reviewed by: Charity Bishop

    

I refrained from watching this film for awhile due to the R-rating and my familiarity with the original, in which the f-word is used rather liberally. In the end, I used ClearPlay and from the sheer amount of mutes, am glad I waited because my ears would have been burning otherwise. It's a shame, because overall the third installment in the franchise is tremendous and intelligent fun.

Police in New York City are frantic when a bomb goes off in the industrial district, followed by a phone call from a man who identifies himself as "Simon" and specifically requests the return of one of their officers to active duty. On suspension for former bad behavior and feeling the effects of long-term separation from his wife, John McClane (Bruce Willis) is not terribly pleased to play the games that Simon has planned for him. Unless he walks into the middle of Harlem wearing a board with racist remarks on it, Simon is going to blow something else up -- and he has enough liquid explosives to do it. Standing on the street corner waiting to get the snot beat out of him by the local boys, John attracts the attention of racist store owner Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson). The two narrowly escape a gang-beating and wind up back at the precinct in need of stitches.

That's when the phone rings a second time. Simon now wants Zeus in on the game, and so reluctantly he becomes a participant in the mad dash that follows -- from bombs in train stations and schools to an ultimately much larger ambition. John begins to suspect after awhile that this may be personal, but little does he know the true motivations behind Simon's mental manipulations. This film is both big in terms of storytelling and excellent when it comes to character development. Right away we find Zeus an interesting character and the film doesn't shy away from his personal feelings -- he doesn't like white men, period, but comes to respect the officer at his side. His actions become heroic in the second half and by the conclusion, some good advice has passed between them (along with a lot of screaming, insults, and threats). I appreciated the fact that the script was so well plotted and that the solution was not obvious from the beginning. Midway through, we find out what Simon is really up to and then must marvel at his genius.

Jeremy Irons has a habit of depicting magnificent villains and the occasional good guy. My earliest memory of him is listening to his chocolate voice as Scar in The Lion King, but this may be one of my favorite of his performances. His Simon is intelligent and calculating, cold but also appealing. He has great chemistry with his female co-conspirator (a look says more than a thousand words when it comes to these two) and he almost manages to steal the film away from the good guys. Speaking of the good guys, they have foul mouths. I didn't have to hear it, but there are over 92 f-words in this film, 30 harsh abuses of deity, and 60 or so uses of s**t, along with other general profanities. The violence ranges from moderate (fist-cuffs and explosions without visual body counts) to extreme (John has no qualms about shooting his adversaries in the head; the body count is tremendously high and several deaths are quite gruesome -- a man is severed in half by a flying cable, and another is carved up with a knife).

There's no graphic sexual content, but Simon does throw his girlfriend onto a table, rip open her shirt (exposing her bra) and then start to make out with her. The mind games and rhymes woven throughout the film are memorable and fun to try and figure out before the heroes do. There are a lot of great chase scenes and one ride through Central Park that you will never forget. I wouldn't recommend the movie unless filtered but it is one of the better films I have seen in the genre.