Comments on: Memetic – A Film For Every Birthday (1984-1994)

By: Nicolas Papaconstantinou

Nicolas Papaconstantinou — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:01:17 +0000

You know, the worst thing about that idea is that I suspect you were joking.

That would have been a much better film then Live Free Or Die Hard.

By: Rol

Rol — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:13:57 +0000

Tell you what they ought to do – Die Hard in The White House. Use the old West Wing sets.

John McLane is on a tour of the White House with his daughter when terrorists storm the oval office and hold President Harrison Ford to ransom. Willis and Ford team up to kick terrorist ass. Tim Roth is the badguy.

By: Nicolas Papaconstantinou

Nicolas Papaconstantinou — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:53:47 +0000

I’d agree, except that the characterisation and the structure between the first and third Die Hards have more in common than the first and second.

I’m being flip when I include “The Last Boy Scout” in the mix, of course, except that in terms of Bruce Willis’ role, I found the Die Hard Prime John Mclane and the Boy Scout Joe Hallenbeck had the same earthiness and desperation to them – something that the later Mclanes lacked somewhat, as he became seemingly invulnerable.

“If I get through this, I’m going to dance a fucking jig” seems like pure Mclane, doesn’t it?

Die Hard did define that claustrophobiaction sub-genre, and I’ve been sad that it’s been missing from later installments, but I think the two real defining motifs in the series have in theory been the double or triple-blind villainous scheme, and the “man on the edge against desperate odds, with optional battle damage”.

Air Force One had it in spades, actually, didn’t it? In fact, in some ways Harrison Ford helped prototype the fully-bruisable action-hero as much as Willis did.

By: Rol

Rol — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:38:49 +0000

I do love The Last Boy Scout, but I’m not sure I’d call it the best Die Hard. I kinda know what you mean in terms of characterisation and tone, but for me the central premise of a Die Hard is that all the action has to take place in one location – it’s a kind of claustrophobiaction. With that in mind, there have only been two true Die Hard films – the first two – though there have been a couple of non-DH’s that came close (Air Force One, Under Siege in concept alone – that would have been much better without Seagull).

By: Sunset Over Slawit

Sunset Over Slawit — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Memetic – A Film For Every Birthday (1984-1994)