Classic dumb action that defined a genre

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2013)

It's hard today to think of action movies and not remember 'Die Hard'. The movie changed the genre of cop action forever, and for most still remains unsurpassed within it.
Tough NY cop John McClane goes to Los Angeles to visit his wife during Christmas in a try to reconcile with her. However, the building they are in is taken by terrorists, led by Hans Gruber, and it's up to McClane to stop them.
It's hard not to enjoy this film. It doesn't lose much time, has great action scenes and the setting of it all happening in a building allows for very interesting confrontations and tactics from both sides. Add that to Bruce Willis' tough, charismatic and smart-mouthed performance and Alan Rickman's great debut role, and you have an enjoyable 2 hour action movie to go for.
Yet, not all was good in here. It's hard to fault the main characters, true, but the opposite goes for the supporting ones. They are mostly too obnoxious, irritating or flat-out uninteresting, with the added insult of every other law-enforcing figure being made to look like an utter idiot in order to up McClane in our eyes (from the LAPD to the FBI, ESPECIALLY the FBI). The 'buddy cop' relationship was better than in most movies of its kind, thankfully, as the actor playing Al Powell was good too.
Finally, comes the plot itself. This is why I call this a 'dumb action'. How many people can you find that like Die Hard just for it's plot? Few. And how many can you find that don't even remember it? Probably many. The 'twists' in the motivation of Hans Gruber are just idiotic (especially his real plan, which is so full of holes I fell from my chair laughing when it was revealed) and the plot overall is either overly simplistic in some points or just illogically stupid in order to make their characters (ESPECIALLY the FBI) 'work'. Such a lack of good plot also troubles multiple viewings of this film, as there is only so much straight action can do without a plot to back it up.
Overall, it's a very fun movie to watch, and it's action sequences continue to resist the test of time. Just don't expect a deep and intelligent movie, and you will have a very enjoyable 2 hours.