Die hard sets the tone for every future hero

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2018)

Just re watched this film and I can't believe how well made it is and how it stands the test of time. Just like Predator another McTiernan masterpiece this film hits all the right notes.
To make an action film that blends so many layers is a real skill pulled off with real aplomb by the entire film crew.
Putting Bruce Willis as an ordinary cop as a one man army against highly trained mercenaries and an intelligent mastermind played with enormous relish by the sadly missed Alan Rickman shouldn't have worked.
By setting it in a towering skyscraper it allows John Mclane to move around undetected and protected by its sheer size and allows each separate action beat build to a big climax at the end.
The helicopter sequence where two gunships weave there way around buildings at low altitude is thrilling even now.
The soundtrack as with all memorable movies is fantastic. Again as with Predator the characters all get fleshed out bar some of the terrorists who really could've been anybody.
Bruce Willis is excellent here and only got the part after more famous musclebound actors gave it a pass.
This turns out to be the films strength as what could've been a Schwarznegger or Stallone one man army that stretched credibility turned into a believable grounded ordinary man doing his job. Watch Skyscraper with Dwayne Johnson and then this and you'll see everything wrong and why everything was right with this.
In fact Jason Bourne and Daniel Craig's James Bond owe their characters to this film.
Yes you can be highly trained and brave and tough but also show vulnerability as Willis does here with his scenes with Bonnie Bodelia and Reginald Veljohnson.
Where the film really excels though is the fabulous dialogue between Rickman and Willis.
Hans Gruber is a truly frightening and calculating and ruthless terroist who has a false charm that turns into a cold hearted killer at a moments notice and his evil is well pitted against Willis as an everyman cop thrust into a situation he shouldn't be in.
Watch this as this a classic action movie which really hasn't been bested since