Die Hard (film series)
| Die Hard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Roderick Thorp |
| Original work | Nothing Lasts Forever |
| Print publications | |
| Novel(s) | Nothing Lasts Forever 58 Minutes |
| Comics | Die Hard: Year One[1] |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Die Hard Die Hard 2 Die Hard with a Vengeance Live Free or Die Hard A Good Day to Die Hard |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Die Hard Die Hard Arcade Die Hard Trilogy Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza Die Hard: Vendetta |
The Die Hard series is an American action movie franchise that began in 1988 with Die Hard, based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. The franchise follows the adventures of John McClane (portrayed by Bruce Willis), a New York City and Los Angeles police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of violent crises and intrigues where he is the only hope against disaster.[2]
Contents
Films
Die Hard (1988)
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The first film begins on Christmas Eve when McClane comes to reunite with separated wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles at her company's Christmas party. Holly left to pursue her career with their two children, and uses her maiden name.
At the fictional Nakatomi Plaza, East German terrorists break in and take the celebrants hostage. McClane escapes detection and hides throughout the building. He kills off the gang and learns their real aim, to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the building's vault. In the finale, McClane shoots the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), out the window to fall thirty stories.
Die Hard 2 (1990)
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The second film takes place a year after the first, again on Christmas Eve. In Washington, D.C., McClane waits for his wife at Washington Dulles International Airport. Mercenaries led by former U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) take over the airport communication systems, stranding planes in the air, including the one with McClane's wife. Colonel Stuart wants to free a captured Latin American dictator (Franco Nero) en route to the airport. McClane discovers the plan, including a conspiracy between Stuart and an Army counter-terrorist unit sent to stop him. He foils their plans and provides a visual landing signal for the circling aircraft by exploding the villains' getaway plane.
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
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In the third film, McClane is back in New York City, separated from his wife, suspended from the police force, and a borderline alcoholic. A terrorist known only as "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) threatens to blow up various locations in the city unless McClane will play his twisted version of Simon Says, riddles and challenges.
Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), a shopkeeper from Harlem, saves McClane after the first challenge, and reluctantly continues to help. The FBI reveal Simon is the brother of Hans Gruber, killed in the first film. McClane learns revenge is a cover story for robbing the New York Federal Reserve. McClane tracks Simon to the Canadian border. McClane kills Simon by shooting at a power line above Simon's helicopter.
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
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The fourth film takes place on Independence Day, over a decade after Die Hard with a Vengeance. McClane is divorced, and estranged from his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Cyber-terrorists hack into computers at the FBI, who had sent McClane to bring in computer hacker Matthew "Matt" Farrell (Justin Long) for questioning. Assassins hired by terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) attempt to kill McClane and Farrell. Farrell tells McClane that the terrorists are actually in the middle of a "fire sale" — a crippling cyber-warfare attack on the national infrastructure: power, public utilities, traffic, and other computer-controlled systems. Although the terrorists capture Lucy and Farrell, McClane foils the criminals and saves the hostages.
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
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The fifth film is set around five years later, mostly in Moscow, Russia and Chernobyl (Pripyat), Ukraine. McClane finds out that his estranged son John "Jack" McClane, Junior (Jai Courtney) was arrested in Moscow for murder. When he arrives at the Moscow courthouse for Jack, Russian terrorists bomb the building and Jack escapes with imprisoned ex-billionaire Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch). In an intense car chase, McClane pursues and saves the pair. Jack, unhappy at the unexpected arrival, reluctantly picks up his father.
When they stop at a CIA safe house in Moscow, McClane learns Jack is a deep-cover CIA operative trying to get close to Komarov for his file that incriminates corrupt, high-ranking Russian official Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). Chagarin's henchmen, led by his main enforcer Alik (Radivoje Bukvic), attack the safe house. McClane holds them off, and escapes with Jack and Komarov.
They retrieve a key for the file in Chernobyl, and meet Komarov's daughter Irina (Yuliya Snigir). Irina betrays them to Alik. The McClanes escape, without Komarov. Jack explains Komarov and Chagarin were partners in stealing weapons-grade uranium from Chernobyl, but enemies after the Chernobyl incident.
In Chernobyl, the McClanes learn Komarov wanted the weapons-grade uranium for himself, and killed Alik and Chagarin. Irina, always on the side of her father Komarov, tries to save him. McClane goes after Irina, while Jack chases her father. Jack throws Komarov off of the roof; he falls on the rotors of the helicopter and gets shredded to bits. When Irina tries to kill the McClanes, they jump into a pool of rainwater. Irina still crashes her helicopter into the building where they were, and dies in the explosion. The father and son walk away, reconciled.
