I like every one of them, except this film, which was directed by John Moore, who doesn't have a clue on how to make a good film.
Here are my official ratings for all of the "Die Hard" films so far.
Die Hard (1988) Rating (10/10)
The best of the best....nothing beats the original! The late Alan Rickman is superb as Hans Gruber...and his death scene was surprisingly authentic as well. Rickman himself actually did that stunt himself...only to land on a giant inflatable cushion of course!
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) (7/10) Underrated, but still an enjoyable film.
Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) (10/10)
Samuel L. Jackson was the perfect side character and the comedy mixed with action makes this film a treasured classic! Jeremy Irons, who plays Simon Gruber, brother of Hans Gruber is looking to avenge his death...is also excellent in this film as well. This film also appears to contain the most "f-bombs" in the entire series....which isn't a bad thing. ;)
Live Free or Die Hard a.k.a. Die Hard 4.0 (2007) (10/10)
Some critics and movie-goers complained about this film for a few reasons. First things first. The official rating of the film, which was PG-13. This was a first for the "Die Hard" series and some people balked at that fearing that the action and language would get toned down, thus making it feel less of a "Die Hard" film. Although the language was indeed toned down, especially when compared to its predecessor, the action remained and I also thought that Bruce Willis, along with Timothy Olyphant (Gabriel), Maggie Q (Mai Lihn) Justin Long (Matt Farrell, the hacker), Kevin Smith (Frederick "Warlock" Kaludis, Farrell's hacker friend that lives in his Mom's basement) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Lucy Gennero-McClane)were all great choices for these characters!
Now did the plot rely on and/or use technology or even technological terms a lot? Sure it did. But I thought that it was a refreshing change of pace when compared to the last film...which was an era that technology was not relied upon so much when compared to today. Moreover, I also thought that the darker tone of this film reflected well upon the post 9/11 era that we now live in, too.
Even though Gabriel was not the toughest of all the villains in the series, he did use his technological skills in an effort to slow down or bring harm to McClane, Farrell, and the rest of America, in which his "fire sale" operation was targeted toward as revenge for being embarrassed and shamed during a government meeting that he abruptly interrupted without permission (Gabriel, was after all, a former government agent) as he "hacked [and shut down] NORAD with a laptop" (according to the "Warlock") in an effort to prove that it was vulnerable to a cyber attack. When he attempted to go public with the information, the government publicly humiliated him and dismissed him of all duties effective immediately. This best explains why he chose to go off the deep end by setting up a massive cyber attack on his own country.
In summary, I was also glad to know that the studio satisfied the naysayers of this film by releasing an "unrated version" which I proudly own on DVD to this day. It simply contains more language and, in my view, feels more like a "Die Hard" film because of that.
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