The archetypal modern action movie

Rating: 10/10 (8 April 2000)

This is one for the ages. The strength of this movie, unlike the numerous later ripoffs (I can't say anything about the sequels yet), lies in substance over style. At first I was repulsed by the obvious 80s feel of the movie, but then, hey, Bruce Willis was starring so I had to keep watching. He makes this wonderful transformation from ordinary joe into, literally, Rambo at the end where he's shirtless, shoeless, bloody, hurting and smoke-stained (and then he says "Hi honey" to his amazed wife!). All throughout this transformation he's helped by a very strong script filled with what might be throw-away lines and details, but instead come back to haunt later on. What defines this picture above the rest is that it starts out giving you characters, not violence, and the level of realism portrayed makes McClane's metamorphosis all the more spectacular.
Die Hard plays like it was taken right from a novel (which it was) but rises above that feel by seeing it played out on the screen, especially helped by the action scenes so pivotal to the twists and turns of it all.
Some things of note: the use of "Ode to Joy" type motifs in the scoring (not the obvious parts)
great intelligent bad guys, no clichés (unless you count the German baddies, which this movie probably originated), an actual worthy set of adversaries
a performance by Alan Rickman played to a T...
...as well as a perfect performance by Bruce Willis, no one else could've done it as well as he.