Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) * * * 1/2

Directed by: John McTiernan

Starring:  Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irons, Graham Greene

I could just as easily cut and paste my reviews for Die Hard and Die Hard 2 to this screen and voila, my review is done.     Die Hard With A Vengeance (or Die Hard 3) is the third installment in the series and like the previous two contains wall-to-wall action and slimy villains you can't wait for John McLane to eradicate from the face of the earth.     John McTiernan returns to direct after skipping Die Hard 2, but he once again gives us quite a ride.

John McLane is not alone in his quest to destroy a bomber named Simon (Irons), who is setting off bombs all over New York City and playing games of Simon Says with McLane over the phone.    Why Simon has it in for McLane is explained later, but this is just the warm up.    A Harlem shopkeeper named Zeus (Jackson) saves McLane from certain death during an incident there perpetrated by Simon.     Let's just say McLane is forced to wear a sandwich board with words written on it that no one would want to parade around Harlem with and leave it at that.    Zeus becomes McLane's unwitting partner as they race through the city diffusing bombs and solving Simon's riddles.    Of course, there is much more to Simon's plans, which slowly begin to come into focus after a huge bombing of a New York subway stop.    

Jackson and Willis have an easy, unforced chemistry, although the dialogue in which each accuses the other of being racist is largely unnecessary.    Irons is a sly villain who takes great joy in playing games with McLane, although at some point he could have saved himself a great number of headaches by simply shooting him.     His job is to be the target we can't wait for McLane to dispose of, which he does very well.   

The plot more or less unfolds as logically as possible in this type of movie.     The goal is to make us care about it.    Die Hard 3 (I'll call it that to save my fingers from more typing.  You get the idea anyway) makes us care about the stakes involved.    We don't want Simon to win and McLane sure doesn't either.    Late in the film, when it appears Simon has escaped with a nearly priceless bounty of gold bars, McLane is upset more because he feels he lost the game.    Then, of course, there is a nice comeback.    It was an instance in which Simon could have gotten away if he had just shot McLane, but maybe he'll remember that next time.   Oh, but there won't be one, not for him, but certainly for McLane. 

Die Hard 3 is an action thriller that delivers.    That is all one can really ask for with a movie like this.   As long as Willis doesn't get bored and the writers create a decent plot, Die Hard movies could last forever.    Or at least until number 5.