A Good Day To Die Hard

[AndyDursin]

Alas that's the direction I bet they're going to go in. Same kind of budget -- and I doubt they even care about the U.S. domestic gross so much now. Coming off this last sequel, the next one is going to be aimed even more at the foreign audience, unless they do something smart and hire a capable director and/or bring Bonnie Bedelia back. I'm not holding my breath.

[AndyDursin]

Well, like you said MJ, it sucks -- but what's worse? The extended version (running 4 minutes longer) on the Blu-Ray cuts Mary Elizabeth's cameo out of the film! I'm sitting there, wondering where she is...and the scene was taken out of this director approved "extended version." Go figure.

[Monterey Jack]

Well, like you said MJ, it sucks -- but what's worse? The extended version (running 4 minutes longer) on the Blu-Ray cuts Mary Elizabeth's cameo out of the film! I'm sitting there, wondering where she is...and the scene was taken out of this director approved "extended version." Go figure.

What? The lone, shining light in that miserable pile of crap, and they cut her out?! What's up with Die Hard extended cuts taking out the best bits (like Willis' "I was out of bullets" line in Live Free)? Does she even appear at the end?

EDIT: Hopefully this will make up for it, Andy.

[AndyDursin]

Well, like you said MJ, it sucks -- but what's worse? The extended version (running 4 minutes longer) on the Blu-Ray cuts Mary Elizabeth's cameo out of the film! I'm sitting there, wondering where she is...and the scene was taken out of this director approved "extended version." Go figure.

What? The lone, shining light in that miserable pile of crap, and they cut her out?! What's up with Die Hard extended cuts taking out the best bits (like Willis' "I was out of bullets" line in Live Free)? Does she even appear at the end?

Nope -- not at all. She's listed in the credits, but her scene was removed altogether. In the extended version, Willis just gets out of the car at the airport and says something like "thanks man". It goes from the scene where the cop tells him about his son to that, cutting her scene out entirely.

The theatrical cut is on there so I switched over afterwards and saw it.

What a sad, loud, terrible movie...but it's about what I expected from a hack like Moore. Dismal stuff.

[Monterey Jack]

Nope -- not at all. She's listed in the credits, but her scene was removed altogether. In the extended version, Willis just gets out of the car at the airport and says something like "thanks man". It goes from the scene where the cop tells him about his son to that, cutting her scene out entirely.

That's awful. One of the only things I liked about this movie is the implication that McClane was now on good terms with his daughter again following the events of the last movie, so to cut out MEW's cameo seems bizarre. The whole thrust of the movie is McClane getting reconnected with his estranged son, so to take out MEW's bookending scenes makes no goddamn sense. So, what happens in the revised ending? In the theatrical, MEW is waiting at the landing field with McClane and son and they all walk off together in jittery slo-mo.

[AndyDursin]

Nope -- not at all. She's listed in the credits, but her scene was removed altogether. In the extended version, Willis just gets out of the car at the airport and says something like "thanks man". It goes from the scene where the cop tells him about his son to that, cutting her scene out entirely.

That's awful. One of the only things I liked about this movie is the implication that McClane was now on good terms with his daughter again following the events of the last movie, so to cut out MEW's cameo seems bizarre. The whole thrust of the movie is McClane getting reconnected with his estranged son, so to take out MEW's bookending scenes makes no goddamn sense. So, what happens in the revised ending? In the theatrical, MEW is waiting at the landing field with McClane and son and they all walk off together in jittery slo-mo.

The extended version ends with McClane and son talking and that exterior shot of the Chernoybl plant. The coda with her is taken out completely, as is her earlier scene.

