Dies hard

Rating: 5/10 (21 August 2007)

"Die Hard" features Bruce Willis as John McClane, a police officer combatting a group of terrorists holding hostages in an LA office building. Willis makes a decent action hero as John McClane and injected a welcome humor into the role. Inevitably McClane gets into a number of conflicts with the terrorists. There are some notable action scenes and special effects, but a lot of the action is repetitive shoot-outs. This would be fine if there were more story developments, but the developments are few and far between.
The most interesting developments in the film revolved around the twists Hans Gruber engineers to thwart the inept efforts of the police when they attempt to enter the office building. Alan Rickman's performance as the refined and calculating yet sarcastic Hans Gruber is the highlight of the film. Most of the supporting characters were either unremarkable or unnecessary, particularly the incompetent deputy chief of police. However, having "Al", the one savvy policeman who showed some character depth and genuine concern was touching. Overall I found "Die Hard" to be mostly tedious, contrary to the popular opinion of the film as a fast-paced thriller. The one strongly redeeming feature of the film was Alan Rickman's memorable performance as Hans Gruber.