An unfairly maligned and reappraised action sequel plays a deadly game on the streaming charts

When asked to name the best Die Hard movie that isn’t the original, a lot of fans would plump for 1995’s threequel Die Hard with a Vengeance, which freshened up the formula by dropping Bruce Willis’ John McClane in a madcap odd couple buddy adventure alongside Samuel L. Jackson’s motormouthed Zeus.

Renny Harlin’s direct sequel was basically “Die Hard in an airport”, Len Wiseman’s Die Hard 4.0 was a solid action blockbuster that completely neglected to aim for the essence of what made the franchise so special in the first place, while John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard is nothing short of awful, and we won’t be taking further questions on the matter.

John McTiernan’s return to the director’s chair saw him up both the budget and the ante, with Jeremy Irons’ hammy Simon Gruber sending McClane and Zeus all over New York City in a twisted cat-and-mouse game that forces the unlikely duo race from one location to the next, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in their wake as they seek to prevent a string of mass casualty events, which of course turns out to be little more than a distraction for the real endgame.

27 years on, and streaming subscribers have thrown on their dirty white vests to send Die Hard with a Vengeance back to the top end of the streaming charts, with FlixPatrol naming it as an in-demand iTunes favorite this week.

Die Hard with a Vengeance was a huge hit in the summer of 1995 after earning $366 million, but it shockingly holds the second-lowest Rotten Tomatoes score among the five installments, even if a 55 percent rating is miles ahead of the terrible fifth chapter. That being said, an 83 percent score from over 250,000 user votes seems a lot more fair, even if it took the third entry a lot longer to find the praise it deserves.