Movie Review: Die Hard (1988)

20th Century Studios
Original title: Die Hard
Year: 1988
Duration: 132 min.
Country: United States
Directed by: John McTiernan
Screenplay: Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza (based on the novel by Roderick Thorp)
With: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Alexander Godunov, Paul Gleason, William Atherton, Hart Bochner, Robert Davi, Grand L. Bush, James Shigeta, Andreas Wisniewski
Grade: 10

20th Century Studios

It takes place at Christmas, or rather, on Christmas Eve, there are Christmas carols and there is the traditional pine tree, but instead of having a Santa we have on one side a group of terrorists who take over an office building and on the other to a police officer without shoes who must stop them and, incidentally, save his marriage.

20th Century Studios

From here on, SPOILERS

Because surely all of us who frequent this CINETV.IO have already seen this movie not once but several times and possibly we know (some of) the dialogues by heart, even if it's not the "yippi-kay-ey, motherfucker" from McClane. Even so, the main spoiler, obviously, is that the terrorists are not terrorists, but simply a group of mercenaries who have come to empty the vault of the Nakatomi building. Beyond the weapons and the various homicides, they are simply a very well organized gang of thieves. Of course, they did not expect to find the stone in their shoe, the fly in the soup, which is John McClane.

Originally, Die Hard was going to star Frank Sinatra (!), as it is the sequel to The Detective (1968). That's right, the protagonist was going to be Joe Leland, an old, tired guy. Sinatra, who was already approaching 72 years old, did not want to know anything, and the rest is history. The singer died in 1998, but even so, can you imagine? what would have been let's say, a Die Hard 4.0 (2007) with a protagonist of more than 90 years?

20th Century Studios

The movie is well written and better shot, the actors are all great, and of course this is the movie that made Bruce Willis one of the iconic action heroes of the '90s, but what really sets Die Hard apart of the rest the action movies is the villain. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) is efficient and courteous but expeditious and unscrupulous, capable of executing someone in cold blood and within minutes believably posing as a hostage. However, that facade of efficiency and calm hides an insecurity and tension that McClane brings to the surface and exploits to his advantage.

Rickman integrates well into a oeerfect cast , and where everyone has their moment to shine on camera, whether it's the wife in danger (Bonnie Bedelia), the the well-meaning cocaine addict with a mouth (Hart Bochner), the cop who he can no longer fire his gun (Reginald VelJohnson), the FBI agents with the same last name (Robert Davi and Grand L. Bush), or even the annoying but persistent journalist (William Atherton).

Even so, today, almost 35 years after the film's premiere, it is hard to think of another actor other than Alan Rickman in the antagonistic role. And precisely, the problem with countless Die Hard imitations is usually that the villain is not up to the original. Perhaps the person who has come closest – even if it is not in a superficial way – has been Powers Boothe in Sudden Death (1997), that film with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing McClane in a hockey stadium.

Die Hard inaugurated a subgenre that still continues, from time to time, to flourish in the clueless desert that is Hollywood. Some other more or less classic examples are:

• Cliffhanger (1993) is Die Hard on the mountain.
• Olympus Has Fallen (2013) is Die Hard in the White House.
• Passenger 57 (1992) is Die Hard on a plane.
• Under Siege (1992) is Die Hard on a ship.

And of course the biggest Die Hard imitator was going to be the franchise itself. The successive installments would put McClane in increasingly excessive situations and with greater things at stake, but that is a story that we will continue on another occasion.