Publication Date: 12-08-2025

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) review

Dir. John McTiernan

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★★

Throughout my review of Die Hard 2, I talked about why I’m not always quick to watch sequels to action movies. Generally, they’re films that were never planned to be made but came about because their predecessors were such unexpected successes. Die Hard 2 came not even two years after the original stormed on the scene in 1988, and with a new director and a new villain, unconnected to the notorious Hans Gruber, it felt stylistically different. Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third film in the franchise, sees director John McTiernan returning to the series just in time, as if he saw the first sequel and not only felt underwhelmed but compelled to barge into a studio meeting and implore higher-ups that he was indeed ready to come back and do it right all over again. And he did.

Die Hard with a Vengeance is all you want, need, and crave in an action film rolled into one whip-smart, highly energetic two-hour package that’s never boring. On top of being a testament to the incredible potential of its genre, the film is a fantastic showcase of all that McTiernan does well and had done well for many years. Die Hard with a Vengeance feels like one long, graceful montage that slickly moves from scene-to-scene, giftwrapping intelligence and suave filmmaking style in with an unapologetic desire to entertain on every level from the playful to the cerebral.

The film opens on the typically bustling streets of Manhattan with the ordinary day being disrupted by a horrifying bombing of a large department store. Moments later, the NYPD are running around their office trying to find answers and leads only to have the culprit come to them on the phone and request the notorious John McClane (Bruce Willis). In the present, McClane is a broken-down shell of himself; a boozehound separated from his wife that has been physically drained by two life-threatening instances. The aforementioned coordinator of the bombings is a disembodied voice named Simon (Jeremy Irons), who involves McClane in a game of “Simon Says;” failure to cooperate and play along will result in more innocent people dying. Simon’s first order to McClane is to have him stand on a Harlem street-corner with an offensive statement; his life only saved from the understandably angry passersby by a local store-owner named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson). In a hasty getaway, McClane ropes Zeus into a cat and mouse game that has the two men running around the streets of New York City, diffusing bombs and saving the lives of strangers who are none the wiser.

McTiernan doesn’t let this third go-around miss a beat. Renny Harlin, who helmed Die Hard 2, brought about a commercial slickness to his production, but couldn’t quite emulate the appropriate confidence and visual-style that only McTiernan could produce. The camerawork, canted angles and all, is back to being smooth, while the action is confident and reassured.

But one of the most innovative steps forward Die Hard with a Vengeance takes is how it subverts our expectations of John McClane. The broken-down, hard-luck action hero is not a new trope, per se, but seeing McClane clearly battered and bruised, figuratively and literally, over all that’s transpired over the last several years is far more surprising than it would be for most protagonists. Where Die Hard and its sequel positioned McClane in a place of danger yet firmly established his strong self-awareness and physical prowess, the third installment puts him at the mercy of Simon. For once, our trusted hero looks and feels scared, not to mentioned hampered by a nagging hangover and working alongside someone in whom he doesn’t believe. Seeing McClane narrowly escape death and peril now seems less incredulous and more like sheer luck — a subtle detail that the first sequel and Harlin couldn’t quite pull off. It all felt more like a superhero movie.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Zeus is a superb fit as well. The two men come from different backgrounds, both clearly strong and respected in their own line of duty, but are often entrapped in what always seems to be a potentially incendiary display of racial prejudice, particularly from Zeus’ intense skepticism of white people and their intentions. Even more risky than making McClane notably weaker, the danger for screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh (who wrote the film as a spec-script called “Simon Says,” and later went on to write Armageddon, another Bruce Willis vehicle) is mishandling race relations and racial bias in a film that admittedly doesn’t need it. It’s an extraneous element for sure, but it makes for strong banter between two cocksure personalities brought to life by great performers.

Hensleigh’s balance of intelligent mystery and kinetic action is also pretty terrific. One moment, we’re puzzle-solving how to get exactly four gallons of water with only a three-gallon and five-gallon drum, and another, we’re riding a dump-truck out of a ginormous pipe. Finding an action film willing to let audiences assume an active role in problem-solving is rare, and Hensleigh and McTiernan do one better and create an equitable twofer in making their project embrace the fun that is now inherent to Die Hard films. This is how you do it, folks.

Die Hard with a Vengeance is a two-hour romp that races past, injecting wit, nuance, and suspense into the narrative. Those elements are three things you’d be hard-pressed to find in many action movies, let alone the third in a series. Die Hard with a Vengeance delivers — with a vengeance.

My review of Die Hard
My review of Die Hard 2
My review of Live Free or Die Hard
My review of A Good Day to Die Hard

Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irons, Graham Greene, Colleen Camp, Larry Bryggman, and Sam Phillips. Directed by: John McTiernan.