Die Hard

Die Hard (1988)

Director: John McTiernan

Writer: Roderick Thorpe (novel), Jeb Stuart (screenplay), Steven E. de Souza (screenplay)

Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, De'Voreaux White, William Atherton, Hart Bochner, James Shigeta, Alexander Godunov

Synopsis:

NYPD detective John McClane (Willis) travels to Los Angeles to visit his wife, Holly (Bedelia) and kids for the holidays. While attending Holly's office Christmas party, John is caught up in an apparent terrorist attack led by Has Gruber (Rickman). The only support John has is from Sgt. Al Powell of the LAPD, who offers him a friendly ear through radio communications. Alone and barefoot, McClane must fight off the terrorists and save his wife. Awesome Christmas action ensues.

First Impressions:

I was 12 years old when this movie came out and, unfortunately, was prohibited by my mom from seeing it in the theaters. Fortunately, I had a friend whose mother wasn't so concerned about what he watched, and I managed to catch it on home video upon its release. Back then, I thought it was great, and I'd seen it multiple times during the ensuing years. I've long held that this film is the gold standard for 80s action movies and informed much of what happened in the genre during the next decade. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I'm looking forward to spicing up my holiday season with some Yuletide gunplay. So, let's get to it.

Story/Direction: 

"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."

I've always been a big believer that when it comes to action movies, the simpler the story, the better. Now, I'm not against deeper, more nuanced plots, but the more complicated the plot, the bigger the film's chance to go off the rails. Really, the action needs to be the focus in movies like this. To that end, the story in this film is quite simple: terrorists attack an office building, hold the employees hostage, and one lone hero must stop them. It just screams the 80s (even though the book was written in the 70s, I think). 

Despite the plot's wonderful simplicity, the screenwriters manage to give the film some depth, specifically with John and Holly's relationship. As the film begins, the couple is estranged, with Holly living in Los Angeles and John in New York. The film does a good job of building tension as the audience wonders whether the terrorist leader, Gruber, will discover who John is, putting Holly into even further danger. There's also a lovely twist involving the terrorists' motivations, but I won't go too deeply into that to avoid spoilers.

From a direction standpoint, McTiernan does a great job in his follow-up to Predator. As I revisit these old movies, I'm often amazed at how different their approach to story-telling is compared to movies made today. Modern movies are so often concerned with world-building that they often get bogged down with exposition. Here, McTiernan gets us where we need to be quickly and simply. We learn all we need to know about John in just a few easy exchanges with a passenger on the airplane and a simple conversation with his limo driver, Argyle (White). That's it, less than 10 minutes into the movie, and the audience has all it needs to know about the hero and can just settle in and enjoy the action. 

Acting:

It's hard to believe now, but casting Bruce Willis as the lead was a high-risk move when this movie was released. At the time, Willis was known more for his comedic acting in the TV series Moonlighting, and it wasn't known whether he could carry a blockbuster action movie. Fortunately, the filmmakers made the right decision. The reason it works is that Willis plays McClane as an everyman rather than a superhero. He's scared, he gets run through the wringer, and he looks like shit by the end of the movie. It made the hero relatable and represented a significant shift in how action movies were cast in the 90s.

Of course, I can't talk about Die Hard without praising the late, great Alan Rickman. I think this may have been Rickman's first American film, and it immediately typecast him as a scheming villain type of character. It's okay, though, because he was just so awesome as Hans Gruber. Rickman is one of those actors that can exude menace, despite being fairly slight of frame. In my mind, it's one of the great villain performances of all time. Though the German accent wasn't quite as good as I remembered it to be.

The rest of the cast does a good job, and there's not really a clunker to be found. Some highlights include Reginald VelJohnson's turn as Sgt. Al Powell and Paul Gleason as Deputy Chief Dwayne Robinson. Of course, I also have to mention William Atherton as the reprehensible reporter, Thornburg. Nobody does a better job at making an audience hate him, quite like William Atherton. 

Visuals:

Explosions, lots and lots of explosions. The pyrotechnic department on this film certainly earned their money as there were plenty of things going boom. There's also a fair amount of gunplay, which is all handled well. The nice thing about these action movies is from an effects standpoint, they still hold up well because it's mostly done in-camera. I also love how the film is shot, with the ever-present blue glow of LA permeating the film. It gives it a very noir feeling, even though it's the furthest thing from a noir film. 

Score/Music:

This film's music was made by Michael Kamen, who I'm discovering made the music for most action movies in the 80s. It's a solid score and but unimpressive. Kamen does sprinkle a few holiday classics in to mix things up. Honestly, though, the music is just kinda there.

Action:

This is where the cheddar is. Die Hard has long been lauded as the best action movie of all time and it's well deserved, I think. There is a lot of great action beats here. Using a half-constructed office building really was a good move as it leads to many original set pieces, like a precarious hold over an elevator shaft, a firefight on the roof of the building and a showdown in a conference room. There really is a lot of fun action here. 

Final Verdict:

Still a classic. Die Hard deserves the title of one of the best action films of all time, and it's still a heck of a lot of fun. As to whether or not it's a Christmas film? I think it is, but I'll let you make your own call.