Even though the later Die Hard films have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, that doesn’t mean they’re not without tidings of comfort and joy.

The first Die Hard film to buck the trend of setting a film around Christmas was the third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).

John McClane (still being played by Bruce Willis in this and all subsequent films) is back, and now he’s returned to his home city of New York. An off-screen separation between him and his estranged wife Holly causes him to go into a downward spiral of drinking and he is suspended from the police. 

As if things couldn’t get get any worse for him, a mad man named Simon (played by Jeremy Irons) has set bombs all over the city, and is making John go through a bunch of challenges, riddles, and dares or he’ll set off a bomb. 

During one of Simon’s challenges, a man named Zeus (Samuel Jackson), a Black electrician with an axe to grind against white people, unintentionally gets involved in the little game Simon has set up. Meaning it’s up to John (a cop who’s dealing with a bad break up and a hangover), Zeus (an electrician who doesn’t like cops or white people), and the New York police department (which is stretched thin and being pulled every which way by Simon) to try to track down and defeat Simon at his own game. What could go wrong?

What’s interesting about the film is that it wasn’t originally written as a Die Hard film. Originally it was just a film called Simon Says. From what I’ve seen, the script wasn’t changed much except for all the Die Hard elements and changing Zeus from a woman to a man.

Despite not being originally written as a Die Hard film, the flick weirdly feels more like a Die Hard film than the previous film, Die Hard 2. The previous film, while fine in its own right, felt more like a generic action film, and tried too hard and stuck too close to the first film to its own detriment. 

Die Hard with a Vengeance, meanwhile, finds a nice balance between trying something new, and keeping in old elements. The only thing that really connects the film to the previous editions is John McClane; some plot points that are similar to the first film; and the fact that Simon is the brother of Hans Gruber, the villain of the first movie. But aside from that the film stands on its own.

What helps it stand on its own are the characters and their interactions.

John is still the wise-cracking, in over his head cop, with the worst luck in the world, while still possessing a strong sense of morality (for the most part). The interactions he has with Zeus are a stand out in the film, as the two bicker and argue the entire time. They are a joy to watch. 

Samuel Jackson is great in the role of Zeus, and possesses enough charisma to keep up with Bruce Willis, while neither overshadows the other. And while the racial conflict between him and Mclane is about as deep and complex as an after-school special, he still works well as a foil, more often playing the role of straight man.

Jeremy Irons’s Simon, while not as memorable as Hans, still brings enough Jeremy Irons evil charm to be a fun villain.

Even the supporting characters, more specifically the other detectives and commissioners, while not as deep or interesting as the leads, are still fun characters to watch. And have some genuinely tense scenes as they’re trying to track down and defuse the bombs that have been planted.

The action, while a bit more over the top than the original, is still grounded enough to be entertaining and a fun watch. 

Die Hard with a Vengeance is the second best film (behind the original of course) in the franchise.

Over 10 years later another film was released in 2007, titled Live Free or Die Hard.

A group of cyber terrorists, led by a man named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), manage to hack into FBI’s cyber crime devision’s system. Due to lack of staff because of the 4th of July the FBI work with police precincts to round up hackers who might have done this. 

John McClane is sent to pick up a hacker by the name of Matt Ferrell (Justin Long). While picking him up, however, some of Gabriel’s men try to kill Ferrell, because he helped test the bug used by the terrorists to get into the government’s system, and the terrorists want to wrap up any loose ends.

The rest of the story is McClane and Ferrell trying to track down the terrorists, something more difficult seeing how the terrorists who have managed to hack into the government system have started something called a “Firesale,” meaning many systems that are essential for the country to function, such as stop lights no longer working and the stock market being shut down, have caused the country to go into pandemonium.

Similar to the previous film, the script for this film also wasn’t originally written as a Die Hard film, it was just a script floating around in Hollywood that was picked up and had Die Hard elements put in. In this case, those elements are John and his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

While John is a bit more of a jerk in this film than usual, he’s still the McClane all we all know and love, snarky, down to earth, and with a strong moral compass. Even if Bruce Willis sometimes doesn’t always nail every line read, he still brings enough charisma to carry the movie

Justin Long is a bit annoying at the beginning, always screaming, freaking out, and giving John lip, but he grows on the audience as the film progresses. That being said, his relationship with McClane isn’t as interesting or fun as Zeus and John had in the previous film.

