Review of Die Hard (1988) by Maddie R — 28 Nov 2012

It's Christmas in L.A., but it looks like the Christmas spirit hasn't gotten to the Nakatomi Tower. The movie Die Hard, directed by John McTiernan, is an extremely well written film and very action-packed. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen and is full of eventful and suspenseful scenes that keep us intrigued throughout the movie.

John McClane (Bruce Willis) plays a New York cop who comes to L.A. to try to rekindle his marriage with his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) while attending a Christmas Eve party at the famous Nakatomi Tower. Unfortunately, the Nakatomi Tower becomes taken over by terrorists trying to rob the place, whose leader is the villainous Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). John becomes the brave hero who knows he must do his duty as a cop to stop Hans from succeeding in his robbery.

The scenes throughout the movie have a lot of action, which is very impressive; there isn't a time when I become bored. It keeps us on our seats throughout the entire film. For example, there is one scene where Hans meets John, and he pretends to be a hostage trying to escape. The movie seems like it is starting to slow down because we don't know when Hans will reveal his true identity. John, however, ends up tricking Hans to reveal himself. Right there, the action continues again.

The dialogue in this movie was perfect. It fits the tone of the movie and never fails to keep our attention. Each character says his or her lines with such emotion that the movie looks like it was actually happening in real life. For example, in the end of the movie, John is calling out to Hans. He says his lines with lots of emotion and in the right tone; it makes the movie seem real. Not once do I think it is another one of those "bad-acting" films.

There are absolutely no weak points in this movie. The movie is filled with so much action, so it never slows down. I am very impressed that there isn't a boring part. Most movies have some uninteresting parts; I keep waiting for one of those scenes, but thankfully that never happened.

One of the very strong contents of Die Hard is its script. The lines are meaningful and get straight to the point. They also have lots humor which keeps the movie enlightening, so it's not all about the gunfights and action. For example, John says his famous line, "Yippee kiyay..." which is one of the funniest scenes in my opinion.

Overall, I give this movie 4 out of 4 stars. It is a great movie and is one of my all-time favorites. It never fails to amuse me with all of its suspenseful action and humor.