him is Alan Rickman as criminal mastermind Hans Gruber. People will argue that Die Hard is far from Rickman's best performance, but for me it is the role that I think of when I hear his name. He was the epitome of evil and to this day his portrayal of Hans Gruber stands among few other performances at the zenith of silver screen villainy. Almost playing another character in the movie is the musical score as composed by Michael Kamen. Kamen took the songs "Ode To Joy" and "Let It Snow" and transformed them into a foreboding soundtrack that is immediately recognizable and perhaps one of the most memorable of just about any film to date. The action in Die Hard is second to none. There are films these days that are flashier than Die Hard, but few can come close to the originality and brutal nature of the fight scenes in this film. Again though, a lot of the appeal of these scenes lies in the hands of Bruce Willis' John McClane. Not to mention, the filmmakers didn't skimp on the fake blood. The way that Die Hard uses comedy is also a plus. The fumbling of the LAPD and FBI in attempting to diffuse the terrorist situation is spectacular and sets this film apart from most of it's competition. The stunts are impressive, the set pieces are like nothing that came before them, and the sheer ingenuity of the events taking place earn Die Hard all the accolades that a classic film deserves. In a word, Die Hard is perfect.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder - John McClane, now a member of the LAPD after transferring from New York to be with his family in the wake of the attack on Nakatomi Plaza, is at the airport where he plans to meet his wife when her plane lands. It is almost Christmas once again and things are about to heat up. Approximately half an hour before Holly's plane is scheduled to land, a group of terrorists set up a menagerie of computer equipment in a nearby abandoned church and seize control of all of the airport's functions. Turning off the landing strip lights and cutting off communications from the control tower, all of the planes scheduled to land at Dulles International Airport are forced to circle in the air, unable to land. The terrorists, led by former United States military Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), have agreed to return control of the airport's functions to the control tower as soon as their demands are met. What they want is to have a political prisoner by the name of General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero) released into their custody once he makes his scheduled landing at the airport, at which time they will all enter a secured airplane and take off to a destination of their choosing. As McClane begins to figure all of this out, he attempts to warn the chief of air operations, Trudeau (Fred Dalton Thompson), and the head of airport security, Captain Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz). When they won't listen to him, McClane must take matters into his own hands. With his wife's life hanging in the balance, it's only a matter of time before the aircraft circling the airport begin to run out of fuel, so it's a race against time for John to stop Colonel Stuart and his men and regain control of airport operations. Die Hard 2 is very similar to it's predecessor, which surprisingly becomes it's major downfall. The plot and script for Die Harder are solid, the direction (this time by Renny Harlin) is decent, and the acting is overall pretty good, but this film is just too damn much like the first Die Hard. It's as though Renny Harlin was afraid to make the film too different from the previous film, so he tried to make it as close as possible to it. There are way too many instances in which characters (usually McClane himself) make mention of the fact that the events taking place are very similar to those that took place at Nakatomi Plaza. This is really my biggest complaint about the film. The action and humor of the original carries over fairly well into Harlin's addition to the series, as do a few of the supporting characters. Reginald VelJohnson has a brief cameo, returning as LAPD officer Al Powell, and William Atherton appears once more as Richard "Dick" Thornburg, the self-centered reporter. The villains in Die Harder aren't quite as fleshed out as their Die Hard counterparts, but they do their jobs well enough. The concept of McClane being trapped in one locale is a little less relevant in this installment, though there is a very prominent feeling that he is alone in his quest for justice as the staff of the airport are generally unwilling to cooperate with him. The action in Die Hard 2 is arguably more over the top than in the last film. We are not only treated to a snowmobile chase, but also a fist fight on the wing of a moving airplane. There are explosions abound and plenty of catch phrases (most cornier than those found in the original) to be found in Die Hard 2: Die Harder, but it doesn't manage to reach the same level of greatness that John McTiernan's film achieved.

