Post by ravi02 on Dec 15, 2018 4:20:08 GMT
With A Vengeance is easily a better film, I feel. You have a great duo in Willis and Jackson (fresh off Pulp Fiction) and an excellent villain in Jeremy Irons (he's nearly as great as Hans, imo). I like how they get rid of the whole "McClane has to save wife during Christmas" angle and take us to a new setting with new characters and a new setup that puts the characters in new scenarios. I'm even ok with the ending as it's McClane using his last breath of energy to defeat Simon and ends with him calling his wife.
Yeah, it's a different formula from the first two films and why is that a bad thing?
Die Hard 2 is fun with some entertaining sequences, but it's easily the weakest of the original trilogy for me. The villains aren't as interesting (they're just no-nonsense evil guys who have to be dealt with) and the story is just a rehash of the original, but at an airport. Also, while part of the appeal of 1&3 was seeing McClane become the reluctant hero because no one else can do it, here he just randomly encounters the villains by accident and just throws himself into fighting them. Entertaining film, but not as solid as the bookending installments.