Easily the best action movie of the 80's!

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2000)

With assured direction from John McTiernan, a superb score by Michael Kamen and excellent special effects (by pre CGI standards), this film practically re-invented the action movie. And boy did we action fans need it.
James Bond was losing his appeal, Rambo was nothing more than a charmless, mono-syllabic walking machine-gun and Arnie was still in the early days of his rise to the top of Hollywood. The action genre needed help.
That help came in the unlikely form of Bruce Willis. Oh dear.
Since Moonlighting finished, Bruce's big screen output left a lot to be desired up to this point ('Blind Date', anyone?). Some thought it a bit cheeky of our Mr Willis to be demanding a few million dollars to appear as New York cop John McClane. In fact, some US cinema audiences started to jeer and throw popcorn at the screen when the trailer for Die Hard was shown. If only they knew...
Basically, Die Hard turned Bruce Willis into a genuine movie star. In a white vest that gets grubbier by the minute, a snappy gag for every villain despatched and injuries that get more severe with each increasingly improbable set-piece, John McClane became the blueprint for action heroes over the next decade. For the first time in a long while we had an action hero who was human (he's afraid to fly, he gets scared when the villains shoot at him, and most importantly, his marriage is a mess). From the moment we meet him, stressed out after a long plane journey, we know this is a guy we can trust.
Thanks to the sequels, it's hard to imagine anyone but Willis in the role of McClane but there's far more to Die Hard's success than it's leading man. In films like this there is a tendency to make the villains nothing more than cannon fodder. When they first appear in Die Hard, they give the impression of an expertly trained, highly disciplined and well organised team of guys-to-be-shot-by-Bruce. However, as the film progresses, they actually develop individual personalities. Special mentions should go to Clarence Gilyard Jr as Theo, the excitable Technical expert. Also Alexander Gudonov does a wonderfully snarling chief henchman/second-in-command. Last, but certainly not least, Alan Rickman as chief villain Hans Gruber shows exactly why he has since developed a reputation for stealing films right out from under the stars' noses.
Bruce has to work hard to stop Rickman from overshadowing him but he just about pulls it off (unlike Kevin Costner who, apparently, had Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves re-edited so that Rickman's Sherrif of Nottingham didn't wipe Costner's plank Robin off the screen - it didn't work though).
It's not just the characters that makes this film work. The action set-pieces are directed with impeccable style and panache by John McTiernan. This is probably the man we have to thank for action movie that practically re-invented the Big Budget 90's Hollywood Blockbuster two years before that decade had even begun.
That's not to say that film is perfect. Certain aspects of the plot are painfully contrived - "fists with your toes". Yeah, right. The police and other law enforcement agencies are worryingly inept, with the obvious exception of Al, Bruce's buddie on the outside. There's also the old "the villain is dead....whooops, no he isn't" device at the end which was as much a cliche in 1988 as it is now.
Some people might criticise Die Hard on the grounds that it's too far-fetched. Fair enough, it is. If you want serious social issues and politics, then watch an Oliver Stone movie. If you want brilliant escapism and fantastic entertainment, you should watch Die Hard - it's the best of it's kind