Die Hard With A Vengeance - For the first time in John McClane's career he isn't in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time he doesn't happen across trouble...it hunts him down with a vengeance. After a department store in McClane's on again, off again hometown of New York is destroyed by a bomb, a madman referring to himself as Simon (Jeremy Irons) calls up the NYPD asking for John. He states that he will reveal the location of the rest of the bombs he's planted, but only to our hero, who just so happens to be recovering from a rough night of drinking. Nevertheless, McClane is scrounged up and sent off to do whatever Simon says in order to save innocent lives. His first task? To strip down to his underwear and...well...if you haven't seen the movie you'll want to find out what he does for yourself. It's a doozy. Anyway, McClane has a run-in with a local shop owner named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson), who helps him escape from certain death and then accompanies him back to the safety of the police station. Calling back, Simon informs them that because Zeus interfered with John's last task, he must now accompany him in searching for the rest of the bombs. What follows is an action-packed game of cat and mouse as Simon orders McClane and Zeus to embark on missions all over New York City to disarm a series of bombs. However, John quickly begins to suspect that there is something more to these attacks than just terrorist bombings, and wouldn't you know it? He's right. While the entire staff of the NYPD searches for a bomb which Simon claims is located in one of the numerous schools within the city, McClane and Zeus track down Simon and his terrorist lackeys, all the while attempting to figure out what they're really up to. Perhaps the more interesting question, though, is why Simon is so interested in John McClane. All hail the triumphant return of Die Hard veteran director John McTiernan. Re-teaming with Bruce Willis for this third installment of the Die Hard series, McTiernan delivers another groundbreaking action film with his own personal style of character-driven excitement. There are a few notable differences between Die Hard With A Vengeance and it's two predecessors. First, John McClane has a sidekick this time around in Samuel L. Jackson's Zeus. Second, the story has McClane traversing an entire city as opposed to being confined in a small area such as a high-rise building or an airport. The reason for these dramatic changes is that the script for Die Hard With A Vengeance was originally meant to be the script for Lethal Weapon 3. Obviously some changes were made to successfully substitute Willis' McClane for Mel Gibson's Riggs and Sam Jackson's Zeus for Danny Glover's Murtaugh, but it isn't too hard to imagine this film being a part of the other long-running series. Speaking of Bruce and Sam, their chemistry on screen in With A Vengeance is spectacular. The two of them play perfectly off of each other throughout the entire film. In fact, though I'll probably be crucified for suggesting this, I personally believe that this is the best performance that I've seen from Samuel L. Jackson thus far. He embodies the role of Zeus perfectly. Also a great casting choice for this film was Jeremy Irons. He continues the evil terrorist tradition of the Die Hard series extremely well and steals the show anytime he's on screen. Once again Michael Kamen delivers an incredible score for Die Hard With A Vengeance just as he did with Die Hard. This time he transforms the song "When Johnny Came Marching Home" into the dark, foreboding theme of the villains. This is another worthy and memorable selection of music. My only real complaint about Die Hard With A Vengeance is that the ending trails off a bit. There is a point near the end of the film when McClane and Zeus separate for a short while, and right around the time that they meet back up again, the plot gets a bit weak. It's as though some scenes were cut short or not filmed due to time constraints. The film moves at a great pace and then suddenly speeds up at the end. Also, the climax takes place at a different time than the rest of the film and under different circumstances, which is always something that I hate in movies. It makes the very ending feel like an afterthought. It's still an exciting ending, but perhaps the weakest part of the movie. Despite this complaint, Die Hard With A Vengeance manages to be better than Die Hard 2: Die Harder in my book, and is a more than worthy addition to the franchise.

