Die Hard - The greatest action movie (not to star Arnie)

I've decided to leave a review for 'Die Hard' exactly thirty years since its release in 1988.  Partly because it still holds up after all that time as one of the greatest action movies ever made and, secondly, because it has just (officially?) been classified as a 'Christmas movie.'  So, does it promote festive cheer and goodwill to all men?  Or does it just give you the manual on how to kill unlimited bad guys with a machine gun, a witty quip or two and dirty feet.  Probably the latter really, but, for the record, it is SET at Christmas and a famous Christmas song even plays it out.  What more do you need to pull a cracker and eat Xmas pudding to?

For anyone that doesn't know, the plot to 'Die Hard' involves a cop getting stuck in a giant building during a terrorist takeover.  Guess what?  He fights back.  It's a simple plot and that's its main strength.  It never really tries to be anything that its not.  Bruce Willis may have been around before 1988, but it was no doubt that it was 'Die Hard' that cemented him as an 'A-list' star.  Granted he's reprised his role as John McClane numerous times since, however one (of the many!) criticisms thrown at the sequels is that he's become a 'superhero' in human form, i.e. he can do anything and is completely invulnerable.  But, back in the first outing, we really do feel his pain as he limps, crawls and drags his way through the building's air ducts in order to simply survive the night, let alone take out the entire squad.

In short, Bruce Willis was actually 'relatable' back then.  But, what is a hero without a good villain?  Not much.  But luckily, as 'Die Hard' cemented Willis as an A-list protagonist, it also did the same for Alan Rickman as the dastardly terrorist leader, Hans Gruber.  I read somewhere that the best films involving a clearly defined hero and villain explore the relationship between them (test it out - the movies that don't really work almost always have the hero and villain never meeting/interacting until the final showdown where the hero inevitably kills the villain).  Here, the two spar not just physically, but mentally thanks to McClane stealing one of the terrorist's radios and mercilessly taunting Gruber as he dispatches one henchman after the next.

So, you have the relatable hero, the evil villain and the simple plot.  What more could you want from an action movie?  Well… action, maybe?  And it's here tenfold.  The wonderful thing about eighties action movies was that they were real.  Or rather the special effects were really there on screen, rather than the actors filming up against a green screen and the explosions added later.  All the fights here actually look like they could really happen.  Yes, we always have to suspend our disbelief that one man shooting at a hundred has a better chance of killing them than the other way round (but then we've been doing that since James Bond first sipped his Martini!).  But the action looks real and it's the final icing on this most unexpected Christmas cake.

Die Hard' may now be a Christmas movie, but you really can watch it any time you want a simple, yet excellent action film that really doesn't have many flaws (or at least none that detract from its brilliance).  It really has been the template for many an inferior action movie to come.  Yippie-kay-yah Christmas to you all!

10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this