Nice to see you again, fans of the cinema! This is the Face-Off, where two movies enter and both movies leave, but one leaves in a slightly better light. Yes, here we take two competitors and compare their key elements and see who comes out the champion. It's a fierce competition that results in blood, tears, and online arguments, but the more brutal the battle, the sweeter the victory.
This weekend sees the release of the long-gestating, long-awaited threequel to the action series BAD BOYS with BAD BOYS FOR LIFE. Stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back in the roles that helped catapult them to movie stardom 25 years ago, and if the uber-serious line delivery in the trailer is to be believed, for one last time. There are plenty of action franchises that have made it to a third outing and even beyond, so for this go-around I thought it would be a real hum-dinger to take a look back at two other third outings in two different series. It's time to get locked and loaded for DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE vs. LETHAL WEAPON 3.
Both movies came out to mixed reviews but excellent box office numbers, proving audiences of the 90s wanted little else than to see quip-making action stars blow up entire buildings and freeways. Both also feature some dynamic duos at their core, with LETHAL WEAPON sporting the iconic pairing of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, and with DIE HARD 3 featuring the one-off of Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. The latter two only had this movie to shine, but together they proved by the teaming of John McClane and Zeus Carver deserved a series all its own.
Now it's time to grab your own action partner, grab the biggest gun you can find, rip someone out of a car and say it's "police business!" and leap into yet another mind-blowing Face-Off as something explodes behind you.
Because Renny Harlin isn’t quite as good at this as John McTiernan is, the latter jumped back on the DIE HARD train after directing the first iconic outing after the former did a …okay job with the sequel. While he doesn’t craft the same kind of taut, suspenseful thrills as he did the first time around, McTiernan once again demonstrated his skills at crafting terrifically entertaining and bonkers action. Kicking things off (die)hard and never letting the foot off the gas, he weaves in some fantastic set pieces that keep escalating in scale and almost levels New York on a scale normally reserved for Transformers. Working with editor John Wright, he made typical car chases and destructive set pieces look like an art form, coming at each from various angles and vantage points to give them a sense of scale and velocity. In the hands of a less experienced director, the car chase through the park could've looked clunky as hell, showing the car crashing through the same pretzel stand on in three separate shots. But McTiernan is a pro and churned out some top-tier 90s thrills filmed excellently. He’s also the best director to understand what makes John McClane an action icon, getting that everyman quality out of Willis’ performance, and putting the character through hell so that by the end, he’s caked and in blood and limping to the finale (or at least the first half of the finale). He’s also able to lace in a partner for McClane in Jackson’s Zeus Carver, getting both the kind of performance and abundance of perfectly-executed “motherfuckers!” out of him that have made him a legend.
Richard Donner kicked off the LETHAL WEAPON series with not one, but two great first outings, so it was no-brainer he would come back for the third go. While he continued to show a deftness for working with the two leading buddy cops, Murtaugh and Riggs, this one can't help but demonstrate him sort of bowing to the audience and studio demands and expectations. His action scenes are as delightfully cheesy and over-the-top as you would like, and so are the performances he gets from Glover and Gibson, who seem to be constantly trying to one-up the other to see who can be the overall most everything on the screen. As far as pacing and execution are concerned, everything feels a bit too familiar, as if he’s going through the paces on an action and comedy route. The shootouts feel very by-the-numbers (even when Gibson is shooting madly with two guns), with the chase sequences going full balls-to-the-wall with zero suspense build-up – which is just fine as long as Gibson throws himself into it. Buried deep beneath the movement from one action scene to a comedy bit and back and forth, there is some hint of a story involving some crooked cops, or something? While McTiernan keeps the story alive (along with Irons’ fun performance as Gruber #2) among the chaos, Donner loses grip of his story, only letting some of it shine through as Murtaugh faces some emotional challenges. Donner is smart enough to know what makes the movie work – general over-the-topness and the stars – but everything else shows signs of him losing some interest in the material, even though he did come back for the fourth (and currently final) outing.
