Image courtesy of wall.alphacoders.com
Hello, everyone. I’m back with another holiday themed movie review. It’s for the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas. This year also marks the 30th Anniversary of an action classic, and one of, if not the definitive Christmas movie. It comes from John McTiernan, the director of another iconic 80s action movie, Predator (which celebrated its 30th Anniversary last year, and I in turn honored it with my review).
As I alluded to in my review of that movie, we go from one action classic to another… with Die Hard.
On Christmas Eve, New York police detective John McClane has come to see his estranged wife Holly in Los Angeles in the hopes of reconnecting with her during the Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza where she works. However, the celebration is cut short when a group of German terrorists storm the building and take everyone in the room hostage… except for one: John himself. The terrorists want $640 million from the vault, and they will do whatever they can to get it. John has only his wits to rely on if he has a chance of stopping them and freeing the hostages.
What Worked: The premise is timeless, and has inspired countless knockoffs for a reason, including two this year; some of them are still fun to watch, while others are just flat-out great movies in their own right. I mean, this decade has two prime examples, both of which also came out in the same year: The Raid and Dredd.
The cast is fantastic, particularly Bruce Willis as John McClane and Alan Rickman (in his first movie) as Hans Gruber. Their performances alone make this movie, because they bring an iconic hero and an equally iconic villain to life. John McClane is more than just a cop and a family man; he’s a good person who just wants to help, but ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, something he’d end up having a knack for. As for Hans Gruber, he has a clear motivation and will not let anything, or anyone, get in his way.
The supporting cast are really good as well, with Bonnie Bedelia as John’s wife Holly, and Reginald VelJohnson as Sgt. Al Powell, an LAPD officer sent to investigate the situation. The relationship between John and Holly feels genuine, and on top of that, Bonnie Bedelia doesn’t portray Holly as a damsel-in-distress, but as a smart character. She knows the type of person her husband is, and rather than intervene, she lets him do his thing while she stays put.
As for Powell, he’s the perfect counterpart to John McClane. He, too, is a cop who wants to help. He doesn’t know what the situation is at first because he’s on the outside, so he uses the necessary police procedures. John, being on the inside and knowing the terrorists’ plan, has to improvise on the spot if he has a chance of beating them. Despite that, Powell does gradually get to know who John is and that they’re on the same side, and he ends up having proven a worthy ally by the end of the movie. They also have some good banter with each other.
The movie is full of tension, and you’re constantly wondering how John is going to be able to outsmart Hans and his gang. Michael Kamen’s score also adds to the tension at points, and it’s actually even more effective because of it.
You’re also constantly on the edge of your seat, because the action is so relentless here. It shows why John McTiernan became a go-to action director during that time, especially after this. If Predator wasn’t evidence enough of that, this certainly is.
Much like in Predator, this also has some quotable lines aside from John McClane’s signature catchphrase. There’s some humor as well, which provides a nice little break in the tension before going right back into it. In addition to the aforementioned banter between McClane and Powell, the humor mostly comes from the limo driver Argyle, who is the best character in the movie.
What Didn’t Work: There’s one minor character named Harry Ellis (one of Holly’s co-workers) who’s not only cocky and sleazy, but he makes some of the stupidest decisions to where it’s not long before you want him out of the movie. What makes it worse is that he’s in the movie for a good portion of it.
However, everything else is so good that by the time it’s over, you barely remember he was in it.
Overall: Die Hard is an action classic on so many levels. It defines what make action movies in general so enjoyable to watch: memorable characters, quotable lines (including one of the most iconic catchphrases in cinematic history), constantly building tension, and yes, great sequences filled with gunfire, explosions (before they became mostly associated with Michael Bay), property damage, and a rising body count galore. Having a great story and the right amount of humor to balance it out also helps. When you have those as well, you know you’re in for something special, a gift that keeps on giving, if you will.
So yes, contrary to what Bruce Willis himself may tell you, Die Hard is, in fact, a Christmas movie. If it’s set around Christmas and has Christmas references throughout the movie, it counts. There’s plenty of other evidence aside from that, including people making it a holiday tradition by having it among the movies they watch for Christmas.