Die Hard V - Not Looking Good...
- Thread starter Captaindemotion
- Start date
^ I don't think Trek invented the saying. McClane does have a son, there was a son and daughter in the original movie, remember?
In the 90s, this would have been a SNL parody or an April Fools joke.
^I vaguely recall there being a boy and a girl in the first film when matey bloke from Ghostbusters went round their house.
As for the saying, I'm reasonably sure it's a Native American saying (not sure, but it might have been from Crazy Horse.) Of course I wouldn't be surprised if a dozen other cultures have come up with something similar at some point or another, but I think that is the most often credited source.
Yep, it's Crazy Horse who coined it (actually he said "Let's do this - today is a good day to die")
Die Hard 4 was way too over the top, McClane was way too tired and phoned in, the villain was a joke, the hacker was annoying, it lacked all the irony and charme of the previous three movies, it lacked Michael Kamen's score (stop saying "But Beltrami used his themes!", Beltrami's score was utterly generic and bland and lightyears behind anything that Kamen would have phoned in had he still been alive. It would have been better to reuse already recorded pieces from the three movies (I believe they did that a lot in Die Hard 3 already anyway)).
It was like with the hair and the vest everything else was gone, too. They had the July 4th setting, and didn't use it. I'm absolutely certain that Michael Kamen would have based his score on the 1812 Overture. And that he would have underscored the French parcours stunt guy with pieces of the French national anthem. No self references, no irony. No even a christmas reference. Even Die Hard 3 had one!
And Willis' performance was so bland. The Bruce Willis from the 80s and early 90s was a completely different one than the guy after The 6th Sense. Even in the Mercury Puzzle he was more of a John McClane type of guy than he was in Die Hard 4. Now he likes to play the rather silent and cool types, with a low voice. But McClane has always been loud, impulsive, ironic, sarcastic.
And then the stupid hacking shit. Open the tunnel gates, put out the lights, and everybody's going to crash. Kill the hacker by putting explosives into his computer, and upload a virus that will make him push the delete key. Or let's explode an entire power plant with a few online commands. OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!
And then we had this wonderful scene in Die Hard 3 where they break into a cheap old car with a gold bar, and McClane asks: "can you hotwire this thing?" and Jackson simply starts the engine and says "Of course I can, but it takes too fucking long", and bam, next scene.
And in Die Hard 4 that very stupid scene with the BMW and the onStar system, which was completely unneccessary, awkward and destroyed the pacing. Followed by a very awkward moment where McClane has to explain why he does what he does. When a character has to explain himself to the audience, you know that something went wrong. That's the job of the movie critic to analyse the actions of the character.
And then visually and auditorily, it didn't fit into the other three movies at all. That horrible orange & teal color timing. The bland soundtrack.
And as others have said, John McTiernan would have been able to direct the same scenes into something way more powerful and exciting.
Oh my. In short, I was extremely disappointed.
And now the premise has really outlived its usefulness. McClane is a totally cartoon character by now. People complain about the self referential Die Hard 2, but they don't complain when he gets accidently into a terrorist plot the FIFTH FUCKING TIME?
It was like with the hair and the vest everything else was gone, too. They had the July 4th setting, and didn't use it. I'm absolutely certain that Michael Kamen would have based his score on the 1812 Overture. And that he would have underscored the French parcours stunt guy with pieces of the French national anthem. No self references, no irony. No even a christmas reference. Even Die Hard 3 had one!
And Willis' performance was so bland. The Bruce Willis from the 80s and early 90s was a completely different one than the guy after The 6th Sense. Even in the Mercury Puzzle he was more of a John McClane type of guy than he was in Die Hard 4. Now he likes to play the rather silent and cool types, with a low voice. But McClane has always been loud, impulsive, ironic, sarcastic.
And then the stupid hacking shit. Open the tunnel gates, put out the lights, and everybody's going to crash. Kill the hacker by putting explosives into his computer, and upload a virus that will make him push the delete key. Or let's explode an entire power plant with a few online commands. OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!
And then we had this wonderful scene in Die Hard 3 where they break into a cheap old car with a gold bar, and McClane asks: "can you hotwire this thing?" and Jackson simply starts the engine and says "Of course I can, but it takes too fucking long", and bam, next scene.