After bouncing around and even reworked as a LETHAL WEAPON movie by Warner Bros., Jonathan Hensleigh’s script titled SIMON SAYS was eventually reworked as this third DIE HARD outing. Even as a reworked concept, DIE HARD 3’s story fits nicely in the McClane arc and provides room for tons of awesomely excessive violence, and albeit some mostly poor attempts at examining social/racial issues. After throwing Hans Gruber off Nakatomi Tower in the first movie, this third one finds his almost equally charming and devious brother, Simon, sending McClane on a mad dash across New York as a distraction so he can steal billions upon billions in Federal Reserve gold. Nothing in this script operates on a small scale, with huge stakes and huge personalities constantly clashing. It’s a story that’s constantly moving and works perfectly for a wild action movie. Even among all the chaos, the villain’s motivations remain clear, as do the heroes’ goals, even if McClane doesn’t have much growth to do as a character. Perhaps an unexpected surprise at the time and more than enough reason to rewatch 25 years later, one of the best parts of the movie is the dynamic between John and Zeus, both coming from very different walks of life, the latter feeling like a full character and not just a side character for John to riff off. It’s not the smartest script, even though it tries to be from some angles, but it’s focused enough and doesn’t ignore the very human central hero at its core, which is really saying something for the likes of such a crazy movie.
Much like DIE HARD, this third LETHAL WEAPON outing gets things off on an explosive start, with Riggs defusing a bomb incorrectly and blowing up an entire business building. From here on out the story in Jefferey Boam and Robert Mark Kamen's script remains both incredibly simple but almost always muddled, with the proceedings finding absurd excuses to get from one insane set piece to another. Even though they're demoted to beat cops after Riggs' gun-ho attitude, they're back on the job in no time trying to hunt down a crooked cop and going through a series of absurd action and comedy bits to get there. Now and again Joe Pesci's returning Leo Getz shows up to talk very fast and give someone little for the two to pick on, and the villain played by Stuart Wilson doesn't have enough time to shine, which is perhaps a good thing considering how bland the character is. The dynamic between Riggs and Murtaugh has the same kind of brotherly, machismo comradery that's easy to love, but their clashing personalities don't feel as richly explored despite the material being there. There's simply too many characters and strands to make for a cohesive story, filled with jokes that often fall flat and characters that feel wasted. Thank goodness for Gibson and Glover doing what they could with the material, though.
Bits:
What a lovely day OH MY GOD AN EXPLOSION!
Zeus Saves McClane
Pay Phone Riddle 1
Cut Through the Park
Subway Explosion
Gruber’s Brother!
Breaking into the Federal Reserve!
Elevator Kills
Tidal Wave
Chase in the Rain
Tightrope
Fight on the Ship
Leaping from the Explosion
Helicopter Shootout
Lines:
Zeus: “He didn't say Jésus. He said, 'Hey, Zeus!' My name is Zeus.”
McClane: “Zeus?”
Zeus: “Yeah, Zeus! As in, father of Apollo? Mt. Olympus? Don't fuck with me or I'll shove a lightning bolt up your ass? Zeus! You got a problem with that?”
—–
McClane: “Yippie-kai-yay motherfucker.”
—–
Zeus: “And who do we not want to help us?”
Dexter & Raymond: “White people.”
Zeus: “That's right. Now get on outta here. Go to school.”
—–
McClane: “I threw his little brother off the thirty-second floor of Nakatomi Towers out in L.A. I guess he's a little pissed off about it.”
Zeus: “Wait a minute. You mean to tell me I'm in this shit 'cause some white cop threw some white asshole's brother off a roof?”
—–
McClane: “Listen, you fail I cover your ass. I fail you cover my ass!”
Zeus: “And if we both fail?”
McClane: “Then we're both fucked!”
—–
Zeus: “Didn't I hear you say you didn't even like your brother?”
Simon: “There's a difference, you know, between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out of a window.”
—–
Simon: “My only problem is that I went to some trouble preparing that game for McClane. You interfered with a well-laid plan.”
Zeus: “Yeah, well, you can stick your well-laid plan up your well-laid ass.”
—–
McClane: “You don't know how to shoot a gun?”
Zeus: “Look, all brothers don't know how to shoot guns, you racist motherfucker.”
—–
Zeus: “Duck, motherfucker!”
—–
Bits:
Cutting the Wrong Wire
Armored Car Chase
Cement Burial
Interrupting the Shoot
An Unfortunate Clean Shot
Dog Time
Love Scene
On the Boat
Subway Shootout
Motorcycle Chase
Housing Development Shootout
Ex-Cop Killer Bullets
Lines:
Murtaugh: “I'm too old for this shit.”
—–
Riggs: “I'm gonna eat your fuckin' heart!”
—–
Travis: “Go to hell, Riggs.”
Riggs: “You first!”
—–
Riggs: “We can't shoot a dog. People? Okay, but not dogs.”
—–
Leo: “Oh, that's great, Riggs. Ha ha. That's great. Well, you know what I say? They fuck you at the hospital! First they drug you, then they fuck you! And when they're done fucking you, along comes the insurance company and fucks you some more! Ten dollars for a fucking aspirin that's not even covered!
