History Film / DieHardWithAVengeance

* CanadaEh: The final reel of the film takes place [[spoiler:in Quebec (specifically, the Nord des Lignes truck stop), where Simon flees to after faking the destruction of the gold, and where John faces off with him for the final battle]]. John even directly comments on the area while pinned down by gunfire.
--> '''John:''' [[SarcasmMode I had no idea Canada was this much fun.]]

''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (1995) is the third film in the popular ''Franchise/DieHard'' franchise, which reteamed Creator/BruceWillis with Creator/JohnMcTiernan, the director of the [[Film/DieHard first film]]. While it was distributed by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in North America and Japan, it is the only film in the franchise to be distributed internationally by Creator/{{Disney}} under Buena Vista International[[note]]This was because the film was co-produced by Creator/CinergiPictures, which had a distribution deal with Disney.[[/note]].

* CoolGuns:
** Simon uses a Makarov Pistol.
** John gives a Heckler and Koch [=MP5K=] to Zeus and shows him how to use it. Unfortunately, he neglected to explain to Zeus how to disengage the safety.

''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (1995) is the third film in the popular ''Franchise/DieHard'' franchise, which reteamed Creator/BruceWillis with Creator/JohnMcTiernan, the director of the [[Film/DieHard first film]]. While it was distributed by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in North America and Japan, it is the only film in the franchise to be distributed internationally by Creator/{{Disney}} under Buena Vista International.

* AffablyEvil: Simon Gruber is more so than Hans was in the first movie. For instance, when raiding the Federal Reserve, the crew takes out (most of) the guards and office workers with tranquilizers instead of bullets. The terrorists (disguised as cops) when given a suitcase with a bomb, worry that a kid might find it if they left it there. The bomb in the school is a fake, with Simon himself saying he isn't a monster who'd actually plant a real one to kill schoolchildren. When asked what to do with Zeus by his henchmen, he decides to let him go. Also, at the end the remaining mooks toast to fallen comrades.
** Probably best exemplified when, upon meeting [=McClane=] face to face, instead of gloating or being angry, he shares a laugh with him about the Coast Guard putting him on hold, and lets out a genuine laugh and agrees when [=McClane=] says his brother was an asshole. He even tosses [=McClane=] a bottle of Aspirin upon request while leaving him to die. His vendetta against John comes across more like just reclaiming family honor than actually hating him.
** Then again, the main plan does require a bomb to go off in the metro, killing everybody in the train and close by in the station. The only reason it doesn't is [=McClane=] - and notably ''this'' intervention wasn't part of the BigBad's BatmanGambit. Guess every plan has acceptable losses...

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Most of Simon's soldiers follow this, as they go out of their way to take down police and civilians non-lethally, express concern over one of their disabled bombs being found by some children, and Simon's infamous "Of course not; I'm a soldier, not a monster" response when it's found out the "bomb" he left in the school was merely a distraction filled with corn syrup. Keyword being ''most'': one of his goons gleefully guns down Ricky Walsh (and is immediately chastised for it), of course Katya is a batshit insane murderous PsychoKnifeNut, and Simon himself will gleefully kill Zeus for getting in his way too much or being friends with the "dumb Irish flatfoot who threw his brother out a window".

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: John fights a hangover in addition to Simon. When he complains about it to Simon while being held captive, Simon tosses him a bottle of aspirin. John manages to escape his predicament and tries to take an aspirin only to find the bottle is empty. But he also discovers the bottle has the address of the hotel where Simon is staying printed on it.

'''First mook:''' One of Targo's guys.

* AffablyEvil: Simon Gruber is more so than Hans was in the first movie. For instance, when raiding the Federal Reserve, the crew takes out the guards with tranquilizers instead of bullets. The terrorists (disguised as cops) when given a suitcase with a bomb, worry that a kid might find it if they left it there. The bomb in the school is a fake, with Simon himself saying he isn't a monster who'd actually plant a real one to kill schoolchildren. When asked what to do with Zeus by his henchmen, he decides to let him go. Also, at the end the remaining mooks toast to fallen comrades.

''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (1995) is the third film in the popular ''Franchise/DieHard'' franchise, which reteamed Creator/BruceWillis with Creator/JohnMcTiernan, the director of the [[Film/DieHard first film]]. While it was distributed by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in North America, it is the only film in the franchise to be distributed internationally by Creator/{{Disney}} under Buena Vista International.

* Some random soldier of Simon's crew shows more respect for his fallen comrades than Simon, offering a toast to them during the celebration. Simon agrees with the toast but his brief moment of hesitation implies that it's to save face.

