You just don't see book adaptations like this.

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2015)

Ney York cop John McClean (Bruce Willis) is making a Christman visit to Los Angeles to see his children and estranged wife. While he is in the high rise where his wife works, German terrorists break in, seal the building and begin making demands. Well, being the tough New York cop that he is, John doesn't stand for that and begins killing anything that carries a gun.
Yes, I said this was a book adaptation ("Nothing Lasts Forever" by Roderick Thorp) and yes it is a good one. It's not a 100% faithful adaptation, but the movie is carried out so well, most people can't tell this wasn't originally written as a movie. However, all the basic themes are there; cop vacations on Christmas to see family, family ends up as hostages in corporate building, terrorists get up close and personal lessons in polite political discourse, courtesy of said cop. All changes made I wholly understand; updating the story from the 1970s to 1980s culture and making the plot compatible with a movie format.
What I love in this movie is something that most action movies don't do well, if at all; mood. Die Hard has an outstanding mood of desperation in it that is written well in the script and performed well by the cast. The movie was paced very well and even in slow scenes, the plot was moving forward.
However, this is a movie that falls short of being perfect due to the little things. There's a few instances in the movie where suspension of disbelief is broken, but only for a moment. You have to tell yourself "well, it's an action movie" and move on with enjoying it.
In all, it's a really good movie and one of the best of the bunch for the 80s crop of action films.