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Die Hard Trilogy EPIC Appreciation Thread

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This thread is dedicated to one of the greatest trilogies of all-time (at least until Live Free and Die Hard comes out), and my own personal favorite. Why didn't I just say it's "the greatest"? Because I don't want this thread to turn into an argument or a list thread of great trilogies to compare to the Die Hard Trilogy. This thread is to honor a collection of three movies that showcase the badass named John McClane.

Everyone on GAF should post in this thread, or else you will be blacklisted. If you are a failure as a human being and you troll this thread, you will be banned. I have stealth mod powers. I don't even want to see "Die Hard 2 sucks" or any variant of that. Just because it's the sequel to arguably a perfect action movie, and it's only merely decent doesn't allow you to hate on it. It has clemency if only because of this scene:
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Classic.

Now on to the appreciation!

DIE HARD (1988)
Directed by John McTiernan
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It doesn't get any better than this folks. The perfect combination of humor and action mixed with even some geninue human emotion. It's the film that made Bruce Willis a star, and the film that introduced the world to John McClane, the badass who:

- Checks out hot chicks with no shame.
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- Dresses up dead Germans in Santa hats.
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- Throws dead bodies out windows.
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- Blows up entire floors of skyscrapers.
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- Jumps off the roof of aforementioned skyscraper as it explodes.
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- Walks on broken glass barefoot.
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- Owns Hans Gruber using the oldest trick in the book.
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:click: :click:
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"Wooops, no bullets..."

- Manages to beat a massive German goon in a fight, even after getting shot in the shoulder.
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- And, of course, drops Hans out a 38th story window.
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Much thanks to Red Scarlet for the gif.

- He even becomes friends with Carl Winslow!!
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The movie truly never lets up after Hans and his goons take over Nagatomi. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber is smart, arrogant, ruthless, and even has a sense of humor. A truly great villain. Sgt. Al Powell (Carl Winslow) provides a buddy aspect to the movie, even though they are separated by hundreds of feet of steel. Paul Gleason plays the role of Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson in the most hilariously over-the-top and oblivious manner. Even Argyle has his moment in the sun and provides some comedic moments. And Harry Ellis plays the coked-up moron. And Richard Thornberg is the biggest douchebag on the planet. I could go on forever. The best Christmas movie ever.

Great lines:

John McClane: Yippee-ki-yay, mother****er.

Supervisor: Attention, whoever you are. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only...
John McClane: No ****ing shit, lady. Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

Sergeant Al Powell: In fact, I think he's a cop. Maybe not LAPD, but he's definitely a badge.
Dwayne T. Robinson: How do you know that?
Sergeant Al Powell: A hunch, things he said. Like being able to spot a phony ID.
Dwayne T. Robinson: Jesus Christ, Powell, he could be a ****ing bartender for all we know.

Harry Ellis: Hey babe, I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash.

Dwayne T. Robinson: They're gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.

Hans: The following people are to be released from their captors : In Northern Ireland, the seven members of the New Provo Front. In Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberte de Quebec... In Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn movement...
John McClane: [listening on the radio] What the ****?
Karl: [mouthing silently] Asian Dawn?
Hans: [covers the radio] I read about them in Time magazine.

Big Johnson: Just like ****in' Saigon ain't it, Slick?
Little Johnson: I was in junior high, dickhead.

Dwayne T. Robinson: [Watching Hans fall to his death from the 30th floor] Oh, I hope that's not a hostage.

DIE HARDER (1990)
Directed by Renny Harlin
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Now this is the bastard child of the series, and that's ironic, as it was the only one of the three to be created from the start as a Die Hard movie. Maybe it was due to McTiernan not directing, maybe it was because of naked Col. Stuart to kick off the movie, maybe because the great dialogue and lines just aren't there, who knows, but I feel like it was still enjoyable. Sure the twist was a bit weak, but what do you expect from a plain old action movie that strives purely for entertainment in the form of action plus humor. I'll admit that it really does not compare to either the original or With A Vengeance though. As shown earlier, it had the icicle through the eye scene, which redeems the movie somewhat. Richard Thornberg is back and he's a big douche than ever, Dennis Franz as Capt. Lorenzo plays a hardass moron, and Marvin is a pretty great character. The movie ended with McClane blowing up a whole jet, but not before a guy had gotten sucked into an engine on that jet. Come on, that's awesome.
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"Yippie-kay-yay, mother****er."
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Although, this scene was a bit ridiculous...
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It would be topped in the next sequel though.

Great lines:

John McClane: Hey, Carmine, let me ask you something. What sets off the metal detectors first? The lead in your ass or the shit in your brains?
[under his breath]
John McClane: Fat ****.

