Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Movie Review: "Die Hard" (1988)

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Movie: "Die Hard"
Director: John McTiernan
Year: 1988
Rating: R
Running Time: 2 hours, 12 minutes

New York City police officer John McClane is flying to Los Angeles for Christmas to see his wife and kids for Christmas. During her company Christmas party, a group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber, siege Nakatomi Plaza and take all of the employees hostage. It's up to John, who evades capture, to save the day and bring the terrorists to their knees.

Die Hard?? I thought this was Christmas movie week???

Well folks, several lists include this fine piece of artistic beauty as one of the top 10 best Christmas movies, if not the best one movie of all time. While this is not your average Christmas movie wrought with Santa Claus, reindeer, and presents, it is most certainly and undeniably a Christmas movie!

It is such a great action movie, and one of my particular favorites. It's not unrealistic to the point of being body-bending, but it has its moments of action hilarity. Bruce Willis' delivery of the many one-liners in the film is perfect. His sarcastic, dry attitude works so well for McClane's character. John McClane was also a nice change in the 80's from the superhuman action heroes, the Sly Stallone's and Arnold's, who were musclebound and larger than life. Bruce Willis is an every-man and could be anyone walking down the street. He may not have any special gifts or superhuman abilities, but he rises to the challenge.

Then of course, there's Alan Rickman. Sexy, devilishly handsome, suave, badass, PERFECT Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. Is there nothing the man can't do well? Hans Gruber is one of the greatest movie villains of all time. He's cold, detached, calculating, ruthless, and intelligent, to boot. While he's physically not the most imposing character out there, his utter lack of remorse for anything he does and willingness to kill without a second though makes him scary as hell. Rickman, too, rises to the challenge, especially considering he was a British theater actor and relative unknown before this film. Willis and Rickman are the perfect opposites: the wealthy white-collar criminal versus the blue-collar average-joe cop.

Amazing movie that holds up well today. Plus, Argyle and Carl Winslow, how can you go wrong!!

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 10/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

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