TheReviewAwakens

Cinemas most wonderful action hero, John Mcclane has a place in everyone’s hearts and it’s fun to explore this in all of the Die Hard films with a different scenario each time.

One thing is for sure, there is a john mcclane in every single one of us in life, we either know it or will explore it at some point in the future.

Some of cinemas greatest action heroes may wear flying capes, be millionaires, own modified vehicles and have wealth certain to serve them for life. John Mcclane is a more down to earth relatable man, even down to the clothes he wears.

Yes, sometimes he wips out the vest, but we can see him wearing either casual dad clothes or his work uniform. Ignore Bradd Pitt from Fight Club, John Mcclane is the true man that us men aspire to be.

Most superhoers always have a back up plan and most of the time have technology to safely ease themselves out of any situation that is thrown on their laps, yes I’m talking to you Batman, who has Alfred to help guide him through life and Superman who can fly himself out of any situation, quite literally.

When John Mcclane is in trouble, nothing will save him. Often he has to improvise in some pretty incredible moments. Take this scene below for an example. He decides to drive the car into the helicopter unwillingly.

What makes this character so likeable, is that if you take away the action and just look at the situation. John Mcclane really is in the wrong place at the wrong time, quite literally, he gets stuck in some of lifes most audacious and intense situations.

You then add the action sequences on top and now you have an action blockbuster mega hit but the character and the situation is there in at least the first four films, meaning the 5th took the concept abroad with a rather tame plot, but family was still at the core.

John Mcclane isn’t just an everyday man, I’d argue he is as human as you can get with the occasional witty one-liners and action hits, crazy enough to wipe out cinemas most intelligent villains. Many view Die Hard as an action series, however, there is no reason why we cant see them as a drama series or a deep and rich character study of someone who just cant take a break and cant we all.

For all of the crazy situations he gets in, there is something we can learn from these scenes and most of the time these situations serve as great visual entertainment but also develop the character in some way and show us a different side to him, whether that’s his sense of humour or his moral integrity.

Upon watching all of these films, John Mcclane ironically gets a lot of decision making wrong, he sometimes opens the wrong doors and says the wrong things, however, you get the sense that he tries to do the right thing most of the time and is unintentionally thrown into these situations against his own will.

Take this scene below for example, a film that in my opinion I consider a drama, it makes the experience better. Here John Mcclane is trying to do the right thing and actually gets shot at, its the ultimate form of rejection towards active duty service.

Notice the way he talks to himself, ‘John, what the fuck are you doing’. He has that relationship with himself that we have, speaking the subconscious mind.

All of these films have these great standout moments, where John Mcclane is as vulnerable and as explosive as you can get. However, him getting his back stabbed is’nt the only time in the franchise. Take 2007’s fourth installment, Live Free or Die Hard, John Mcclane gets shot at by advanced jets with missiles, a techological nod and step up by from the scene in the first Die Hard. Take a look below.

Although, the fourth was’nt the best received, it is a film that has gotten better with age and I have grown to appreciate it a lot more, thanks to solid direction from Len Wiseman and Justin Long who provides us with a sense of charm to combat the stubbornness of John Mcclane. Its a nice contrast.

A sixth film was reported a while ago, but I believe it has been cancelled and Bruce Willis seems to found his feet in straight to DVD films. The Die Hard series in my opinion show us just how good of an actor Bruce Willis is. There have been millions of Die Hard rip off’s and general action films, most of the time we forgot who the action lead is but John Mcclane has this screen appeal that I think both women and men connect with.

Out of all the action films ever made that have spawned sequels, some of cinemas most famous action leads include Terminator, Rambo, Bond, Bourne, Luke Skywalker, Indianna Jones, Ethan Hunt, Rocky but John Mcclane may be the most human of them all.

The Die Hard films allow his colours to come through on screen and we see multiple different sides to him, whereas in some of the Bourne and Bond films, their characters appear to be at times one noted and straight forward, designed to serve the plot. John Mcclane expresses his emotions as we all do, especially towards the end in Die Hard 2 and there are multiple moment in the franchise where he appears to be a broken man.