Samantha Coleman: Colonel Stuart, can I have a few words with you?
Col. Stuart: You can have two: "****" and "you".

John McClane: Oh man, I can't ****ing believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?

John McClane: That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You know what that is? It's a porcelain gun made in Germany. It dosen't show up on you airport X-ray machines, and it cost more than you make here in a month.
Carmine Lorenzo: You'd be a surprised what I make in a month.
John McClane: If it was more than a dollar ninety-eight I'd be surprised.

John McClane: Just once, I'd like a regular, normal Christmas. A little eggnog... a ****in' Christmas tree... a little turkey. But, no. I gotta crawl around in this mother****in' tin can.

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE (1995)
Directed by John McTiernan
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A return to greatness that kicks just as much ass as the original in parts, but overall just does not stand up to the perfection that is Die Hard. Nevertheless, Samuel L. Jackson being paired with Bruce Willis makes for some unbelievably entertaining cinema. And I guess the swearing was turned up 5 notches just because SLJ was put in the movie. Anway, I can never not watch this movie when I see it on television, in fact, I just watched it tonight. Still amazing, save for a few moments where the special effects are subpar. The movie has ridiculously classic moments, like this:
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and this:
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Who doesn't love that riddle? It's ****ing great. Even though, I really don't get how they did it in the movie. I would've done it differently.

and this is great too:

"Forgot to take the safety cap off."
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Owned.

Remember when I said that part in Die Harder where McClane ejects from that cockpit is ridiculous? Well, it doesn't stand up to blue screen dump truck surfing.
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One of my personal favorite moments:
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"What was the lottery number last night? Any of you guys play the lottery? No? My wife buys me two tickets every week... last ten years plays the same two numbers all the time, I say 'Hey, you know, why don't you play a different number.' She says, "Well, those are my lucky numbers...'"
BANG
BANG

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The rookie cop who's peeing his pants while yelling at Samuel L. Jackson in his cracking voice is pretty hilarious too.
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Overall, an awesome movie just because of the combo of Jackson and Willis. Jeremy Irons does a pretty great job as Simon as well. And the alternate ending is awesome. Everyone should see it. It's absolutely, ridiculously, hilariously amazing. I enjoy it more than the actual ending, which feels so damn anti-climatic and tacked on. At least the alternate ending is so ****ing insane that you don't care that it's tacked on.

Great lines:

John McClane: You know how to fire one of these?
Zeus: No.
John McClane: No?
Zeus: Hey, all brothers don't know how to use guns, you racist mother****er.

Ricky Walsh: Next, fourteen dumptrucks stolen from a yard in Staten Island. Fourteen! Jesus! Somebody starting a construction company?
Joe Lambert: No, it's John's landlady - gonna clean up his apartment.

Zeus: Didn't I hear you say you didn't even like your brother?
Simon: There's a difference between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out of a window.

Zeus: Why do you keep calling me 'Jesus'? Do I look Puerto Rican to you?
John McClane: Guy back there called you 'Jesus'.
Zeus: He didn't say 'Jesus'. He said, "Hey, Zeus!" My name is Zeus.
John McClane: Zeus?
Zeus: Yeah, Zeus. As in father of Apollo? Mt. Olympus? Don't **** with me or I'll shove a lightning bolt up your ass? Zeus! You got a problem with that?

And this one needs the NYC kid from The Mighty Ducks to wrap it up:

"IT'S CHRISTMAS YOU COULD STEAL CITY HALL!"
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Respect bitches. John McClane is the ****ing man.
 
I was gonna post that Hans gif but yeah.

Supervisor: Attention, whoever you are. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only...
John McClane: No ****ing shit, lady. Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

ftw
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
I approve of this thread, sir.


btw, this dvd set is nice, I picked it up the other day. I remember hating the really obvious blue screen effects in die hard 3 in prior viewings, but watching the edition from that box set they seem to have cleaned it up quite a bit. Impressive.


I'm assuming most folks will go Die Hard > Die Hard 3 >> Die Hard 2, and I'm in line with that. Die Hard 2 has a few neat bits but it's just shit overall in comparison to the other two.

The original die hard remains an oustanding movie, but it really should be taken in the context of when it was released to truly appreciate it. Nearly 20 years ago already; such a groundbreaking action film.
 

AniHawk

Member
For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building, Alan Rickman was actually falling from a 20-foot high model. He was holding on to a stunt man and falling on to an air bag. To get the right reaction, the stunt man dropped Rickman on the count of two, not three.

:lol
 

Hyoushi

Member
The title in Spain was translated "Crystal Jungle" (supposedly, because McClane had no shoes when terrorist shots the windows). The same title is used for the sequels (Although, the meaning have no relation in sequels).
haha. that's great :lol
 
Very well done sir, well done indeed.