And in Die Hard 4 that very stupid scene with the BMW and the onStar system, which was completely unneccessary, awkward and destroyed the pacing. Followed by a very awkward moment where McClane has to explain why he does what he does. When a character has to explain himself to the audience, you know that something went wrong. That's the job of the movie critic to analyse the actions of the character.
And then visually and auditorily, it didn't fit into the other three movies at all. That horrible orange & teal color timing. The bland soundtrack.
And as others have said, John McTiernan would have been able to direct the same scenes into something way more powerful and exciting.
Oh my. In short, I was extremely disappointed.
And now the premise has really outlived its usefulness. McClane is a totally cartoon character by now. People complain about the self referential Die Hard 2, but they don't complain when he gets accidently into a terrorist plot the FIFTH FUCKING TIME?
I LOVE pt.4, kicks pt.2's ass up and down the sticky theater aisle.
I enjoyed A-Team, would like a sequel there but know it isn't happening.
Let's face it the series, like most action films, is at the point where it has to keep amping up the absurdity and danger levels. A return to form, aka, the first film works for a series like Rocky but not this...at least not yet imo.
I enjoyed A-Team, would like a sequel there but know it isn't happening.
Let's face it the series, like most action films, is at the point where it has to keep amping up the absurdity and danger levels. A return to form, aka, the first film works for a series like Rocky but not this...at least not yet imo.
Set In Russia, this should be good! 
It's a pattern of escalation. We've gone from "John McClane saves an office building" to "saves an airport" to "saves the city" to "saves the country." We need Die Hard 5 to be "saves the world" in order to be the missing link between Live Free or Die Hard and Bruce Willis' "saves the universe" film, The Fifth Element.
McTiernan has a couple movies in development right now but he hasn't directed a movie since Basic in 2003. That is a fucking crime!
I like Die Hard 2 & Live Free or Die Hard. Die Hard 2 is the only sequel that comes close to capturing the claustrophobic tension of the original.
Live Free or Die Hard was probably the best they could do under the circumstances. The action movie landscape is just so different from how it was back in the 1980s & 1990s. Forcing Live Free or Die Hard into being a PG-13 sapped the film of the grungy blood & foulmouthed charm that were the series' trademarks. It also focused too much on CGI enhancements for the stunts, much like another recent 1980s revival, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Still, it's better than most action movies.
BTW, best song ever!
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTyw6cq86kY[/yt]
McTiernan has a couple movies in development right now but he hasn't directed a movie since Basic in 2003. That is a fucking crime!
I like Die Hard 2 & Live Free or Die Hard. Die Hard 2 is the only sequel that comes close to capturing the claustrophobic tension of the original.
Live Free or Die Hard was probably the best they could do under the circumstances. The action movie landscape is just so different from how it was back in the 1980s & 1990s. Forcing Live Free or Die Hard into being a PG-13 sapped the film of the grungy blood & foulmouthed charm that were the series' trademarks. It also focused too much on CGI enhancements for the stunts, much like another recent 1980s revival, Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Still, it's better than most action movies.
BTW, best song ever!
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTyw6cq86kY[/yt]
Actually the specific crime was perjury - he was jailed for it, which is why he hasn't made a movie in some years...
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I'm still excited.
(Shrugs)
I've loved all four movies so far, and I'm certainly not going to start thinking the worst of this fifth installment when I haven't even seen a production photo.
(Shrugs)
I've loved all four movies so far, and I'm certainly not going to start thinking the worst of this fifth installment when I haven't even seen a production photo.
What?!
This is the internet. We don't do that here.
You take a stand now or don't bother coming back!
Interesting, though I'd have liked Lucy to be back as the sidekick this time around. Please don't make Shia his son. PLEASE GOD NO!
Chris Evans would be a good son for John McClane. He can act, do action and is a funny bastard to boot. If I were Chris Evans, I'd do Die Hard 5 for free just to say I was in the Die Hard universe, let alone for the opportunity to be McClane's badass son and work with Bruce Willis.
And setting it in Russia gives them the perfect excuse to reintroduce snow. Since Movieverse Russia is always buried under tons of snow. And everyone knows snow=Christmas and Christmas=Die Hard! It's brilliant!
It has to be R, though and filled with F-bombs, non-CGI blood splatter and brutal kills. The lack of the first two really stood out in Live Free or Die Hard.