One of my favorite scenes from Die Hard is the moment where John Mcclane is forced to walk on broken glass to hide from the villains. Its a great scene as he forgot to wear his shoes and the aftermath is just so unique for an action film, where we see his feet, covered in blood and he begins to take out the broken glass.

Most action films wouldn’t be interested in going this far, either because of a PG-13 rating or just having the lead to be indestructible. Its a perfect blend of violence and drama, making it compelling and another reason to love John Mcclane.

The series pretty much deals with all of the right components with action franchises, intense plots that are simple to get through that evolve in drama from film to film, a leading man who is father, husband, vulnerable but strong, a charmisic and comedic pairing to help ease the drama with humour, incredible action sequences that are actually intense to watch and family. What more could anyone want from this Die Hard series or any other action series for that matter.

Notice that the action set pieces aren’t tightly choreographed, unlike the Bourne or Rambo films. The action set pieces have more of a spontaneity quality to them, out of the blue yet they have real consequences. If anything, the director creates the orchestra of calamity and chaos and throws Mcclane into the situation. Its unchoreographed chaos at its finest and most enjoyable.

Some of the industry’s most proficient directors have worked on the Die Hard series, including Predator’s John McTiernan, Cliffhanger’s Renny Harlin, Underworld’s Len Wiseman and Behind Enemy Lines John Moore. It’s very common for an action series to stick with the same director throughout, Die Hard likes the mix-up the formula a tad.

As of yet, Live Free or Die Hard has brought in the most amount of finance with an impressive $382,288,147 of the series highest budget of $110,000,000, with a rotten tomatoes score of 82% and an imdb rating of 7.1. With the lowest being Die Hard with a budget of $28,000,000, scoring $139,434,346 worldwide. Although it has a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

You can buy all 5 films on blu ray here.

What do you think of the Die Hard series and John Mcclane?

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Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football

For all film fans that love analyzing films and their creative decisions, you’ve come to the right place.

This time, we will be taking a look at arguably the best installment in the franchise, Furious 7. Upon re-watching the film countless times, I think there is much more substance to this film than one meets the eye, and it’s a film I would happily recommend to any action lover.

Furious 7 is the most character-driven film in the series, which in truth was aided by the tragic death of Paul Walker, making this installment just that more significant.

The 7th film in the franchise saw a drastic change in filmmaking creativity. James Wan, who comes from a horror background gave the film a whole different look and feel to it. Right down to the cinematography, editing choices, and overall style.

Let’s explore some of these elements in this article, with a special look at the duel between Statham and Diesel. I believe that this fight scene is shot so differently from some of the scenes in the previous fast and furious films, it’s very noticeable if you are familiar with filmmaking and the fast and furious films.

Before Furious 7, we had the fight scene from Fast Five between Diesel and The Rock. It was very tough and rough, with the camera placed right into the middle of the fight scene. That scene was less about filmmaking creativity and more about knocks, punches, and the two simply bashing into each other. However, the series has seen several more installments and the series has evolved.

For a start, it’s worthing pointing out that Furious 7 is the most character-driven film out of the series. It deals with revenge, tragedy, loss and the film’s visual style reflects this, even the posters. The film has a more tame and dramatic look to it, vastly different from the previous films.

This shows that this franchise has creativity embedded in its fabric, it’s so interesting to see how a franchise evolves over time when different directors come in and give the series a different and fresh take. It definitely maintains the interest of fans, including myself.

Every Fast and Furious film is the same in terms of subject material, but you hit the jackpot when each film has a unique quality to them. Furious 7 is the one that stands out in my opinion. Let’s take a look at a few scenes that really show this idea, including the fight scene and the funeral scene at the beginning.

Let’s start off with the funeral scene, which in some weird way ties into the theme of tragedy regarding the death of Paul Walker. The crew is mourning the death of Gal Gadot.

We tend to associate bright and colorful images with the franchise, on par with the classic blockbuster feel. Yet this scene differs in color contrast to typical blockbuster releases.

With a team of 4 talented editors, including Kirk Morri who worked with James Wan on The Conjuring, the film’s tone is consistent throughout the experience. On the image above, it seems like the colorist toned down all of the green images coming from the trees and grass, and focused on the greyer parts to the frame.

