In the rare pantheon of outstanding Hollywood action movies

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2007)

Nearly twenty years and millions of clichés later, the original Die Hard still holds up in all of it's Hollywood glory. One of the last films to come out of that greater era of quality popcorn entertainment (compared to today's standards), this fluidly visceral, though lighthearted study into the hostage tensions overtaking 40-story Nakatomi plaza has become a modern day action classic for all the right reasons.
Sure some characters have devolved into caricature upon recent viewings (Hart Bochner's coked up Ellis), sure the entire mechanics informing this intense ordeal feel a little less gripping in retrospect, and sure an excess of one-liners can degrade the entire process on the whole...but not by a whole lot. Die Hard was perfectly calibrated to be as entertaining as it was bloody, adult, and exciting when it arrived. While time may have extracted a percentage of the urgency out of this eternally exciting experience, conceptually the original Die Hard will continue to remain one of the most captivating settings ever staged in a modern action film. The selfless direction from John McTiernan was hitting it's stride as he captured progressively intense battles in a simultaneously spacious and claustrophobic setting.
It is the triumphant locale which hosts this intelligent robbery thriller that will continue to beckon re-visitation, though without the considerable tension between our two leads, Nakatomi skyscraper would remain an empty gesture. Bruce Willis could not have asked for a better early career move then to star as New York cop John McClane. Even if it did pigeon-hole his limited talent, Willis already displayed the raw intuition that made him one of our most agreeable action stars. His everyman style was one of instant cult likability: a person most average joe's could relate to, thrust into a situation no one could relate to. His line deliveries will pale to the actor who has slightly but surely refined his craft over many years, but the finesse with which he eases into the action with believability and likability became instantly recognizable.