Chris Evans would be a good son for John McClane. He can act, do action and is a funny bastard to boot. If I were Chris Evans, I'd do Die Hard 5 for free just to say I was in the Die Hard universe, let alone for the opportunity to be McClane's badass son and work with Bruce Willis.
And setting it in Russia gives them the perfect excuse to reintroduce snow. Since Movieverse Russia is always buried under tons of snow. And everyone knows snow=Christmas and Christmas=Die Hard! It's brilliant!
It has to be R, though and filled with F-bombs, non-CGI blood splatter and brutal kills. The lack of the first two really stood out in Live Free or Die Hard.
Agreed they need to bring back the Christmas setting. I also really miss Al Powell & Holly. Considering John & Holly seemed to be completely reconciled at the end of Die Hard 2, it always felt very strange for them to be so totally estranged in Die Hard with a Vengence.
Oh yeah. I remember the big hubub about that here a while back. Shame they couldn't get McTiernan to do an action movie with Wesley Snipes on some sort of work furlough program.
Oh yeah. I remember the big hubub about that here a while back. Shame they couldn't get McTiernan to do an action movie with Wesley Snipes on some sort of work furlough program.
LOL, they could easily do a prison movie.
It does need to have the Ode To Joy in it - that was the one disappointing thing about the 4th one, especially given the awesome Sorman Nyman version heard in the trailer!
I agree with Captaindemotion. John Moore is a typically pedestrian and industrialist filmmaker, who churns out middle-of-the-road, mediocre Hollywood fare. I am not surprised that he has been given the next Die Hard flick, though.
He's been working with 20th Century Fox for a while now, and he was once a contender to direct X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class and I believe one (or both) of the Wolverine standalone films. So Moore has been on Fox's checklist of journeyman directors, along with Brett Ratner, for a while now. It was only a matter of time before he got scooped up for one of Fox's blockbuster franchises.
Skip Woods is just an awful writer. Once upon a time, the first Wolverine movie had a chance at being good. I read the original script, penned by David Benioff (Training Day), and it was very good. Much better than the film we got. That was back when filmmakers like Bryan Singer were possibly circling the project. Enter Skip Woods into the equation, and that was the beginning of the end. Hitman was also incredibly mediocre and uneven, so his track record is less than reputable.
In my opinion, the last good Die Hard movie was without a doubt Die Hard With a Vengeance. It had a strong villain, and Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson had brilliant chemistry. The original is of course the best, but Live Free or Die Hard felt like a watered down version of a Die Hard movie. I have a feeling the trend is going to continue with A Good Day to Die Hard, but I look forward to being proven wrong.
He's been working with 20th Century Fox for a while now, and he was once a contender to direct X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class and I believe one (or both) of the Wolverine standalone films. So Moore has been on Fox's checklist of journeyman directors, along with Brett Ratner, for a while now. It was only a matter of time before he got scooped up for one of Fox's blockbuster franchises.
Skip Woods is just an awful writer. Once upon a time, the first Wolverine movie had a chance at being good. I read the original script, penned by David Benioff (Training Day), and it was very good. Much better than the film we got. That was back when filmmakers like Bryan Singer were possibly circling the project. Enter Skip Woods into the equation, and that was the beginning of the end. Hitman was also incredibly mediocre and uneven, so his track record is less than reputable.
In my opinion, the last good Die Hard movie was without a doubt Die Hard With a Vengeance. It had a strong villain, and Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson had brilliant chemistry. The original is of course the best, but Live Free or Die Hard felt like a watered down version of a Die Hard movie. I have a feeling the trend is going to continue with A Good Day to Die Hard, but I look forward to being proven wrong.
The IMDB lists "strong use of the colour red" as one of his trademarks - maybe we'll get some actual blood this time around, then.
Damn you! Now I have to go listen to that trailer or I'll have the tune stuck in my head all week...oh never mind, I found a clean version. Hmm...sort of goes down hill after that strong intro. Ironic really.
Agreed though. I was enormously disappointed that track did show up in the film, it seemed to fit perfectly in the trailer.
I forget, did it only crop up in the first one or the first two? I'm fairly sure they didn't use it in the third film.
Strange that it's the tune most associated with the franchise though since it wasn't really used as McClane's theme so much as the German mercs'.