I'll defend Die Hard 2 to my dying day though. So many good moments, and its gotten retroactively better now that you can play "count how many seconds of screen time Robert Patrick and John Leiguzamo had as terrorists".

The answer is, not nearly enough.
The gunfight might be the best action scene in the whole series, tell me it ain't.
 
Surely the TBS version of Die Hard 2 gets some love?
It's like a completely different movie with all the comedy (I don't mind the original).
 
I once went through all 3 movies in one sitting with some friends of mine. We counted how many times anybody swore in the movies and also how many people were killed. We broke down the swearing by words and we had to look up tons of stats for the deaths. Stuff we looked up: Standard flight capacity of a 737 jet and the average people traffic in a New York department store in the morning. We had 10 or 12 pages of stats for the deaths taking into account average fill rates for jets coming into Dulles at Christmas time, extra crew possible on those flights because of extra traffic and subway traffic patterns. Die Hard 3 definitely had the most dead, we couldn't even finger how many came close with some of the stunts pulled. The subway bombing alone was mind boggling, statistically... No way to tell who was killed.


Oh yeah, I don't remember specifics, but there is more swearing in Die Hard 3 than both of the other two combined. I chalk that up to Samuel L. Jackson.
 

Gav

Member
Awesome thread.
Die Hard rocks!

All ive got to say really. Love 1 and 3, and quite like 2 actually...
 
I love all three of them. Absolutely flawless series(IMO).

Makes me wonder why Bruce Willis dies in 90% of his movies considering he's invincible.
 
Die Hard is one of the greatest action movies of all time.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder is a worthy sequel, but nowhere near the level of greatness of its predecessor.
Die Hard With A Vengeance is a much better sequel than Die Hard 2.

Also, Jeremy Irons and Alan Rickman FTW.
 

OnkelC

Hail to the Chef
PepsimanVsJoe said:
I love all three of them. Absolutely flawless series(IMO).

Makes me wonder why Bruce Willis dies in 90% of his movies considering he's invincible.
Nobody bleeds as nice as the Bruce:lol
 

MrDaravon

Member
Die Hard 1 is one of the very few movies where if I'm flipping around on TV and it's on I will always stop and watch it.
 

Prospero

Member
Die Hard has one of the best screenplays ever for an action film--maybe Aliens beats it out, but only barely.

(Die Hard 2 and 3 I can take or leave, though.)
 

Kreuzader

Member
Red Scarlet said:
Surely the TBS version of Die Hard 2 gets some love?
It's like a completely different movie with all the comedy (I don't mind the original).

If it's the same as the syndicated broadcast television version I saw 10 years ago, "Yippie Ky Yay Mr. Falcon" will be enshrined in my mind forever.
 
Wow, PRJuice deserves a major prize. What a work of art. All that's missing is the EDITED version of the sign McClane wore in Die Hard 3, and the facial reaction of the guys in Harlem.

If you are the last man on earth who hasn't seen Die Hard, go go go rent/buy the trilogy now! Anyone else looking forward to this on BluRay/HD-DVD? I want the trilogy on ONE disc, dammit.
 

SpeedingUptoStop

will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
Seriously, Die Hard 3 is the definition of a how to do a sequel. Stakes are ridiculously high, everybody is involved (cept for Winslow, but they got Sammie, so it's cool), the villains are clever and well written, it's athousand different things at once, ahh, such a good movie.
 

Solo

Member
Iamthegamer said:
Seriously, Die Hard 3 is the definition of a how to do a sequel.

By taking a screenplay related in no way to DH, renaming it, and changing the protaganist's name to John McClane, and adding some last minute bit about the villain being DH's villain's brother? :lol
 

SpeedingUptoStop

will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
Solo said:
By taking a screenplay related in no way to DH, renaming it, and changing the protaganist's name to John McClane, and adding some last minute bit about the villain being DH's villain's brother? :lol
I didn't know that before. :X

IT'S STILL AWESOME, GOD DAMNIT.
 

Solo

Member
Yeah, it was a standalone screenplay called "Simon Says" or something, and someone thought it would make a great DH movie.
 

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Die Hard 2 gets bolstered a bit by the fact that it formed the basis for the awesome light-gun shooter in the Die Hard Trilogy game. ;)
 

Big Dave

Member
Cold-Steel said:
Die Hard 2: Die Harder is a worthy sequel, but nowhere near the level of greatness of its predecessor.
Die Hard With A Vengeance is a much better sequel than Die Hard 2.

