Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995)
In the third instalment of the popular Die Hard franchise, director John McTiernan has the iconic character of John McClane face down a giant Wall Street heist, designed to leave world financial markets collapsing, while presenting a more intimate tale of revenge, and redemption. The film takes elements of an epic chase, and combines them with the idea of urban terrorism, to deliver a thrilling action movie for the ages.
A bomb detonates in a New York department store, sending the city’s emergency services into a tailspin. The culprit calls the police and identifies himself as “Simon” – demanding that John McClane (Bruce Willis) be reinstated to the police force after a suspension, and be put in contact with the criminal.
‘Simon’ then has McClane – and a man assisting him, named Zeus (Samuel L Jackson) – run around the city collecting clues, in an elaborate game of ‘Simon Says.’ There are many more bombs, and bomb threats – including one against schools across the city – which ultimately prove to be a diversionary tactic. While the emergency services of New York City are distracted with school evacuations, they are drawn away from Wall Street, where Simon Peter Gruber (Jeremy Irons) and his band of skilled mercenaries are busy stealing $140 billion in gold bullion, using 14 dump trucks.
While Gruber claims to be seeking the collapse of world markets, this is simply a by-product of his quest for obscene wealth – but his scheme is undermined by his equal desire for revenge against McClane, who was responsible for the death of his brother – the villain in the first Die Hard movie (played by the late, great Alan Rickman). As the two work out their gripes with each other in a violent and explosive final act, McClane inevitably takes the opportunity to redeem himself with his estranged wife.