'''Soldier:''' Auf de gefallen Komerades!\\

* CriminalMindGames: {{Subverted}} with "Simon" playing a Simon-Says type game with [=McClane=] through the first half of the movie in order to prevent a bomb from being detonated. Subverted in that it's shown to simply be a way to get [=McClane=] (and the entire NYPD) out of the way while Simon pulls off a heist of the federal reserve.

'''Rogue Cop''': ''(in German)'' I don't want to ride with it!\\
'''Rolf''': [[IronicEcho Some kid could...]]

* ItsPersonal: {{Zigzagged}}. Simon is apparently blowing up buildings as part of an elaborate scheme to screw with, and eventually kill, [=McClane=] as payback for killing his brother Hans. Then it's revealed that was all a cover for Simon's scheme of robbing the Federal Reserve and that Simon didn't even like his brother. ''Then'' it's revealed that while Simon's in it for the money and he didn't like his brother, he still took the man's death personally:

'''Mathias Targo''': [kicks [=McClane=]] ''He said "don't shoot".''

-->"I didn't say 'Simon Says'."

** In the filmed one, [=McClane=] and Simon meet again at a European cafe well after the events of the film. In this ending, Simon gets away with the heist by turning the gold into small Empire State Building statues. [=McClane=] recaps that he was fired because of Simon's getaway. [=McClane=] forces Simon to play a "[=McClane=] Says," RussianRoulette-style game using a Chinese rocket launcher with the sights removed. Simon gets a question wrong and dies from being shot by the launcher. [=McClane=] was wearing a flak jacket which would have prevented major injury. The filmed alternate was rejected by the studio for being too dark and [=McClane=] was bordering on HeWhoFightsMonsters.

* RunningGag: John is hungover as hell for the whole movie and has a terrible headache. He ''finally'' gets some aspirin from '''Simon''' of all people... except the bottle ends up being a vital clue to find Simon, as it’s stamped with the name of a Canadian truck stop that happens to be across the street from the warehouse Simon and his crew are using as a staging area.

** The dump trucks are too tall to clear any of the underpasses and tunnels on the FDR Drive. There's a reason only cars are allowed on it (it was part of redlining; keeping the bridges that short meant that busses couldn't go through and that meant that the people who lived in ''certain neighborhoods'' couldn't take the bus to the beach. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses It was racism. A guy named Robert Moses designed New York so only white poeple could have nice things.]])

* Determinator: Zeus and the rest of the NYPD get to join John in this. Zeus is by his side for every second of Simon's games, the regular cops do everything they can to get every kid out of the school, including running back in with seconds left to try and get the last few out, and Charlie the bomb tech cuts the last wire at the last second...

* ContinuityNod: Allusions to the first two films, which took place on Christmas Eve:
-->'''Simon:''' No, I mean Santa Claus.\\
'''[=McClane=]:''' We got a report of some guy coming through here with eight reindeer... *shoots everyone dead* They said he was a jolly old fat guy with a snowy white beard and a cute little red-and-white suit.
** [=McClane=] and the other cops vibe with eachother over betting their badge numbers on the lottery, including Toddd; 6991. Only Todd gets killed and Otto takes his badge. [=McClane=] spots his badge and kills all the Germans in the elevator, then reconnects with Zeus in the sub-basement.

* RunningGag: John is hungover as hell for the whole movie and has a terrible headache. He ''finally'' gets some aspirin from '''Simon''' of all people... which leads him to the shitty motel Simon and his girlfriend are ''not'' [[CoitusInterruptus going to have sex in.]]

** John has an extended moment starting when he hears the name "Karl Gruber" that culminates with him learning Simon is an East German general whose full real name is "''Simon Karl '''Gruber'''''".

* CompleteMonster: PlayedWith InUniverse by Simon. He ''pretends'' to put a bomb in a school because "I'm a soldier, not a monster. Though I sometimes worked for monsters." and ''pretends'' to be a communist ideologue so he can avenge his brother and steal a fortune in gold bars.

** The dump trucks are too tall to clear any of the underpasses and tunnels on the FDR Drive. There's a reason only cars are allowed on it.

* BuddyCopShow: John [=McClane=] is an Irish cop five seconds away from being fired for being a washed up alcoholic. Zeus is a black GoodSamaritan MalcomXerox electrician who steps in to save John when he sees the man wearing a racist sign in the middle of Harlem. Simon forces them to work together. They appreciate one another's snark and forge a friendship.