The whole crew is seen wearing all black, a rare image to behold in the franchise. They have ditched the jeans and white tee’s. The color of their clothing has embedded itself into the picture.

The camera work gives us long and wide takes slow zoom-ins coming from different angles. However, the scene kicks into gear when Dom gets driving. I truly love and respect that James Wan chose to have no music at the beginning of the chase scene,

it’s really brilliant and helps us to settle into the minds of the two characters. It reminds me in some way of the chase scenes from The Place Beyond The Pines, a masterpiece from the mighty year of 2012 for cinema.

The choice of vehicles in this scene is also really important, notice that both of their vehicles aren’t that colorful, a huge contrasting point to the vehicles of the previous fast and furious films, especially 2 fast 2 Furious where pretty much every car was glistening with colors that really stood out in the frame and that film wasn’t exactly tension fueled, more of a feature-length music video with bromance. Take a look below and how these two images differ.

These two cars have a more subtle yet underlining power to them, but they also don’t draw too much attention to themselves. We get a better close-up of the vehicles when the two stop in a dark alleyway.

The film really doesn’t like color, its very evident. the film certainly owns its furious tag when the two clash right into each other. Something that I hope I will never have to do in my life.

Take notice of the way the two get out of the car, Jason Statham gets out with ease and we get a full shot of his body. Dom stumbles out of his vehicles, barely able to stand up. Already, we get the sense that Jason is in charge and powerful, adding to more vulnerability to Dom.

It’s a very subtle edit, but it adds to the power dynamic between the two very effectively. A very common theme in the franchise, where power is a consistent theme.

I love the dialogue exchange between the two, who both come from vastly different backgrounds and hold different values in life. It’s the first time Dom gets challenged in this way.

The clothing of Jason Statham is just cool and neat. The long black coat gives off a really classy edge to his character and Jason Statham can certainly act. For those who don’t believe me, watch Hummingbird and Safe as well as Furious 7.

The next scene we will be looking at is the fight scene between Statham and Diesel, it just keeps getting better and bigger. The scene carries the tradition of a more bleaker visual look to it, nearly detatching all colour.

This scene is already more aggressive then the funeral scene, its more ruthless and less forgiving. You really feel that both are similar in ability and power, which makes you unsure who is going to win. A rather compelling fight scene. The location is also very different and much more open, unlike the funeral scene.

What I also like is that Dom is the first to shoot Statham, as Statham was the first to instigate the fight scene previously. It gives Dom a nice little character arc, gaining the upper hand. However the fight scene itself, its very intense and closely matched. The two have the same set of muscles, lets be honest and both have the same weapons.

This time around, Dom has a black muscle car, which ties into the visual theme of the scene which is coloured by darkness. Notice Dom’s clothing, he ditches the summer white vest for a long sleeve white t-shirt, giving off a more serious and dramatic tone.

This scene is similar to the funeral scene but raises it a notch. This time, the two clash together with a much longer distance and run-up, with Dom raising his vehicle upwards to anticipate the hit. Dom walks out of the vehicle with ease, unlike the previous scene where he stumbled out of his car.

Also, notice the two standing by each of their vehicles. I think it’s really important that there was a shot of the two in front of their vehicles, symbolizing values that they live by and the type of their cars that show this.

The music is far different to the typical music video esque soundtrack music in these films. The music is done by Brian Tyler who has worked on previous Fast and Furious films. The soundtrack in this scene is much more epic and has a degree of orchestra in its DNA.

We get a wide shot of the two clash together with mechanical weaponry. We also get a wide shot from a distance, sweeping past the two fighting. A shot is done even above, zooming down on the two.

The scene concludes with Dom gaining the high ground and nearly finishing the Stath off, which he thought, although little did he know that he would return for the next few installments.

A powerful closing shot, but not as memorable as the last scene in the film, honoring the legacy of Paul Walker, Brian O’connor. His character will live on.

It was a beautiful and genius move showing the two drive-in different paths. You can watch the film in 4K on Amazon Prime UK.

TheReviewAwakens

Exploring the John Mcclane in all of us

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Creative Film Analysis: Furious 7

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