Live Free Or Die Hard - After the events of 9/11, a computer mastermind working for the United States government by the name of Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) insists that our the country's security isn't up to snuff and is promptly dismissed from duty. In search of revenge, Gabriel embarks upon a terrorist strike on the United States of America that is known among the hacker community as a "fire sale". It got this name based on the phrase "everything must go", which refers to the attack's method of stripping the country of it's money, communications, and resources, rendering it devoid of essentially all computer-run technology. In order to do this, Thomas first tricked a series of small-time computer hackers around the country to write different algorithms and lines of code for him under the guise of an innocent company that wants to test it's security system. After obtaining the code from each of these unknowing individuals, Gabriel has them all marked for death. Meanwhile, Gabriel has used his newly obtained information to hack into the FBI's computer system. Their response is to send police officers to pick up any known hackers that could have achieved such a security breach. It just so happens that John McClane is sent to round up one of the hackers involved by the name of Matt Farrell (Justin Long). Before John is able to take Farrell into custody, however, Gabriel's hitmen arrive to kill him, which clues McClane in to the fact that something bigger is going on than a simple FBI security breach. By the time McClane delivers Farrell to Washington, all of the other hackers who participated in Gabriel's scheme have been killed and the first stages of the fire sale have begun. The country is experiencing mass hysteria as Gabriel's men come after Farrell again. McClane manages to repeatedly save Matt's life as the two of them rush to locate Thomas Gabriel and his men before they manage to send the United States back to the stone age. Things become personal, however, when Gabriel kidnaps McClane's now teenage daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Live Free Or Die Hard had me worried. First of all, it's called Live Free Or Die Hard; a name that I'm still not too fond of. Second, it is directed by Len Wiseman, who has only previously directed Underworld, which I saw and hated, and Underworld: Evolution, which I've heard is even worse than the original. This did not bode well for the newest installment of the Die Hard series. Add to that that it has been thirteen years since the last time Bruce Willis set foot in the role of John McClane, and I think that I had a right to be nervous. Thankfully though, I can safely say that Live Free Or Die Hard was not a terrible movie. The original Die Hard is still the best in my book, followed by With A Vengeance and Die Hard 2: Die Harder, and as of this moment I still haven't decided whether this film belongs in front of or behind Die Hard 2 on the list. It isn't the best of the series, but it may not be the worst either. The scale of this film is massive in comparison to the previous three. This time around the safety of all of North America is in the hands of John McClane. Bruce doesn't disappoint, though. Live Free Or Die Hard is rated PG-13, whereas all of the others have been rated R, so there is less cursing and a lot less blood than in the other installments. These factors don't really worsen the experience much though, as there is still tons of action, a good bit of comedy, and a decent supply of violence. It can be argued that none of the Die Hard movies are very close to reality, but Live Free takes things one step further and makes some of the events of the film a bit over the top, even for this franchise. For example, there is a scene in which an F-53 aircraft chases McClane around shooting missiles at him. It's pretty ridiculous, but in the context of the film it doesn't seem so bad. The worst part of the movie is definitely the character of Warlock as played by director Kevin Smith. Don't ask me why Smith was given this role, because his idea of being convincing in any given scene is just raising his voice because if you're yelling you must be serious, right? The scenes involving Smith still had that standard Die Hard humor to them, but they were made weaker by Kevin's poor acting ability. Another problem that I had with the film regards a few of Timothy Olyphant's henchmen. One is a short, skinny, asian, martial arts expert chick who actually gives McClane a run for his money. When you see the fight scene involving her you will realize why I have a problem with it. The first half of the fight is quite good, but the second half just goes off the deep end and comes off as laughable and entirely unbelievable (even for an action movie). Another henchman I was not pleased with was the "jumpy" guy. There is a character who can apparently run on walls and leaps around like Spiderman. He was a very two dimensional character that felt out of place to me. Justin Long managed to be just silly enough on screen to be funny but remain within the confines of reasonable. I was afraid he'd kind of turn into a goofy, unbelievable sidekick, but he reeled himself in rather well. Timothy Olyphant was a perfect choice for Thomas Gabriel, but personally I didn't think that he was given enough to do. Essentially he just types away at computers and tells people what to do all the time. I'm not sure what else he could have occupied his time with, but I'd have liked to see a bit more of him. And speaking of typing away on computers, this film is one of the worst examples of one of my movie-related pet peeves that I've ever seen. It's a movie about computers and not a single character uses a mouse in the entire movie! But I digress... If Kevin Smith was the worst part of Live Free Or Die Hard, Mary Winstead was the second worst. I'll put it this way: just because her father is a badass, does not mean that a teenaged girl must be a badass. I'll leave it at that and simply say that I hated the character of John McClane's daughter. All in all, Live Free Or Die Hard is one of the best "technological terrorist" films that I've seen and managed not to stray too far from the rest of the series. As I said before, it's not the best, but it'll do.