Review of Die Hard (1988) by Thenewspielberg — 01 Apr 2011
German terrorists, a skyscraper, Christmas Eve and LA. When these elements are combined, you get Die Hard, a 1988 rip-roaring action epic that shot Bruce Willis to international fame. The plot is delightfully simple; John McClane is a New York cop who is visiting his wife Holly in LA during Christmas Eve.
He meets up with her at her business company's Christmas party. All goes well until a few uninvited guests in the form of creepy terrorists seize control of the building and take all 30 of the guests hostage, demanding a ransom.
McClane, in the bathroom at their time of arrival, escapes into the unfinished skyscraper armed only with his standard issue 9mm at his disposal. His main objective; find out what the hell is going on.
His only help is a flatfooted cop on the ground played by Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters. Along the way, he is listening to radio messages between the villains with a stolen walkie talkie in an attempt to figure out their nefarious plan.
Alan Rickman is great as Hans Gruber, leader of the baddies, and delivers a performance he echoes in the Harry Potter films as Prof. Severus Snape. One of the best movie villains of all time. This festival of explosions, guns and epic battles was directed by John McTiernan, famous already for the original Predator.
He delivers a movie that entertains as well as it shocks. In particular, the sequence in which one of the hostages attempts to save his own life by offering McClane to the terrorists. Correctly anticipating a liar, Hans shoots him in the head.
The film was one of the biggest box office hits of the 1980s and spawned three sequels throughout the 1990s and 2000s, firmly placing John McClane as an action hero alongside the Terminator and Rambo.
Also, it is the best Christmas movie ever made.
This review of Die Hard (1988) was written by Thenewspielberg on 01 Apr 2011.
Die Hard has generally received very positive reviews.
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