Yippee Ki Yay everyone and I once again want to wish everybody happy holidays and today we will be talking about an action movie classic that many, such as myself like, to consider a Christmas staple (I mean I can’t help but watch during Christmas time), Die Hard! Yes I will be reviewing John McTiernan’s action classic which is itself a very influential movie as it has served as an inspiration for many other movies (to the point where it essentially has it’s own subgenre for goodness sakes). But that’s not all as not only will I be reviewing the first one but also the whole franchise as well and then once I get those up I’ll do a ranking of the series which I am very much looking forward to doing and if your someone whose interested in that then be on the lookout for those as the weeks go by. Now with that out of the way it’s time to look into the one that started it all with just a cop who just so happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Taking place on Christmas Eve, we follow NYPD Detective John McClane who arrives in Los Angeles to visit (and hopefully reconcile with) his estranged wife, Holly, the latter of whom’s employer, the Nakatami Corporation is hosting a big Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza which is still being under construction. So John is driven there by a limo sent by the head executive, John Takagi, and sees Molly though things soon take a turn for the worse when a group of heavily armed men led by German radical, Hans Gruber, terrorize the building holding everybody hostage save for John who narrowly escapes. Their goal is steal $640 million in bearer bonds which are untraceable and Hans has a perfect plan in place in order to achieve that goal… that is until John’s very presence turns everything on it’s head. So now it is up to John to stop Hans, and his team, and save the hostages before it’s too late which is definitely going to be easier said than done.
Every time I watch this movie I’m always impressed by just how well put together the story is and how everything is set up so perfectly. Right from the start the film tells us all that we need to know about the characters, what’s going on, how the building is layed out, and the situation all told through just the right amount of exposition, and actions as well and it’s all paced so perfectly on top of that. Once the action kicks into high gear it’s just a non stop thrill ride from there with lots of effective tension, and action sequences which work because we care about these characters and what will happen to them thanks to the first act set up. Another thing I love is with the screenplay and how there are all of these little moments or exchanges of dialogue that may not seem like much at first but would later play some sort of role later on and the audience would remember because of how well it was set up before as we end up remembering those little details. Just really great writing, and the dialogue itself is also sharp, and memorable as of course we have the catchy one liners, and fun exchanges between the different characters, but there’s also parts like with the conversation between John, and Holly or Al confessing a regretful event from his past on the radio with John that have a lot of weight to them and feel genuine. Plus it can be very funny when the opportunity presents itself with a lot of comedy stemming from how relatable the characters are and their reactions to certain things that happen, which makes the humor come off as natural rather than forced. All of it comes together for a thrilling story that has all of the right ingredients and due given how much investment there is in what goes down it leads to a very satisfying conclusion by the time we get to the end.
Also helping is that the action itself adds even more excitement, and memorability to the proceedings as John McTiernan (one of my personal favorite action directors) does a fantastic job crafting some truly thrilling set pieces. Like I said the fact that the movie takes the time to set up John, and the other characters gives the proceedings a lot of urgency as we the audience care about what happens and have a rooting interest in what’s going on. But on to the action itself and in general it is just so much fun and delivers exactly what an action junkie would want. Every single action scene from the constant shoot outs to the exciting chase scenes are fun, well shot, and have a lot of nail biting tension to them as we see John try and navigate the environment and face a number of obstacles along the way. Plus McTiernan directs with a lot of wide shots so that the audience can see everything that is going on and it just is so much fun to watch unfold that it’s hard to pick a favorite and there are some really cool impressive stunts throughout which is always a treat. Also there is one aspect of this film I actually really dug when I re watched it recently and that was the music, and Michael Kamen’s score which I think is great as it captures the intense feeling of the movie and on a side note I like the use of Beethoven’s “9th Symphony” which is amusing and thanks to it’s use here it has become synonymous with the movie!
Yet just like any great action movie the action wouldn’t work as well if there was no rooting investment in the characters and as I’ve mentioned numerous times that is absolutely not a problem here. In fact the aspect of the characters that I love the most when it comes to Die Hard is how each and every one of them has some sort of role to play in the grand scheme of the feature and how they each manage to leave a lasting impression. First there’s John McClane of course played by Bruce Willis who may be my favorite action movie hero. This is because instead of being an invincible killing machine who doesn’t get harmed by anything he is very much the every man who just so happens to be thrown into a mess he’d rather not be a part of, but is. His reactions to everything is probably what any one of would act like if we were in this situation as he gets scared at times, he bleeds when he gets hurt (that scene where his foot gets cut always makes me wince a little bit), and even though he does a lot of wise cracks he doesn’t always keep his cool and he is someone the audience can identify with immediately and Willis captures this perfectly, bringing to life an action movie icon. But you can’t have a great action movie hero without a great action movie villain and Hans Gruber, played by none other than Alan Rickman himself fills, that role perfectly. Rickman is just incredible in this role as he’s charismatic, cunning, funny, low key threatening, and not someone to mess with yet not entirely one who plays it cool as his meticulously planned heist goes awry thanks to the presence of John McClane. The two of them play off of each other greatly in a consistently enthralling game of cat & mouse and it’s even more impressive considering they don’t even meet in person until halfway into the movie (their encounter being one of my favorite scenes in the movie) as they do most of their communication by radio and it still manages to work. He really is one of the best movie villains out there and has proven to be a very influential one at that. Heck even his henchman are fun to watch as it’s a very diverse group with each one with their own colorful personality with the stand outs being Gruber’s second in command, Karl, as thanks to a great villain turn from Alexander Godunov, is very menacing, and the tech specialist, Theo, as Clarence Gilyard brings a lot of enthusiasm to the role. As for Bonnie Bedelia as Holly she’s also strong and I like how Holly is able to hold her own in the presence of Gruber and make some smart decisions doing her best to help everyone out until help comes, and again I thought John, and Hollie’s relationship is fleshed out well as she does have her reasons for separating from him and it feels very lived in. But my favorite of the side characters is Reginald VelJohnson as Al Powell, the police officer who communicates with John from the outside and one of the only people to actually help him out. He’s just such a great character as I love how he’s introduced as this cop who like John has to deal with this mess and I like how he helps John out and how we learn more about him and his backstory (plus he has some of the funniest bits in the film). There are plenty of other fun players along the way like Hart Bochner who is great as the sleazy coworker of Hollie who nonetheless has a little more depth than most of these types of characters, Harry Ellis, and De’voreaux White as John’s limousine driver, Argyle, who is a very good comic relief who also gets a fun pay off at the end. There’s also a lot of high authority characters here who may seem like the typical wrong minded authority figures but I feel they work in showing just how alone John is in this situation and how everything is against him which makes the pay offs all the more satisfying. No matter how big or small a role they play almost everyone has a reason for being here and it makes for a very well rounded cast.
As if it hasn’t been stated enough already I really love Die Hard! It’s one of those movies that I never get bored of watching thanks to the brilliant writing, investing storytelling, perfect script, memorable, and well shot action, and instantly recognizable characters, and performances and it’s always a blast to put on! It just has this spark to it that just always clicks with me and it works in ways that many of it’s knock offs just don’t do nearly as well (save for the also terrific Speed). It’s a huge recommendation from me if you haven’t seen it as I consider it one of my favorite action movies, and really one of my favorites of all time. Not much else to say except I very much look forward to reviewing the rest of the franchise as next time we will be dealing with it’s sequel, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, so be on the look out for that soon and of course I wish everybody a Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Rating: A+
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