What a film! Whoo!

Rating: 10/10 (2 February 2008)

I watched this movie yesterday, I thought this was just going to be another typical action movie such as the likes of True Lies, The Rock, Speed, with good action but weak performance. But this movie exceeded my expectation and showed me how great it is and why it deserved to be ranked on Top 250.
John McClane, a New York cop, who was visiting his one on Christmas in the Nakatomi Corporation, only to find out a group of terrorist seized control of the building in order to rob some bonds(I don't remember exactly what it is, something expensive). They shot the boss and held 30 people(including McClane's wife)as hostages. The FBI and LA Police Department were useless and their actions even caused McClane more troubles and gained the terrorists advantage. The only help from the LAPD was a short and fat cop Powell, who was a the only sympathizer for McClane. The ending is quite predictable, John McClane defeated the terrorists successfully and left with his wife.
What I like about this movie, it wasn't the action that made this movie so great(although they were also well-done), it was the development of each character. Each character gave a staggering performance, not to mention Alan Rickman's performance as Hans. He gave the best portrayal of the terrorist leader to date, the other bosses in other action movies were less vivid compare to him. And John McClane, he seceded from the group of traditional action heroes and formed his new style. Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, they were all great action actors but they lacked something McClane has which made their characters superficial, and they're more like a superman than human. McClane did that part well, he could be hurt by terrorists, he could still bleed, and he still had affections. Remember his emotional conversation between Powell, he mentioned his wife and his children, that made us forget about the thrilling circumstances and we felt touched by his words. That made the character McClane not only devoid of superficiality, but also believable.
The action was top-notch, I wondered how they shot the rooftop-being-blown-off scene. I hope the director will put this in the Special Feature in the DVD.
Powerful action movie. Even if action movies are not your cup of tea, this one also for you, unless you have a problem with incessant profanity, strong and gory violence.
Great movie. Replaced Lethal Weapon as the best action movie I've ever seen. 10/10