So as always, we do the “cool” thing and rank the films in
the series from least to best. I am
going to say while there is a last place, all the Die Hards are well worth your time if you've never seen them. Its quite easy to just sink into any one of
these and enjoy the adventure. The
series features one of the most likable and charismatic leads you’ll find in
any franchise, let alone action movie.
That alone makes me excited for any Die
Hard film. My lone wish for the
future of the franchise would be one more McTiernan directed film, but I don’t
believe that’ll happen. If this next
film is on par with the last one, I’ll be fine.
I’m not expecting it to be the best, just a fun, unique adventure
featuring John McClane.
I’ve spoke plenty on the negatives of this film. But as it stands, it’s a fun, formulaic film
that fits a lot of those late 80s early 90s action tropes. Renny Harlin does succeed in ramping up the
violence and gore, going bigger, but leaves behind some of the intimacy and
emotion from the first film. It’s better
than most of the many Die Hard knock
offs. If anything, he kept it assured
that it’s always best when the Die Hard
series does these things.
#3. LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
I find myself having a lot of fun with this film. The second one might “feel” a little closer
to the other films in the series, but some of that has to do with aesthetic and
being released in closer proximity with them.
John McClane becomes that personal guy we loved before, opening up to
Matthew Farrell about things and going through his own sort of arc in the
film’s runtime. The relationship between
Farrell and McClane carries the film quite well and their banter and actions
feel quite genuine. This movie is
constantly moving and giving us different environments and action set pieces
throughout. Though the “big” action
sequence from the finale fails, there’s plenty others that work in spades.
#2. DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE
This is almost short of a coin flip between this and the
first film. Everything gels here and
they manage to get up to the greatness of the first one. Not many sequels ever accomplish with this
film does. The Die Hard franchise also is one of the few franchises that avoid the
plague of the third film. I feel like
popping this one in again already! Oh,
and check out the commentary we did for it!
A lot of fun!
#1. DIE HARD
There’s not a whole lot more to say. This film is PERFECT. It changed everything for action movies. It holds to this day. You get to see the launching of a
superstar. One of the greatest villains
in film history. Set ups, pay offs…we’re
spoiled to have this movie. If you only
watch one pure action movie in your life…make it DIE HARD.
And before I go, here’s my favorite parody of DIE HARD from the old Ben Stiller Show. Surprisingly it still works VERY well
I’ll return with a few words on A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
NEXT RETROSPECTIVE – 4 of…hearts…8 of spades…2 of spades, JACK OF DIAMONDS JACK OF CLUBS!!!
Follow me on Twitter – www.twitter.com/@btpeters
E-mail – naptownnerd@gmail.com
“Like” Mendelson’s Memos on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MendelsonsMemos
2 comments:
Evil Dead Tease!
Live Free Or Die Hard also gets points for the CCR bit.
Post a Comment