[DavidBanner]

A few things on this one:

I watched the "director's cut" last week and found it incoherent. The whole car/truck chase scene was impossible to follow and the plot simply didn't make any sense. I believe that what we're being shown as the "director's cut" is actually the preview cut of the movie from before they added the two quick bits with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The bit Andy was seeing of McClane getting out of the car was the original version of the scene at the airport. They then reshot that scene to add the daughter into the movie. Same thing with the end of the movie, where they just tacked on a bit with McClane and both of his kids. Frankly, I don't think those scenes help the movie all that much anyway, since she doesn't do anything but get in one good wisecrack.

I also don't trust the account of this writer, Ben Trebilcook. He previously wrote an unused treatment for the fourth movie, which he titled the same as what he's threatening to inflict here. Further, he even admits in the linked article that they aren't necessarily going to use his idea. I'd say there's a strong chance that his idea will just be another treatment that they discard.

For a final movie of this series to work, they really need to go back to their roots and practice the basics. They need a contained situation with a real element of danger for McClane and the people close to him. I frankly think that bringing back Bonnie Bedelia is a must, probably in concert with Mary Elizabeth Winstead. I would also argue for bringing back Samuel L. Jackson, if possible. Because what made many of the best moments of With a Vengeance work was all the bickering between McClane and Zeus. McClane always works best when having to bicker. But at the same time, you can't have McClane being right about everything all the time, as they've now done for two movies. He's also not indestructible. In the first movie, there's a very real danger that he's not going to make it. With a final movie, you can reintroduce that element. But for the last three movies, he's almost become Wile E. Coyote in that you can do anything to him and he just gets up and walks away.

I'd rather see them do a final movie set in Los Angeles or New York, keep it simple and just tell a cracking good story. And if they wait a few months, they could have John McTiernan direct it, which would be a big step up from where they've been lately. Is this too much to ask?

[AndyDursin]

I'm all for bringing back Bonnie Bedelia, in fact I'm surprised they haven't gone that route since the 2nd picture. I'm not a fan of the 3rd movie and I didn't think Jackson had much chemistry with Willis in that picture, so I'd rather not see a reprise of their tiresome bickering -- but then again, this Jai Courtney guy was like they plucked a Robo-Actor from a CW series. He sucked, completely. Justin Long would've been more fun, but I guess he was out of their price range on this last one.

David, I totally agree about what they ought to do conceptually with another sequel, but I think the ship has sailed and it's all about pressing buttons now and cashing checks on the part of everyone involved. Moore is a second-bit hack director who was only hired to keep the budget down and that's exactly what he did -- and you are totally right, I couldn't even follow the big chase scene once they got to Russia. It's horribly edited and choreographed. The whole movie looked anemic, the story wasn't even there, and Willis looked like he was going through the motions.

I think the plan on their end is to continue pushing the foreign market seeing as that's where this feeble last installment did well. Domestically it looks like it's fizzling out, so they'll go to Japan or whereever in Europe to try and exploit the international gross. I'd expect another "budget" conscious sequel with a no-name "regional" supporting cast, just like this film, sadly.

[Monterey Jack]

Forget Sam Jackson and his tiresome, racist bickering...bring back Reginald VelJohnson! Was always annoyed that he and McClane never got to get into the action together in any of the post-Die Harder sequels. Too bad there aren't any more Twinkies to him to nosh on, though.

[AndyDursin]

Forget Sam Jackson and his tiresome, racist bickering...bring back Reginald VelJohnson! Was always annoyed that he and McClane never got to get into the action together in any of the post-Die Harder sequels. Too bad there aren't any more Twinkies to him to nosh on, though.

Yes! And not just a token cameo .

[Monterey Jack]

25 years young today.

[Jedbu]

Now that you can get Twinkies again maybe VelJohnson can be brought back . Anything to wash the taste out of mouth from this last-truly Godawful-DIE HARD movie...

[Monterey Jack]

I will never understand why people think this.

[John Johnson]

On a side note, it's almost time to break out the Christmas film.

[Edmund Kattak]

I will never understand why people think this.

It's only perfect because my cousin Joey plays "Jerry the Dump Truck driver" and still gets residuals.