My Review of Die Hard (1988)

 

Written by Jeb Stuart And Steven E. De Souza

Directed by John McTiernan

Gruber: "Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr Cowboy?"

McClane: "Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker."

First of all, before I go anywhere in this review, let's get the elephant out of the room first. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Yes, yes it is a Christmas movie. The setting alone is enough for me in that regard. 

Now for the actual movie itself, it's Christmas Eve and there's a Christmas party at Nakatomi Corporation. That's where Holly Gennaro-McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) works and it just so happens that her company's festive shindig was going to do in a very different direction.

Yep, we've got terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) storming up the place and they're looking to take a lot of money from the company vault. Unfortunately for Hans and his accomplices (including an obnoxious co-worker of Holly's named Harry Ellis, played by Hart Bochner), there's a massive obstacle named John McClane (Bruce Willis) and he's an almighty pain for any movie villain.

For a lot of people, John McClane will probably be the most definitive role that Bruce Willis has ever played in his lengthy career and rightly so. McClane's an excellent protagonist - a New York police detective, estranged from his wife but determined to protect her and everyone in the building while also having to stay and deal with the FBI and police not always being the most helpful.

There's a wonderful sense of cat and mouse between both McClane and Gruber as the pair do their best to outsmart one another, before Holly's caught in the middle of the duelling pair. Holly's role isn't quite as dynamic as her estranged husband's but it's decent enough.

In terms of other roles, I have to give a shout out to Gruber's second in command, Karl (Alexander Godunov), who did seem almost impossible to get rid of as well as McClane's limo driver Argyle (De'voreaux White) and of course, Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), both of whom were clear highlights in the movie.

- Alan Rickman somewhat got typecast because of playing Hans Gruber and nearly turned it down.

- Nice comparison to High Noon during McClane and Gruber's phone call in the movie.

- Standout music: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Jingle Bells and Ode To Joy.

- Chronology: Christmas Eve in New York. What more could you want?

Die Hard is a lot of fun and a film that has aged well. It's also a Christmas movie given it's setting and has fantastic performances from both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. Not to mention some pretty damn entertaining one liners and action scenes. I'll get to the sequels later down the line.

Rating: 8 out of 10