A review by Brooks Rich
Let's talk about the film Die Hard from 1988. It's one of, if not the greatest action films, of all time. You should all know the story. Terrorists seize an office building in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and a New York cop visiting his estranged wife must fight them off. It's a perfect film, a masterpiece of action cinema. If for some reason you have not seen Die Hard, stop what you are doing and go watch it immediately.
Die Hard was so successful it created an entire subgenere in the action genre, the Die Hard knockoff. Criminals of some kind invade somewhere and are thwarted by someone who wasn't supposed to be there. That's the key. The hero has to be someone the villains weren't counting on and they have to already be there when they take over. Michael Bay's The Rock does not count because the heroes have to infiltrate the island. Five yard penalty, not a Die Hard clone. For example in Under Siege, my personal favorite Die Hard knockoff, Steven Segal's Casey Ryback is a highly qualified former Navy Seal but the villains are not aware of his past and therefore unaware that he is a major threat. One of my favorite moments from the film is when they realize who Casey Ryback is and the look Tommy Lee Jones gives as the head villain. Great stuff. That's another must for Die Hard clone. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard is one of the greatest movie villains of all time. He is so sleazy but yet you can't help but like him a little. The best Die Hard clones have a memorable villain.
There are plenty of other Die Hard clones and it's a genre worth visiting. Cliffhanger, Die Hard on a mountain. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Die Hard on a train. Olympus Has Fallen, Die Hard in the White House. Toy Soldiers, Die Hard in a boarding school with '80s teen actors as John McClain. Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard in an airport. It counts. But today I want to focus on two films. Sudden Death, Die Hard in a hockey arena, and Final Score, Die Hard in a soccer stadium but also Sudden Death in a soccer stadium.
Sudden Death is about a group of terrorists who take over the Igloo in Pittsburgh during game seven of the Stanley Cup Final. They are holding the Vice President and his guests hostage to steal a bunch of money. Sure, yeah. Jean-Claude Van Damme is there as firefighter Darren McCord to kick people in the face and fight the terrorists off.
Final Score is about a group of terrorists who take over a football stadium in England to search for the presumed death brother of a former radical who wants his brother to join with him and destabilize the region. Something like that. Dave Bautista is there as Michael Knox to fight off the terrorists. Pierce Brosnan is there as the man being hunted by the terrorists. So that's cool. I don't think he has twenty minutes of screen time.
I vastly prefer Sudden Death. Yes Van-Damme is not the most eloquent actor but he doesn't need to recite Hamlet to work in this film. He has the action chops and was always a likable enough guy to follow around in a film. Sudden Death also has the better villain. Oh my God Powers Booth is so evil in this film. He is much more memorable than the villain in Final Score, played by Ray Stevenson. Stevenson is fine but eh. The character isn't much to work with for him.
Sudden Death is one of my all time favorite action films and probably my favorite Van-Damme film. It's so much fun and any film where the Muscles from Brussels beats the shit out of the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot gets a thumbs up from me. Van-Damme is a great hero and Boothe is a great foil for him. Van Damme can butcher the English language sometimes but that's ok because he then kicks a dude in the face. These films are meant to be popcorn entertainment and they work as such.
I'll be honest. Final Score fails to hit the mark in one second near the end of the film. The comic relief character was fine if a little annoying. I won't spoil anything. He is a Muslim and they make use of Islamaphobia at the end. Now I'm not here to be the PC police but come on. This is a serious problem across the world where people are being told to hate a certain religion and the practicers of that religion. This moment in the film was tasteless and highly irresponsible. That's just my opinion. It's a shame because the film works for the most part. Bautista is likable and has charisma. I hate the Guardians films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, yes hate, but I like Bautista as Drax. He's a good actor. He's not on the level of Dwayne Johnson, the bets wrestler to ever transition to acting, but he's either a little bit better or as good as John Cena. He was a perfectly serviceable John McClain. It's a shame the film had to go down that certain path. If that joke hadn't happened, I would rate Final Score with a solid 2.5/5. Right down the middle. But I can't ignore that moment so it will be taken into account for my final score. Ha, see what I did there.
