5 Questions: Die Hard With A Vengeance
In this edition of 5 Questions, I have some queries regarding the third movie in the Die Hard franchise, Die Hard With A Vengeance.
The film features Bruce Willis reprising his role as John McClane, a cop who has been targeted by terrorist Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) and force to play a twisted game of Simon Says along with a reluctant partner, Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson).
1. Why did it take so long for the street toughs to notice John McClane and his offensive sandwich board?
I know they were engrossed in conversation, but I find it hard to believe that in the entire group of guys sitting out on the steps just a few yards from John McClane wearing nothing but his drawers and an offensive sandwich board, none of the guys immediately saw this unusual sight even out of their periphery.
2. Are any of the pay phones that were used by John and Zeus to play Simon’s game still in existence?
There is going to be a point in the future, where people watching Die Hard With A Vengeance would have never seen an actual pay phone in their life.
3. How much easier would it have been to find out who the 21st President of the United States was if smart phones existed in 1995?
One of Simon’s riddles involved taking 21 away from 42, Zeus surmised the answer was the 21st President of the United States, but he didn’t know who the 21st President of the United States was. This problem could have been solved in seconds if they had smart phones back then. The answer is Chester A. Arthur in case you didn’t remember from the movie or you didn’t Google it yourself.
4. What are the odds that of all the schools in New York City that Simon could have planted the bomb in that it would be the school that Zeus’ kids attended?
Another example of the stars lining up in movies time and time again either to create “right place, right time” or “wrong place, wrong time” scenarios. And a follow up question… I know security in schools probably wasn’t like it is today, but how in the world did Simon manage to set up a bomb so big that it was hidden in an industrial sized refrigerator without anybody noticing anything suspicious.
5. Did the creative minds behind this movie intentionally borrow from the Lethal Weapon formula , that at this point had 3 successful entries in their own franchise, to help give the third Die Hard movie a little something extra?
I hope the answer is yes. If there’s one movie franchise that has the right to borrow ideas from other movies it is Die Hard, simply based on the fact that SO MANY movies have borrowed from Die Hard over and over and over again… and they continue to do so. The upcoming WWE Films release of 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown starring Dean Ambrose will be the latest movie to utilize the winning Die Hard formula.