No offence to Timothy Olyphant, but he’s one of the more forgettable villains in the franchise. Both Hans and Simon from the earlier films brought with them a certain panache or screen presence that drew your attention. Olyphant is just your stereotypical evil villain who’s just crazy. That being said, there are some scenes where he is legitimately creepy, like when he’s pretending to be a 911 operator with Lucy McClane over the phone, knowing John is watching.

Unlike the films beforehand, the action in the film starts early. Thankfully it’s still mostly down to earth and interesting to watch. One notable exception is when John fights and beats a fighter jet. That moment jumped the shark and did some flips for good measure.

The film is very 2007, with 2007 technology and terms all over the film. It kind of works like a time capsule of that period. That being said, the concept is still something that would work if it was made into a film today, with even more things being connected to the internet since.

Live Free or Die Hard is a fun watch, while not the best film in the franchise and has its over-the-top moments, it’s worth a look if you’re a fan of the franchise.

While the third film would have been a better place to stop the franchise and leave it on a high note, Live Free or Die Hard would have left the franchise on a strong enough note. Unfortunately, the studio pushed their luck and pumped out a fifth sequel titled, A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).

John McClane’s other estranged child, Jack (Jai Courtney), has been arrested in Russia for a hit job. Unbeknownst to John, Jack is actually a CIA operative and is undercover to try to get close to and extract an ex-billionaire named Komorav (Sebastian Koch). Who has a file that has serious dirt on the current Russian prime minister. So it’s up to John to reconnect with his estranged son, make sure that an ex-billionaire is safely extracted for national security, and try not to get killed by the mob.

The best way to describe this movie is, “It’s a terrible Die Hard movie, but a decent action flick.” All the elements that made Die Hard unique and stand out when compared to other action movies, the witty dialogue, the likeable and down-to-earth main character, and action that’s over the top but not so over the top to be ridiculous, are all gone. 

John McClane is not John McClane in this film. He looks like him and people call him John McClane, but he acts almost nothing like him. Where John was a loose cannon, but at the end of the day a good man and a cop, this man is a dangerous psychopath who’s a jerk to almost everyone he meets. 

A good scene that illustrates this contrast is the first car chase, in which Jack is being chased by Russian mobsters, and John is behind both of them trying to catch up and protect Jack. During the action, McClane almost deliberately runs into and over cars full of innocent people in them. 

John McClane wouldn’t do that, sure he’s a little reckless, but he’s still a cop and has a strong sense of morality. In the previous films whenever there was action and civilians were near, he’d try to either get them out of there if he could or keep them out of the crossfire. He wouldn’t just bodoze through them.

It doesn’t help that Bruce Willis looks like he’s just sleepwalking through the role. He almost never does more than act either annoyed or bored. McClane’s interesting quirks and expressiveness are gone.

Jai Courtney is a fine actor, and emotes a bit more than Bruce Willis, but he has nothing to work with, aside from a few scenes he’s either annoyed or angry. 

The film has multiple main villains, but all of them are boring and generic evil Russians. 

The only one that kind of makes an impression is Alik (Radivoje Bukvic), but the only reason for that is because he practically tells the audience his quirks, that being he hates Americans (especially cowboys) and is good at dancing. That’s it.

Timothy Olyphant from the last film wasn’t exactly bursting with personality like Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons were, but at least he had a few scenes where he was intimidating. 

The action for the most part is serviceable, it’s fun action, when you can tell what’s going on. It has so many quick cuts to different locations and different people it’s difficult to know who’s where. 

The other problem is, that it’s too over the top for a Die Hard film. The reason the jet fighter scene from the previous film sticks out so much is because the rest of the action has been relatively realistic. When John got hurt in the previous films, he didn’t just walk it off. But in this installment, in one scene John pulls a metal piece of shrapnel out of his son’s stomach and he acts no different than if he hadn’t been injured.

A Good Day to Die Hard, is the exact type of action film that the original was the antithesis too, over the top action, with a hero who almost never struggles, and is just a killing machine. The film just feels like a Bourne film where John McClane just interrupts and causes it to go off the rails.

The later films, despite the lack of Christmas cheer, still feel like Die Hard, minus the fifth movie.

Patrick once saved a small town from a stampede of raging circus elephants using only a package of ramen noodles and a blow dryer, but unfortunately no one was filming.