Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)

Tearing New York City apart bit by bit has rarely been this much fun. The triumphant return of the original Die Hard's director, John McTeirnan, means a move away from the too-convenient plot devices of the second, and the added megabudget means he's is free to destroy as much of the city as necessary. It really is spectacular what the filmmakers are able to get away with in this movie, plowing through one location after another with little but wreckage left behind. This piece of cat-and-mouse features a terrorist with a personal ax to grind with every-cop John McClaine, but it's Samuel L. Jackson's role that really stands out. It's fantastic to see how well the concepts of the series hold up when expanded out to a full city instead of a single setting. While it may be a more straight-forward action thriller than the first, the sheer scope of escalation easily gives it solid footing among the best in the genre.

9 out of 10.