The definitive action film of its era

Rating: 10/10 (5 June 2004)

For me this is the without a doubt the most satisfying of an admittedly flawed genre.
Sure action movies of the time were cheesy, look dated now and suffer from thin story lines. But I don't need a story line any stronger than that in Die Hard when the action and humour are so well crafted.
This film excels at what it tries to do, provide fairly light hearted escapism. It is well paced, slick and my god it has some of the best non-Arnie lines ever.
"He had a ray-gun, looked real enough" ClichÃ© desk jockey cop explaining why he shot a kid dead.
"Guess we're gonna some new FBI guys" Dwaine the police chief when the FBI guys are incinerated mid-flight.
"I'll kill you. I'm gonna cook you. I'm gonna eat you." John McClane aka 'Roy' as he pounds the skull of Karl (who's brother he killed)
Any film that is the best in its genre deserves the high ratings about which other curmudgeonly users have complained.