Sudden Death- 4/5
Final Score- 1.5/5
Let's talk about the film Die Hard from 1988. It's one of, if not the greatest action films, of all time. You should all know the story. Terrorists seize an office building in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and a New York cop visiting his estranged wife must fight them off. It's a perfect film, a masterpiece of action cinema. If for some reason you have not seen Die Hard, stop what you are doing and go watch it immediately.
Die Hard was so successful it created an entire subgenere in the action genre, the Die Hard knockoff. Criminals of some kind invade somewhere and are thwarted by someone who wasn't supposed to be there. That's the key. The hero has to be someone the villains weren't counting on and they have to already be there when they take over. Michael Bay's The Rock does not count because the heroes have to infiltrate the island. Five yard penalty, not a Die Hard clone. For example in Under Siege, my personal favorite Die Hard knockoff, Steven Segal's Casey Ryback is a highly qualified former Navy Seal but the villains are not aware of his past and therefore unaware that he is a major threat. One of my favorite moments from the film is when they realize who Casey Ryback is and the look Tommy Lee Jones gives as the head villain. Great stuff. That's another must for Die Hard clone. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard is one of the greatest movie villains of all time. He is so sleazy but yet you can't help but like him a little. The best Die Hard clones have a memorable villain.
There are plenty of other Die Hard clones and it's a genre worth visiting. Cliffhanger, Die Hard on a mountain. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Die Hard on a train. Olympus Has Fallen, Die Hard in the White House. Toy Soldiers, Die Hard in a boarding school with '80s teen actors as John McClain. Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard in an airport. It counts. But today I want to focus on two films. Sudden Death, Die Hard in a hockey arena, and Final Score, Die Hard in a soccer stadium but also Sudden Death in a soccer stadium.
Sudden Death is about a group of terrorists who take over the Igloo in Pittsburgh during game seven of the Stanley Cup Final. They are holding the Vice President and his guests hostage to steal a bunch of money. Sure, yeah. Jean-Claude Van Damme is there as firefighter Darren McCord to kick people in the face and fight the terrorists off.
Final Score is about a group of terrorists who take over a football stadium in England to search for the presumed death brother of a former radical who wants his brother to join with him and destabilize the region. Something like that. Dave Bautista is there as Michael Knox to fight off the terrorists. Pierce Brosnan is there as the man being hunted by the terrorists. So that's cool. I don't think he has twenty minutes of screen time.
I vastly prefer Sudden Death. Yes Van-Damme is not the most eloquent actor but he doesn't need to recite Hamlet to work in this film. He has the action chops and was always a likable enough guy to follow around in a film. Sudden Death also has the better villain. Oh my God Powers Booth is so evil in this film. He is much more memorable than the villain in Final Score, played by Ray Stevenson. Stevenson is fine but eh. The character isn't much to work with for him.
Sudden Death is one of my all time favorite action films and probably my favorite Van-Damme film. It's so much fun and any film where the Muscles from Brussels beats the shit out of the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot gets a thumbs up from me. Van-Damme is a great hero and Boothe is a great foil for him. Van Damme can butcher the English language sometimes but that's ok because he then kicks a dude in the face. These films are meant to be popcorn entertainment and they work as such.
I'll be honest. Final Score fails to hit the mark in one second near the end of the film. The comic relief character was fine if a little annoying. I won't spoil anything. He is a Muslim and they make use of Islamaphobia at the end. Now I'm not here to be the PC police but come on. This is a serious problem across the world where people are being told to hate a certain religion and the practicers of that religion. This moment in the film was tasteless and highly irresponsible. That's just my opinion. It's a shame because the film works for the most part. Bautista is likable and has charisma. I hate the Guardians films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, yes hate, but I like Bautista as Drax. He's a good actor. He's not on the level of Dwayne Johnson, the bets wrestler to ever transition to acting, but he's either a little bit better or as good as John Cena. He was a perfectly serviceable John McClain. It's a shame the film had to go down that certain path. If that joke hadn't happened, I would rate Final Score with a solid 2.5/5. Right down the middle. But I can't ignore that moment so it will be taken into account for my final score. Ha, see what I did there.
Sudden Death- 4/5
Final Score- 1.5/5
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