—–
Leo: “Those doctors are savages. I mean, where does it say that a gunshot wound requires a rectal exam? Yeah. With a telescope big enough to see Venus!”
Riggs: “I guess all they saw was Uranus, huh?”
—–
Murtaugh: “You got ice in your veins. You don't kill a boy like Nick.”
Riggs: “You selfish bastard! You selfish bastard, you're just thinking about yourself! What about me? We're partners, we are partners. What happens to you, happens to me.”
—–
Riggs: “After all the shit we've been through, don't you get it? Don't you get it? When you retire, you're not just retiring you, you're retiring us. You're retiring us.”
—–
Riggs: “I'm only smoking to take my mind off my dog biscuit problem.”
Murtaugh: “What dog biscuit problem?”
Riggs: “Well I been chasing more cars lately and uh, y'know, when I try and lick my balls I keep falling off the couch.”
—–
Murtaugh: “I got 8 days to my retirement, and I will NOT make a stupid mistake!”
Riggs: “Look, there is no bomb in that building! I will bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact! Trust me, okay? Trust me!”
Murtaugh: “That's usually my first mistake!”
—–
As I mentioned when discussing McTiernan, the man knows how to film his action sequences. The stage is set with an out-of-the-blue explosion and everything ramps up from there as the challenges and riddles get more difficult. I already mentioned the extreme taxi ride through the park, but we also got the subway crash (which converges two separate paths taken by McClane and Zeus), the car chase in the middle of the rain, and a battle on a boat before the obligatory (and undoubtedly uninspired) helicopter finale. All these set pieces feel very distinct from one another given the escalating stakes as Gruber's intent comes to light, but the most engaging element is how McTiernan completely takes over New York and makes it his playground. All these set pieces I laid out in some way take advantage of the landscape and give McClane the ability to land smack dap in the middle of chaos in the Big Apple. Willis also throws himself into in ways he can't (or just doesn't anymore, beaten and bloody by the end, almost destined to lose any fight he's in. The tension feels real in these moments, making you wonder how he will manage to get himself out of the jam.
Also as mentioned before in the Director section, the action in the third LETHAL WEAPON has no shortage of crazy, and yet it also feels a little tame in comparison to something like DIE HARD. Mel Gibson is a fantastic physical actor, going into full rage mode, snarling and getting rabid in the eyes. All of that makes the action all the more absorbing, watching this mad man throw himself into danger, all while an older Danny Glover does whatever he does on the sidelines. The comedy angle makes the action more unabashedly silly, and when set to some rockin' music tracks feels like it sums up the very idea of the 90s'-era so-cheesy-it's-fun action flick. And yet, the action still pales in comparison to what McTiernan and the team delivered with DIE HARD — both on a concept and execution level. Yes yes, it's always fun watching Gibson fire two guns almost blindly while rolling around on the ground, but have him do that riding a crashing subway car and we will talk some more.
Mostly on his own in the first two movies (sans the help of Al Powell on the ground in the first movie), McClane gets a partner this go around in Zeus Carver, an intelligent, socially conscious man from Harlem who doesn't trust cops or White people. In a passionate exchange that makes the best use of the social dynamics, he says that the only reason he saved McClane during his first “trial” was so that a White cop didn't get killed in a predominately Black neighborhood, which would surely spark even more conflict. But even though there are attempts to dig into social issues they mostly come in the form of one accusing the other of being racist, and that's where it ends. But I digress, the meat lies in the chemistry and how their partnership still feels natural despite their clashing personalities. It makes things funny, awkward and suitably dramatic at times, made all the better by two great actors who have firm grips on the characters. The dynamic is fun, even if it doesn't always go meaningful places, but Sam Jackson makes a more than worthy partner to Willis' McClane, and it's a shame we will probably never see the two together again in this series.
Ah, Murtaugh and Riggs; what started as an odd couple scenario in the first movie blossomed into a lovely friendship, so by this third outing they're best buds, with Riggs coming over to do laundry at their house like he's in college. They still have their comedic squabbles, as seen very early on when the adrenaline-seeking Riggs wants to defuse a bomb that Murtaugh almost certainly does not want to defuse. The script makes a smart move by continuing to focus on their relationship, with Murtaugh wanting to retire causing some friction between them. The development still feels light on that front, bubbling up only once during their argument on the boat, which ends rather quickly. The fact is this time around they are great friends, and there's only room for minor conflict or growth, which is still not a bad thing for the third movie in a series bent on keeping Mel Gibson's mullet and making him go crazy now and again. Even three entries in you can see the love and ball-busting is still very much alive, and they remain one of the genre's very best duos.
