Short(ish) Review #8

Die Hard (1988) - "Twelve terrorists. One cop. The odds are against John McClane... That's just the way he likes it."

My friend Nic is now satisfied that I have finally seen one of her favourite films of all time. Commonly referred to as Cowboys and Indians meets The Towering Inferno. And there is some sort of connection to Christmas.

In John McTiernan's Die Hard, John McClane (Bruce Willis (The Fifth Element and The Sixth Sense)) is a New York cop visiting his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles. However, the building she works at is taken over by a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Harry Potter series). Whilst his wife and her co-workers are held hostage, McClane must find a way to stop the terrorists, being "a fly in the ointment, a monkey in the wrench, a pain in the ass". Therefore, he attempts to take them out one-by-one, whilst working out their plan. He also tries to grab the attention of the LAPD to let them know that the building has been hijacked. However, the only cop who seems to be listening to him is flat-footed Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald Veljohnson).

Prior to this, Bruce Willis was only known for a one hit TV show and a B-movie flop. However, his performance as John McClane made him a hit. What's so appealing about him is the sense that he is just a regular average Joe, rather than the action hero you would come to expect during the 80s. All the big names at the time were either busy or uninterested. We also love McClane for his quick and witty one liners, which add an element of comedy. It is also amazing the fact that he did nearly the whole film bare foot and there is a plot device related to that later on in the film. As his often does, Alan Rickman does a great job of playing the villain. It's got to be the voice And that was his first feature film role. His performance has helped to make Hans Gruber one of the greatest movie villains of all time

Die Hard 2, released two years later, takes place at an airport in Washington D.C. and the idea behind it was basically how could the same thing happen to the same guy. In 1995, Die Hard: With A Vengeance featured a game of "Simon says..." in New York, starring Jeremy Irons as the evil mastermind. Why is it always the British actor who plays the villain? Maybe it's because we're best at it and/or Americans want to portrayed as heroes. 12 years later, in order to revive the franchise (and Bruce Willis' career), we got Live Free or Die Hard, or as we Brits sensibly and simply referred to it Die Hard 4.0. However, the critics dubbed it "Die Hard 4-point-less". And this year saw the release of A Good Day to Die Hard, set in Moscow showing the relationship between McClane and his son. This was the latest film in what was referred to as the "geri-action" genre, in which ailing action stars such as Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in films with lots of shooting, followed by a comment about the fact they're now old. Anyway, A Good Day to Die Hard was criticized for being too dumb, boring and stupid, whilst also was shown in a 12 certificate edit (obviously to maximise takings at the box office) before a 15 version was released on DVD.

I may have come across a bit snobby in some of my previous reviews when it comes to my choice of films. I do occasionally like a good action film and that is what the first Die Hard film is. It takes a good premise and delivers on it in a straightforward way, with clear well-defined characters. How to conclude this? Well, in true John McClane fashion, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*****!"

P.S. Nic, are you happy now that I have seen this film? You now have to watch The Shawshank Redemption...