Taglines: John McClane is about to have a very bad day.
Die Hard with a Vengeance movie storyline. John McClane is now almost a full-blown alcoholic and is suspended from the NYPD. But when a bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller Department Store the police go insane trying to figure out what’s going on. Soon, a man named Simon calls and asks for McClane. Simon tells Inspector Walter Cobb that McClane is going to play a game called “Simon Says”.
He says that McClane is going to do the tasks he assigns him. If not, he’ll set off another bomb. With the help of a Harlem electrician, John McClane must race all over New York trying to figure out the frustrating puzzles that the crafty terrorist gives him. But when a bomb goes off in a subway station right by the Federal Reserve (the biggest gold storage in the world) things start to get heated.
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action film and the third in the Die Hard film series. It was co-produced and directed by John McTiernan (who directed Die Hard), written by Jonathan Hensleigh, and stars Bruce Willis as New York City Police Department Lieutenant John McClane, Samuel L. Jackson as McClane’s reluctant partner Zeus Carver, and Jeremy Irons as Simon Peter Gruber.
About the Story
In New York City, the Bonwit Teller department store is destroyed by a bomb during the morning commute. The New York City Police Department receive a call from “Simon” ordering them that suspended police officer Lt. John McClane be dropped in Harlem wearing a sandwich board that says “I hate niggers” and threatening to detonate another bomb if they don’t comply.
They collect McClane and follow Simon’s instructions. McClane is saved from an angry group of young men by Zeus Carver, a nearby shop owner. McClane and Carver escape and return to headquarters, where Simon calls again and threatens to detonate more bombs if McClane and Carver do not follow his instructions.
Simon sends the two on a series of children’s riddles. He tells them to reach the Wall Street subway station 90 blocks south, within 30 minutes to stop a bomb planted on a Brooklyn-bound 3 train. McClane boards the subway while Carver drives. McClane locates the bomb and throws it off the train, it still detonates, derailing the train and sending it through the station with minimal injuries due to Carver’s warnings.
As McClane and Carver regroup with the police, they are met by FBI agents, who reveal Simon is Peter Krieg, a former Colonel in the East German People’s Army and a mercenary-for-hire. Krieg is after McClane as Krieg’s birth name is Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber whom McClane had killed years earlier in Los Angeles.
Simon calls the police, knowing the FBI is there, to inform them that he has planted a bomb in a NYC-area public school that is rigged with a radio detonator triggered by the police band. Simon tells them that he will give McClane and Carver the school’s location if they continue to play his game. While McClane and Carver set off on Simon’s next task, the police organize all the city’s public works to begin searching schools, using 9-1-1 to coordinate activities.
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Directed by: John McTiernan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson, Graham Greene, Colleen Camp, Larry Bryggman, Sam Phillips, Aldis Hodge, Kevin Chamberlin, Sharon Washington
Screenplay by: Jonathan Hensleigh
Production Design by: Jackson De Govia
Cinematography by: Peter Menzies Jr.
Film Editing by: John Wright
Costume Design by: Joseph G. Aulisi
Set Decoration by: Leslie Bloom
Art Direction by: John R. Jensen, Woods Mackintosh
Music by: Michael Kamen
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and pervasive strong language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox (USA, Canada, and Japan), Buena Vista (International)
Release Date: May 19, 1995
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