Remarkably Good Movie in Nearly Every Way

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2013)

"Die Hard" is an ingenious marathon of claustrophobic and acrophobic action. It features superior action, a script sparkling with great lines, stalwart characters in the three biggest roles, high-quality sets, and a neat Michael Kamen musical score. The greatly successful careers of Alan Rickman and Bruce Willis can be traced to "Die Hard." Sadly, one recurring mistake prevents it from reaching its awesome potential and ruined the movie for me my first several viewings.
Nearly the whole movie occurs at Nakatomi Plaza, a beautiful property with a skyscraper at its center. On the 30th floor, an innocent Christmas Eve party morphs into chaos upon the arrival of Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his twelve-man squad. While posing as a terrorist taking hostages, the wily Hans really seeks the treasure in Nakatomi's vault. Mr. Gruber has planned one of the truly perfect crimes, except for the one element nobody could have predicted.
Holly McClane (Bonnie Bedelia), who is Nakatomi Corporation's Vice President, has invited her husband John (Willis) to the Christmas party. John is not merely a police officer, but one with exceptional skill and toughness. The terrorists cannot take control of the people quickly enough to prevent McClane's retreat to the unfinished upper floors. With John now roaming in the building, Hans's criminal master plan goes from flawless to critically endangered.
I cannot say much about the action that has not already been said. It is great, no question. Some Arnold Schwarzenegger movies of the time contain more brutal violence. I prefer Indiana Jones or Timothy Dalton's Bond movies for quality, but any superiority those movies have is small. Fans of automatic weapons in movies have plenty to feast on here. Few people know the name Charlie Picerni, who was a stunt coordinator for several famous television shows before working "Die Hard." His effort here deserves special mention, as does cinematographer Jan de Bont's. It is no surprise that their careers have been successful since.
LAPD Detective Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) joins McClane and Gruber in the trio of main characters. All three rise above the level of average hero, supporter, and villain. "Die Hard" wisely takes pauses from the tense moments to let those three characters rule the movie for awhile. One of the movie's best scenes comes when McClane tearfully admits to Powell that he regrets never saying the words "I'm sorry" to his wife. Michael Kamen effectively tones down his memorable and often grandiose musical score to fit these scenes.
With all of the high praise given so far, and "Die Hard" deserves every word of it, there is one huge problem. It is called Idiot Plot Syndrome. Roger Ebert is known for using it, although he did not coin the term. When a plot has easily solved problems but they take way too long to solve because most of the characters are idiots, the movie is infected with Idiot Plot Syndrome.
"Die Hard" puts on an idiots' convention. Let's consider Idiot Number One. McClane plans to lure the police to Nakatomi Plaza any way he can. With the phone lines cut, he uses a radio to report the hostage takeover. The brilliant 911 dispatcher completely ignores the report of terrorists with military weapons because she prefers to argue that the channel is reserved for emergency calls. Even machine gun fire loud enough to hurt her ears is not enough to punch reality through her lead skull into her stubborn brain.
The police eventually arrive, and with them Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason). Robinson readily accepts every possible explanation except the real one. His stupidity is not too bad at first, and actually plays a critical role in advancing the plot. It becomes annoying when he sees what is really happening and fails to wise up. He even hates McClane after he saves the lives of multiple officers because he does not like how he did it. Even worse are Johnson and Johnson from the FBI. If FBI agents honestly think losing 25% of a group of hostages is acceptable, I want to change countries. Then there is the coke snorting brownnoser who works with Holly, turkey television reporter (William Atherton), and the hack doctor who describes "Helsinki Syndrome" on the evening news. I could go on.
When I saw "Die Hard" the first time, I had no idea if the movie was supposed to be a rousing action thriller, and action comedy, or a parody. The action is too hard hitting to be absurd, but the supporting characters are too goofy to be taken seriously. As a result, I did not enjoy the movie as an action or a comedy. I was confused and annoyed. I ended up frustrated with a movie I should have loved. Without Idiot Plot Syndrome and the misplaced humor it brings, "Die Hard" would certainly rate an eight of ten, and probably a nine. As it stands, six out of ten is all I can fairly award it.