A humanized action hero.

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2016)

This film began a remarkable action movie franchise that runs around the detective John McClane of the New York Police Department. In this film, he will try to save the life of a group of hostages held captive in a corporate skyscraper of Los Angeles. Directed by John McTiernan, the film has a script of Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Bruce Willis embodies the leading role. The film was nominated for four Oscars (Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Sound Effects, Best Visual Effects).
At first glance, this film does not look like anything special. Another eighties action movie, full of explosions, police cars made in pieces and bloodthirsty killers facing a single man, full of noble intentions. However, this film has something different: in a decade full of bullet proof heroes, this hero does not act (or looks) as something indestructible. He hurts himself, complains all the time and looks like a guy facing a situation beyond his control. So, its not difficult for the public to chear McClane, making Willis great performance the big advantage of the film.
Everything else followed, more or less, the pattern of the decade for action: stunning sets, special, visual and sound effects made with great care and regular performances from the rest of the cast (the interpretation of Alan Rickman, then still little known by non- British public, deserves a positive note of attention). This is an action film that captivates some audiences more adverse to this kind of movies, which proved to be the key to its success.