1988 action adventure
Rating: 16/20
Plot: A tough New York City cop flies to L.A. on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with his wife and children. He's dropped at a 40 story skyscraper by his crazy limo driver because that's where the Super Ultra Fun Classical Music Christmas Extravaganza is being held. While washing his armpits, terrorists led by Professor Snape bust in with a too-elaborate plan to steal some things from the building and then go spend time talking about the time they came up with an elaborate plan to steal some things from the building. They break in, kill a couple people who may or may not have even gotten their names in the credit (Guy Who Died After Silly Dialogue #1 and Guy Who Died More Painfully After More Painful Dialogue #2?), shut down all the elevators, take an elevator to floor 30, begin shooting unnecessarily, and take hostages. Meanwhile, John McClane finishes washing his second armpit. He sneaks away, forgetting his shoes, and then causes all kinds of problems for the terrorists. Professor Snape gets mad. There are lots of explosions. They decide to settle things the way all men should settle things--a quip off! The antagonists exchange witticisms via walkie-talkie until one gives up and commits seppuku. Then everything explodes!
Silly fun and thrills, probably top shelf action movie stuff but nonetheless big and dumb. A lot of this just doesn't make sense, and the script is peppered with that typical 80's action movie banter and one liners. An adrenaline rush, and I had popcorn by the fistfuls. More popcorn than you can shake a machine gun at, motherfuckers! There wasn't much at all realistic about this, but at least John McClane is neither flat or invincible. The static setting of the 40-story building, partially incomplete, adds tension, and the special effects help make this as ridiculous as a movie should be allowed to be.
Here I am wondering if Bruce Willis's character is going to survive the movie (Spoiler alert! He does!):
Plot: A tough New York City cop flies to L.A. on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with his wife and children. He's dropped at a 40 story skyscraper by his crazy limo driver because that's where the Super Ultra Fun Classical Music Christmas Extravaganza is being held. While washing his armpits, terrorists led by Professor Snape bust in with a too-elaborate plan to steal some things from the building and then go spend time talking about the time they came up with an elaborate plan to steal some things from the building. They break in, kill a couple people who may or may not have even gotten their names in the credit (Guy Who Died After Silly Dialogue #1 and Guy Who Died More Painfully After More Painful Dialogue #2?), shut down all the elevators, take an elevator to floor 30, begin shooting unnecessarily, and take hostages. Meanwhile, John McClane finishes washing his second armpit. He sneaks away, forgetting his shoes, and then causes all kinds of problems for the terrorists. Professor Snape gets mad. There are lots of explosions. They decide to settle things the way all men should settle things--a quip off! The antagonists exchange witticisms via walkie-talkie until one gives up and commits seppuku. Then everything explodes!
Silly fun and thrills, probably top shelf action movie stuff but nonetheless big and dumb. A lot of this just doesn't make sense, and the script is peppered with that typical 80's action movie banter and one liners. An adrenaline rush, and I had popcorn by the fistfuls. More popcorn than you can shake a machine gun at, motherfuckers! There wasn't much at all realistic about this, but at least John McClane is neither flat or invincible. The static setting of the 40-story building, partially incomplete, adds tension, and the special effects help make this as ridiculous as a movie should be allowed to be.
Here I am wondering if Bruce Willis's character is going to survive the movie (Spoiler alert! He does!):
1 comment:
First, let's get the flaws out of the way. Nobody can fall 50 feet down an elevator shaft and catch themselves by their fingertips. Alexander Godunov is not that hard to kill. This movie has the dumbest character in movie history... Deputy Police Chief Dwayne Robinson, who when asked about a dead man who fell 50 stories comments that it may have been a depressed stock broker, ignoring the fact that the body was riddled with bullets. He's also stupid several other times.
Even with these flaws, 'Die Hard' is one of the greatest action movies ever made. You can blame it for a million inferior imitations, but they exist because it is so good. Bruce Willis is perfect. Charismatic, funny, believable, and he actually looks like he's been through a war by the end. Rickman's Gruber is one of my all-time favorite villians. Intelligent, ruthless and evil, he is the perfect bad guy.
The build-up is exciting and once the action begins, it is relentless. You really get the sense the likable hero is in almost constant peril and the action sequences are great. This is in my top 100 so I give it a 19.
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