Michael Kamen composed the scores for the first three DIE HARD movies, and with each one he lent a palpable tone of suspense with his music. As crazy and fast-paced as the movie can be, his music doesn't always take the same path by going for big and bold, but rather gives it a tense undercurrent that can evolve into something that sounds a bit tragic. Take the piece “John and Zeus,” which spends several minutes building and building before hitting the bigger notes, transitioning into “Taxi” as they escape danger, targeting that “what's gonna happen to them??” moment before cooling off. The same can be said for tracks like “Back to Wall Street” and “The Subway,” which emphasize peril and suspense over action. The man really gets DIE HARD on a music level, and I like his work here quite a bit. But he also worked on LETHAL WEAPON 3, and while bringing over that same style his score is buoyed by that sweet, sweet saxophone that can't be beaten.
Ah yes, that soothing, ever-dramatic saxophone sound laced within orchestra work and some extra guitar riffs for good measure. Basically, the score for LETHAL WEAPON 3 from Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn (with assistance by Sting and Elton John) has so much into the mix that one track can sound so awesome for so many reasons. You can hear this especially in the track for the armored car chase, which has the orchestration, the guitar, the sax all on top of each other, which shouldn't work but oh Lord does it ever work. But where the music for LETHAL WEAPON is at its very best, and damn near iconic, is in the slower moments where that saxophone is blaring out to add a heavy sound of the over-dramatic, like when Murtaugh shoots the young Darryl and is left shaken. But the same can even be said of incorporating in smooth guitar riffs and twangs, like during the love scene between Riggs and Lorna, which is textbook 90s love-making on screen. The score here doesn't always have that sense of spectacle and scale that the likes of DIE HARD, but it has a personality all its own that has become a hallmark of the genre during the time period, and the music in LETHAL WEAPON 3 goes a long way in making the outing standout. And I didn't talk about the songs “It's Probably Me” and “Runaway Train”! The chef's kisses on top of it all.
Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber ranks as one of the great movie villains, so naturally, it was going to be tough for Jeremy Irons to step into those massive, refined shoes to play his jaded brother, Simon (a less cool name, but that's another matter). Irons is a talented and seasoned enough actor to have understood he couldn't do the same thing as Rickman, so he went another way and leaned into a more tongue-in-cheek approach, relishing his big baddie's swaggering alternative to his brother. He's devious and loves it, getting a kick out of getting one over on McClane, and damn nearing winning it if weren't for that meddling Aspirin bottle. And Irons looks to be having a blast in the role, chewing some scenery, rocking different costumes (including some muscle shirts to show how much he was working out) and jumping between accents depending on who he's trying to fool. He gets a ton of screentime too, which is just a cherry on top considering he could've spent the entire movie on the other end of the phone and it would've been amazing. He's no Hans, but I say Simon is a damn close second.
The main heavy in WEAPON 3 is Stuart Wilson's Jack Travis — which is a name about as lazy as the baddie himself. No coming down on Wilson, who does what he can with the material, but the story spends so much time on the center duo, their shenanigans, and the other supporting players that he doesn't get as much time to be a real villain and explore his, well, villainy. He gets to drown a guy in cement, but that's about the high point. From then on it's a couple of typical bad guy sequences where he says something evil-, fleshes out his arms ring and so forth, all before a showdown between Riggs amid a firey construction site. It's in these final moments he gets to play a bit and live up to the movie's tone, but it feels a little too late. Look, even if things went a bit better he still has Irons to deal with, and that's easily a losing battle even for a better villain than, ugh, Jack Travis.
The LETHAL WEAPON franchise ran for a little over a decade across four movies, and for the most part, retained a solid quality. The first two are easily the best, but three and four aren't as bad as they could've been. That said, the third entry feels like its doubling down on the lunacy while sacrificing a solid plot, inventive action and making the best use of its cast outside of the two leads. It feels both wild and oddly lazy, making for a conflicting rewatch on my part. But when it comes to DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, here is a threequel that ranks only second to the first outing, easily better than the other sequels. The action is exquisite, as is the cast, with McTiernan proving his masterful skills behind the camera and a script that makes the most of its crazy premise. It's a fun, easily digestible action blockbuster that doesn't make you feel dumber for watching it, and Willis and Jackson are more than enough reason alone to keep coming back. Oh, that and Jeremy Irons wearing muscle shirts and swapping out accents.