I disagree. I tend to like Die Hard 2 better than the other two. It edges out the original for me, and blows away the third. That being said, as I watch the first one more, it is catching up, and I still loved the third one.

Of course, this is just me. I'm in a tiny minority on this one. IT just seemd more tightly put together than the first (though the difference between it and the first is getting smaller as I watch them more) Die Hard 3 just doesn't seem to be as much of a Die Hard film, which is why I mark it lower.
 

eLGee

Member
Damn, the DVD transfer on "Die Hard: With a Vengance" R1 really sucks!

Thank god for living in R2 territory.
 

SofaKing

Hates all things good and decent in this world
the Die Hard movies are fantastic. even though Die Hard 2 isn't as much of a badass sequel as Vengeance, but its still enjoyable.

one of my favorite parts for 2:
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"OOOOOOOOh.... OH SHIT!!!"

:lol
 

Link1110

Member
Haven't seen any of them in years, but Die Hard 1 and 3 are 2 of the best action movies ever, right up there with the first 2 Terminators. I don't remember Die Hard 2 well enough to comment on it.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Big Dave said:
I disagree. I tend to like Die Hard 2 better than the other two. It edges out the original for me, and blows away the third.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Whoa. Hey now. Whoa.
 

Evenball

Jack Flack always escapes!
Every time I watch the original Die Hard, I'm amazed at how well it's aged. It's still a very slick action movie at 18 years old!
 
I've always had the suspicion that the Speed 2 screenplay was a hijacked Die Hard 3 one. The 3rd movie was going to be on a cruise ship until Under Siege was released.
 

Kreuzader

Member
I'm pretty sure that movie Bruce Willis did with Monica Bellucci (the name escapes me at the moment) set in Africa started pre-production as Die Hard 4.
 
Kreuzader said:
I'm pretty sure that movie Bruce Willis did with Monica Bellucci (the name escapes me at the moment) set in Africa started pre-production as Die Hard 4.
Yea, I think it did. It's called Tears of the Sun.
 
Watched the first one last week, and I was surprised at how cliche and bad it was compared to what I remembered of it. The villain is so mannered and annoying and most of the dialogues are really stupid.

The other two, I used to love, but I guess I gotta watch em again, now.
 
Foreign Jackass said:
Watched the first one last week, and I was surprised at how cliche and bad it was compared to what I remembered of it. The villain is so mannered and annoying and most of the dialogues are really stupid.

The other two, I used to love, but I guess I gotta watch em again, now.
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"BACK UP!! BACK THE **** UP!! GET THE **** OUT OF THIS THREAD!!"
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
Foreign Jackass said:
Watched the first one last week, and I was surprised at how cliche and bad it was compared to what I remembered of it. The villain is so mannered and annoying and most of the dialogues are really stupid.

The other two, I used to love, but I guess I gotta watch em again, now.

You gonna get banned.

*looks at screen name*

Your initials wouldn't happen to be H. G. would they?

You're Hans Gruber, aren't you? I can't believe you survived that fall.

In any case, awesome awesome thread, I agree wholeheartedly and I am kicking myself for not starting something like this earlier. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
God PRJ, you are my DHWAJ hero!! Gimme a little "Rock!"
:lol Coming right up...

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And for Wasabi...
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The best part I can't capture in screens...when you just hear some black dude say, "WHAT THE FUUUCK!"

And for the kiddies out there...
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Obviously I can't screencap the TV version, so you'll have to settle for that. :lol
 
PuertoRicanJuice said:
The best part I can't capture in screens...when you just hear some black dude say, "WHAT THE FUUUCK!"

That exact sample is why I wish you could post sound files the same way you can post GIFs.

That's exactly the way I say that IRL, so I mean no disrespect towards you when I correct your pronunciation with "What'aF*CK!" It's my favorite performance of any three words in movie history.

:D
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
That exact sample is why I wish you could post sound files the same way you can post GIFs.

That's exactly the way I say that IRL, so I mean no disrespect towards you when I correct your pronunciation with "What'aF*CK!" It's my favorite performance of any three words in movie history.

:D
Nah, I appreciate the correction. I wasn't quite sure how to put the line into written form - it's greatness transcends it so greatly.
 
Kreuzader said:
If it's the same as the syndicated broadcast television version I saw 10 years ago, "Yippie Ky Yay Mr. Falcon" will be enshrined in my mind forever.

Yep, that'd be it. So much hilarity! :lol
 
PuertoRicanJuice said:
Nah, I appreciate the correction. I wasn't quite sure how to put the line into written form - it's greatness transcends it so greatly.

It is indeed impossible to capture.

I think I need to change my gamertag to NatureBoyHere...

But then people might think that I, well, you know.
 
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