Die Hard with a Vengeance
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action film directed and produced by John McTiernan, written by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Bruce Willis as John McClane. It is the sequel to Die Hard and Die Hard 2 and the third installment in the Die Hard film series. The film also stars Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson, and features Graham Greene, Colleen Camp, Larry Bryggman and Sam Phillips.
In the film, NYPD Lieutenant John McClane is embroiled in a plot by a mysterious terrorist calling himself “Simon”, who extorts the city of New York by threatening to detonate several bombs unless McClane solves a series of games scattered across the city. McClane reluctantly partners with a shopkeeper named Zeus Carver, and learns the terrorists plot to steal the gold bullion of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Adapted from a spec script written by Hensleigh, Die Hard with a Vengeance was the first film in the series not directly based on a literary source material, and the first not to be produced by Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon after both producers had a fall-out with Willis, instead being produced by Andrew G. Vajna’s Cinergi Pictures. Principal photography took place in New York City and South Carolina.
The film was released on May 19, 1995 by 20th Century Fox and grossed $366.1 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, and initially received mixed reviews from critics. However, the film has received positive reevaluation over time and is now largely considered the best sequel in the franchise. The film was followed by Live Free or Die Hard in 2007 and A Good Day to Die Hard in 2013.
Plot
The Bonwit Teller department store in New York City is blown up by a bomb during the morning commute. A man identifying himself as "Simon" telephones the New York Police Department and claims responsibility. Making demands in the form of a 'Simon Says' game, he threatens to detonate another bomb unless Police Lieutenant John McClane is sent to Harlem wearing an intentionally provocative sandwich board with a racial slur written on the board. The NYPD comply and send McClane to Harlem, where he is confronted by an electrician and shop owner named Zeus Carver. McClane explains his situation before a group of men also confront McClane over his sign. Carver intervenes and saves McClane, and they escape in a taxi.They arrive at 1 Police Plaza, where Simon demands that the pair follow a timed challenge or he will set off more bombs. They agree and McClane eventually boards the 3 train heading towards the Wall Street station in order to defuse a bomb that Simon planted on it. Carver arrives at the station before McClane finds the bomb and throws it on the tracks just as it explodes. McClane and Carver regroup with the NYPD and meet some FBI and CIA agents, who initially inform the pair that Simon is "Peter Krieg", a mercenary and former colonel in the National People's Army. They then reveal that Krieg's real name is Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, whom McClane killed years earlier in Los Angeles.
Simon then places another call to the NYPD, informing them that he has planted an explosive in one of the city's elementary schools which is set to explode once class ends and can be triggered by the same radio frequencies used by law enforcement. Simon offers to give the authorities the school's location if McClane and Carver follow another timed challenge, warning that he will detonate the explosive if any evacuation attempts are carried out. While the pair solve Simon's next challenge, the NYPD begin to search all elementary schools in the city. McClane realizes that Simon is attempting to distract the NYPD away from Wall Street, which has no schools, and travels to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building. He discovers that Simon's men have stolen $140 billion of gold bullion from its vault using dump trucks. He follows the trucks into the under-construction New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 while Carver continues Simon's challenges.
Simon blows up a cofferdam to flood the tunnel, but McClane escapes and reunites with Carver. Surviving a car chase with Simon's men, the pair find all the men were carrying exactly enough money to pay a bridge toll. The pair sneak aboard a tanker docked in the Long Island Sound, but Simon's associates capture them and tie them up next to a bomb. Simon explains that his school threat was fake and broadcasts a message claiming that he is planning on destroying the tanker filled with the bullion to destabilize the Western world's economy. After he leaves, Carver and McClane free themselves and escape the tanker just before the bomb detonates. As McClane and Carver are debriefed by the NYPD, McClane informs them that none of the bullion Simon's men stole was in the tanker's cargo hold, having deduced that Simon had intended to keep all of it for himself, using his knowledge of the Gruber family's modus operandi.
While attempting to place a call to his estranged wife Holly, McClane glances at a bottle of aspirin given to him by Simon on board the tanker and notices that it was purchased at a truck stop in Quebec on the Canada–United States border. McClane informs the NYPD of his discovery, and joins them and Carver as they rush towards a warehouse near the truck stop where Simon and his men are redistributing the bullion and planning their escape. The rest of Simon's men are quickly apprehended by law enforcement personnel, though Simon and his girlfriend Katya attempt to escape in a helicopter, attacking McClane. McClane shoots at an overhead power line which falls onto the helicopter, causing it to crash and explode, killing Simon and Katya. While they are celebrating their triumph, Carver persuades McClane to place another call to Holly.
Cast
Production
Development and writing
Like most of the films in the series, the premise of this film was repurposed from a stand-alone project. Various scripts were written for Die Hard 3; a number of them were ultimately rejected by Bruce Willis on the grounds that they felt like retreads of the action movies that came in the wake of the first film. One script, originally titled Troubleshooter, had McClane fighting terrorists on a Caribbean cruise line, but was rejected for being too similar to Under Siege. Troubleshooter was later repurposed for Speed 2: Cruise Control.The script ultimately used was intended for a film entitled Simon Says, originally positioned as a Brandon Lee vehicle and the character of Zeus was written with an actress in mind, but the project was cancelled after Lee's death during filming of The Crow. Warner Bros. bought the script and rewrote it as a Lethal Weapon sequel. Warner Bros. later put the script in turnaround, only to be purchased by 20th Century Fox and rewritten as a Die Hard film.
Andy Vajna replaced Joel Silver and Larry Gordon as the producer on the film due to a fall-out with Willis. As a result, Vajna's company, Cinergi, acquired the international rights to the film. In most regions, the film rights were acquired by Disney and Summit Entertainment, while Fox retained domestic and Japan rights. In July 1997, Cinergi sold the international rights of the film to 20th Century Fox for $11.25 million.