Jesse Hawken
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194: Die Harder (with Brian Abrams)
🕑 Added 2024-12-24 16:01:01 +0000 UTCIn part two of our discussion of the Die Hard series, Brian Abrams, the author of Die Hard: An Oral History and I go over the sequels to John McTiernan’s 1988 masterpiece.
We make a case for Renny Harlin’s Die Hard 2 (1990) as the platonic ideal of a blockbuster sequel - a bigger, dumber version of the original with a great supporting cast which delivers on the formula and also serves as a better “Christmas movie” than the first one to boot.
We itemize our issues with McTiernan’s return to the franchise with Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), and trash the final two films in the series, Len Wiseman’s Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and John Moore’s rock-bottom final entry, 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, inexplicably set in Russia.
Follow Brian Abrams on Letterboxd and check out his website.
“Die Hard: An Oral History” by Brian Abrams is available to download as a Kindle Single
"Robert Costanzo, the Essential Worker", by Brian Abrams, for Lowbrow Reader, 2022
Teaser trailer for Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin, 1990)
Trailer for Die Hard with a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995)
Trailer for Passenger 57 (Kevin Hooks, 1992)
Trailer for High Risk (Wong Jing, 1995)
“Die Hard is Back”: Bruce Willis’ final performance as John McClane in a 2020 battery commercial
Music video for “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun”, The Beastie Boys
Comments
Kenny Hedges
I also just refuse to accept Jai Courtenay is a real person. He's done nothing to convince me otherwise, so I'm pretty sure he's just the first successful male S1m0ne.
Kenny Hedges
Girl Jeremy Irons is hooking up with was, at the time, T-Bone Burnett's wife.
David Ahuja
Yes! Just started watching this last night, having seen the original countless times but wanting to maintain Xmas tradition. It's Kismet.
