Movie Review: Die Hard

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good action, fun

Cons: Not completely believable, language and violence

The Bottom Line: 

Fighting terrorists

On Christmas Eve.  Cliched yet

Still a thrilling ride.

"This Frequency is For Emergencies."  "You Think I'm Ordering a Pizza?"

When some friends found out I had never seen the Die Hard films, they decided it was time to change that oversight.  While mindless action isn't always my thing, I found the first one entertaining.

It's Christmas Eve, and John McClane (Bruce Willis) has flown across the country to spend the holiday with his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), and kids.  He's kept his job with the NYPD when she took a job for a multinational company in Los Angeles.

When he lands, he is picked up by a limo driver and taken to the still in construction skyscraper where Holly and some of her co-workers are still having a Christmas party.  But the party soon turns to horror when terrorists lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) take over the party.  Since so few people are in the building, no one evens knows the terrorists are there.  John has escaped their attention for the time being.  Can he evade them long enough to get help?  Or will he have to rescue everyone himself?

This is an early entry in the one man against overwhelming odds thriller genre.  (Some people claim it's the first, but I don't quite buy that.)  As such, it's easy to see the cliches that are present that probably weren't as familiar to viewers back then.  We've got bad guys who can't hit our hero and a hero who's gun never runs out of bullets.  As easy as it is to nitpick these things, they are a minor part of the story.

When I think of these types of films, I often think of mindless entertainment.  While there's certainly an aspect of that here (see previous paragraph), the majority of the plot actually holds together quite well.  The responses of the local police (when John does reach them) are only there to further the plot, but what happens inside the building is logical.  Okay, so many of the stunts are farfetched, but then again, so is the whole story, so just go with it.  And the stunts are all the more impressive because this was done in the day and age where stunt men had to actually do everything.

The movie is definitely set in the 80's.  For one thing, Bruce Willis is young and actually has hair!  Cassette tapes are mentioned, and the state of the art technology is obviously dated by today's standards.  Yes, there are even some 80's hairstyles and clothes (not to mention music), but they aren't as bad as they could be.

Honestly, all those things take a back seat once the action gets going.  While part of your mind may scream at you, you'll get caught up in this roller coaster ride.  Once things are set up, the action begins and pretty much keeps up for the rest of the film.  It's not all edge of your seat stuff, but it is enough to keep your attention.

And the setting of the upper parts of a skyscraper is brilliant and used well.  It limits just how much John can move around, but it also limits his enemies' movements.  At times, it's a little claustrophobic, but that's a feature and not a detraction at all.

The movie earns its R rating thanks to some bloody violence and lots of foul language.  Just be aware of that before sitting down to watch.

The acting is fine and makes you care about the characters.  I don't know that I would call any of the performances outstanding, but they get the job done.  The one exception to that is Alan Rickman.  He is an excellent villain, and he shows it here in his first part on the big screen.

Die Hard proves to be an entertaining thriller.  Yes, your brain won't buy everything that happens, but the story is entertaining enough that you won't care.