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Die Hard
The movie is based around a New York cop called John McClane who is visiting his estranged wife at her workplace in a Los Angeles skyscraper, called the Nakatomi Plaza. It’s Christmas Eve and the top employees of the company are having a Christmas party when McClane arrives.
However, a terrorist group who is after the contents of the building’s Safe has also arrived just after McClane.
Unknown to the terrorist group though, is that during the hostile party crashing, McClane’s police training has urged him to take action. He manages to disappear, unseen into the building’s air conditioning system and various lift-shafts, and has now become the only hope for the group of hostages that the terrorists have taken. Among the hostages though is McClane’s wife, Holly.
It’s an exceptionally original movie. The storyline is relatively simple: A man with a background trying to save the one he loves from a more powerful force.
But the way the movie has been handled and researched with real life police officers as advisors for Willis make for a real feeling turn of events.
The humour of the film comes from the same police advisors too. It’s very situational and makes for a good chuckle throughout.
What makes this particular action movie special is that it’s relatively small scale and only occasionally goes for the larger bangs and explosions. Most action flicks are simply crash bang and wallop all the way through. Director McTiernan manages to balance every element of the movie brilliantly.
The first and original Die Hard movie made a household name of Bruce Willis across the world.
Originally intended as a sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando, and sticking closely to the original source material of Roderick Thorp's novel called Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard is an 80s action classic and also manages to be a Christmas favourite too.
The acting is also a bonus. Willis is absolutely brilliant as the cop who’s out of his comfort zone who digs deep into his psyche to save his wife.
Alan Rickman is fantastic too as the terrorist leader. Rickman made it into my top 40 villains list.
All in all it’s one of the best action films ever made and has a delicate balance of over-the-top bangs, small-scale claustrophobia, combined with subtle humour and an actual sense of realism.
My rating 95%
The movie is based around a New York cop called John McClane who is visiting his estranged wife at her workplace in a Los Angeles skyscraper, called the Nakatomi Plaza. It’s Christmas Eve and the top employees of the company are having a Christmas party when McClane arrives.
However, a terrorist group who is after the contents of the building’s Safe has also arrived just after McClane.
Unknown to the terrorist group though, is that during the hostile party crashing, McClane’s police training has urged him to take action. He manages to disappear, unseen into the building’s air conditioning system and various lift-shafts, and has now become the only hope for the group of hostages that the terrorists have taken. Among the hostages though is McClane’s wife, Holly.
It’s an exceptionally original movie. The storyline is relatively simple: A man with a background trying to save the one he loves from a more powerful force.
But the way the movie has been handled and researched with real life police officers as advisors for Willis make for a real feeling turn of events.
The humour of the film comes from the same police advisors too. It’s very situational and makes for a good chuckle throughout.
What makes this particular action movie special is that it’s relatively small scale and only occasionally goes for the larger bangs and explosions. Most action flicks are simply crash bang and wallop all the way through. Director McTiernan manages to balance every element of the movie brilliantly.
The first and original Die Hard movie made a household name of Bruce Willis across the world.
Originally intended as a sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando, and sticking closely to the original source material of Roderick Thorp's novel called Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard is an 80s action classic and also manages to be a Christmas favourite too.
The acting is also a bonus. Willis is absolutely brilliant as the cop who’s out of his comfort zone who digs deep into his psyche to save his wife.
Alan Rickman is fantastic too as the terrorist leader. Rickman made it into my top 40 villains list.
All in all it’s one of the best action films ever made and has a delicate balance of over-the-top bangs, small-scale claustrophobia, combined with subtle humour and an actual sense of realism.
My rating 95%
