Superb cast, brilliant action!

Rating: 9/10 (24 August 2006)

(r#56)
This was an exhilarating movie that anyone should be able to enjoy. Bruce Willis shines in his breakthrough role as John McClane, the wise-cracking hard-ass cop. Willis, although a rookie actor, handles his shamelessly bad-ass one-liners as well as his dramatic scenes very well and never feels unbelievable. Alan Rickman almost steals the show from Bruce himself as the ultimate German villain, Hans Gruber. Rickman is a fantastic actor and it makes me sad to see him sleepwalking through The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Harry Potter series when he should be focusing on finding a good script instead. We need more movies like Galaxy Quest and Die Hard from him.
John McTiernan creates a perfect balance between the smashing action sequences, the character development and the humour, and as a result, Die Hard is one of very few movies that can be called "perfect" blockbusters. McTiernan had previously directed the Arnold classic Predator, but in my opinion Die Hard blows its predecessor out of the water in terms of pure awesomeness. The script is shock full of memorable lines that seem to have been written for Willis. The tension is thick throughout, but the comedy (mainly provided by McClane's one-liners, but also by a pathetically incompetent police deputy and an ignorant newsreader) never feels out of place or forced. It is perfection on all levels, and I wish that I could've been born in the late seventies just so I could've seen this film in the theatre.
I don't think any fan of action could dislike Die Hard, and neither would most fans of movies in general. It is a great thrill-ride from start to finish and features some of the greatest one-lines in history. It's just plain awesome even 18 years after its release. See it.