Future
Before production of A Good Day to Die Hard, Bruce Willis stated that he hoped to retire the character of John McClane after the sixth film. Willis said "At the moment, I can run and I can fight on screen. But there will come a time when I no longer want to do that. That's when I’ll step away from the Die Hard films".[3]
On February 7, 2013, one week before the release of the fifth film, talks of a sixth film were already beginning. In an interview to promote the fifth film, when asked if there will be a sixth film, Bruce Willis simply replied "Yes".[4]
In October 2015, Fox entered into a deal with Wiseman (director of Live Free or Die Hard) and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce a potential Die Hard prequel set in 1979 with McClane as a young New York City police officer.[5] The day it was reported, Wiseman tweeted an image with a graphical title reading: Die Hard: Year One.[6]
Source material for the films
Die Hard is adapted from the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, by Roderick Thorp.
Die Hard 2 was adapted from the 1987 novel 58 Minutes, by Walter Wager.
Die Hard with a Vengeance was adapted from a script called Simon Says by Jonathan Hensleigh, which was also originally intended to be the original script for Lethal Weapon 4.[7][8] The hook in Hensleigh's screenplay that captured the attention of John McTiernan (who was impressed with Hensleigh's work on a big-budget pirate project called "Captain Blood" even though the film was put into turnaround) was the story idea of a man being targeted for revenge by someone whose life he had unwittingly destroyed but had no idea even existed; once the Simon character became the brother of Hans Gruber and the backstory was established, the project fully came together. It was novelised by Deborah Chiel.[9]
Live Free or Die Hard was based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin.[10] It also drew on a script 20th Century Fox owned called "WW3.com", which dealt with a massive cyberterrorism attack against the U.S. and was nearly put into production in 2001 but ultimately abandoned because several elements in the story too closely resembled the September 11 attacks.
A Good Day to Die Hard was the first film in the series to come from an original screenplay, and not be based upon any prior works. The original screenplay was penned by Skip Woods.
Reception
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Box office performance
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories |
Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide |
||||
| Die Hard | July 15, 1988 | $83,008,852 | $57,759,104 | $140,767,956 | #734 | $28,000,000 | [11] | |
| Die Hard 2 | July 4, 1990 | $117,540,947 | $122,490,147 | $240,031,094 | #446 | #445 | $70,000,000 | [12] |
| Die Hard with a Vengeance | May 19, 1995 | $100,012,499 | $266,089,167 | $366,101,666 | #596 | #223 | $90,000,000 | [13] |
| Live Free or Die Hard | June 27, 2007 | $134,529,403 | $249,002,061 | $383,531,464 | #336 | #201 | $110,000,000 | [14] |
| A Good Day to Die Hard | February 14, 2013 | $67,349,198 | $237,304,984 | $304,654,182 | #977 | #314 | $92,000,000 | [15] |
| Total | $502,440,899 | $932,645,463 | $1,435,086,362 | $390,000,000 | ||||
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Critical and public response
Although the first Die Hard has been credited as one of the greatest action movies of all time,[16][17] critical reaction to its sequels has varied.
The original Die Hard received substantial praise. Pete Croatto of FilmCritic.com called the film "a perfect action movie in every detail, the kind of movie that makes your summer memorable."[18] James Berardinelli wrote that the film "represents the class of modern action pictures and the standard by which they must be judged."[19] Critic Desson Howe wrote that "Willis has found the perfect vehicle to careen wildly onto the crowded L.A. freeway of Lethal Weapons and Beverly Hills Cops."[20] Willis was also called "perfect as the wisecracking John McClane"[19] and "an excellent casting choice as a sardonic action hero."[21] Alan Rickman's portrayal of villain Hans Gruber was described as "marvelous"[22] and "a career-making performance."[23] Gruber also ranked 46 on the villain side of AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly ranked Die Hard the greatest action film of all time.[24]
The first sequel, Die Hard 2, received positive reviews, although not as many as the original. Despite only giving the original film two stars, critic Roger Ebert gave this film three and a half stars and called it "terrific entertainment."[25] James Berardinelli called the film "somewhat-muddled but still entertaining."[26] Peter Travers wrote that "however impressively made, Die Hard 2 begins to wear thin."[27]
The third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance, received mixed reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated that while "McTiernan stages individual sequences with great finesse... they don't add up to a taut, dread-ridden whole."[28] James Berardinelli thought that the explosions and fights were "filmed with consummate skill, and were thrilling in their own right."[29] Samuel L. Jackson also received praise for his role in the film. Desson Howe of the Washington Post thought that "the best thing about the movie was the relationship between McClane and Zeus," saying that Jackson was "almost as good as he was in Pulp Fiction."[30] "[31]
The fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard, received highly positive reviews. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle claimed that the film "is the best in the series, an invigorating return to the style of blockbuster that dominated summers back in the early 1990s."[32] USA Today film critic Claudia Puig said that the film "delivers when it comes to kick-butt, action-packed mayhem," but "as a convincing techno-thriller, it doesn't really work."[33]
The fifth film, A Good Day to Die Hard, received mostly negative reviews from critics. The film stands at a rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the worst-reviewed film of the series.[34] Critics lambasted the installment for "[entering] generic action movie territory", as written by reviewer James Bernardinelli,[35] with a "cliched [and] uninspired script". Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor wrote, "John's appeal was always his ordinariness, but director John Moore has him surviving more explosions than Wile E. Coyote, and with hardly a scratch."[36] A.O. Scott of New York Times also commented that the series has taken a downfall with the movie, saying "Everything that made the first "Die Hard" memorable—the nuances of character, the political subtext, the cowboy wit—has been dumbed down or scrubbed away entirely."[37] Willis has however, been cited as the film's redeeming quality, with Chris Vognar of Dallas Morning News saying "Willis' presence at least provides undercurrents of easy jocularity."
CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the series an average grade of "A+", "A", "A-", "A-", "B+" respectively on an A+ to F scale.[38]
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die Hard | 92% (64 reviews)[39] | 70 (13 reviews)[40] | A+[38] |
| Die Hard 2 | 69% (61 reviews)[41] | 67 (17 reviews) | A[38] |
| Die Hard with a Vengeance | 51% (45 reviews)[42] | 58 (19 reviews)[43] | A-[38] |
| Live Free or Die Hard | 82% (206 reviews)[44] | 69 (34 reviews)[45] | A-[38] |
| A Good Day to Die Hard | 14% (213 reviews)[46] | 28 (40 reviews) | B+[38] |
| Average | 62% | 58 | A |
Characters
For an extended list, see List of Die Hard characters.
Crew and other
| Crew/detail | Film | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Die Hard (1988) |
Die Hard 2 (1990) |
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) |
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) |
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) |
||
| Director | John McTiernan | Renny Harlin | John McTiernan | Len Wiseman | John Moore | |
| Composer | Michael Kamen | Marco Beltrami Themes: Michael Kamen |
||||
| Writer(s) | Screenplay: Steven E. de Souza, Jeb Stuart Based on: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp |
Screenplay: Steven E. de Souza, Doug Richardson Based on: 58 Minutes by Walter Wager Characters by: Roderick Thorp |
Written by: Jonathan Hensleigh Certain original characters by: Roderick Thorp |
Screenplay: Mark Bomback Story by: Mark Bomback, David Marconi Based on: A Farewell to Arms by John Carlin Characters by: Roderick Thorp |
Screenplay: Skip Woods Characters by: Roderick Thorp |
|
| Running time | 132 minutes | 124 minutes | 131 minutes | 129 minutes | 97 minutes[47] | |
Other media
Video games
A number of video games based on the successful movie franchise Die Hard have been released over the years, ranging from beat 'em ups to first-person shooters. While some of the games are based directly on the movies, a few further detail the adventures of John McClane between or after the series.
Titles
- Die Hard for Nintendo Entertainment System
- "Die Hard" For PC Engine (Japan Only Release)
- Die Hard for MS-DOS
- Die Hard 2: Die Harder for Commodore Amiga
- Die Hard Arcade for arcade and Sega Saturn
- Die Hard Trilogy for PC, PlayStation, and Saturn
- Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas for PC and PlayStation
- Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza for PC
- Die Hard: Vendetta for Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2
Comics
In May 2009, BOOM! Studios announced that they would be releasing an ongoing Die Hard comic series that would serve as a prequel to the first movie. Its story is set in 1976 and follows John McClane as a rookie cop in the NYPD,[1][48][49] and is scripted by Howard Chaykin.[50] The first issue of Die Hard: Year One was released on September 30, 2009. Eight issues have been released, with the eighth released on April 12, 2010.
The official description read:
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Every great action hero got started somewhere. Batman Begins. Bond had his Casino Royale. And for John McClane, more than a decade before the first Die Hard movie, he’s just another rookie cop, an East Coast guy working on earning his badge in New York City during 1976s Bicentennial celebration... and the Summer of Sam. Too bad for John McClane, nothing's ever that easy.[48][51]
See also
References
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- ↑ http://www.mtv.com/news/2164109/die-hard-with-a-vengeance-anniversary/
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- ↑ ['A Good Day to Die Hard' makes John McClane a little too invincible (+video) - CSMonitor.com]
- ↑ ‘A Good Day to Die Hard,’ With Bruce Willis - NYTimes.com
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 38.4 38.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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