The grandfather of modern action movies

Rating: 9/10 (5 September 2006)

Ahhh... There's nothing like the holiday season! Family reunions around the big table, presents for everybody and the kids playing all night long after Santa Claus' visit. Movies set in Christmas are always the kind of production which enhance our mood, touch us and make us feel better... Is it?
Not anymore. Because "Die Hard" is set exclusively on Christmas Eve, but it has nothing to do with Santa, elves or Frosty the Snowman. It simply is the catalyst of the blockbuster generation of the 90s and it's also one of the best action movies of all time.
The movie is about a group of European terrorists (they're German, actually) who plan to steal $600,000,000 from Nakatomi Plaza's vault, in Los Angeles. By the way, for those who didn't know it, the Nakatomi Plaza building is exactly the same than 20th Century Fox headquarters.
The group is led by Hans Gruber, one of the most interesting villains portrayed for a while and Alan Rickman's best role to date. What distinguishes Gruber from the other master criminals is his great intelligence, his apparently high level of education and erudition and his careful plotting of the heist. He always seems to know what he is doing, what he has to do, what is gonna happen and what to do if there is any hitch. He looks like a modern Phileas Fogg. This is almost scary, because we can ask ourselves: "How could we beat this... machine?"
Unfortunately for Gruber, there is only one little thing (and a considerable one) that he didn't count on: John McClane (the one and only Bruce Willis, in his breakthrough role). McClane is a NYPD cop who came to L.A. to visit his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), but he was able to escape himself from the terrorists when they invaded the building. Now, he's the only one able of defeating the terrorists and he's gonna have to use his brains, his guts and his muscles in order to stay alive and save everybody.
McClane is first depicted as a mildly-reclusive, word-avid cop, but he quickly becomes wild after the terrorists' takeover. And his heroic actions throughout the entire movie make him one of the coolest heroes of the last years, along with Indiana Jones and James Bond.
The action scenes are greatly orchestrated by action maestro John McTiernan (known at the time for "Predator). Not only do they figure bloody battles, explosive gunfights and eye-popping pyrotechnic effects, but they're filmed in unique and interesting ways. Here are some examples: After Harry Ellis is shot, we can watch Gruber talking to the police via walkie-talkie... throughout holes made in Ellis' head. And there's also these scenes where McClane shoot two terrorists in the legs, making them literally blow out with blood.
Gunfights are unrelenting and we could believe that there were as many bullets shot in this film as in an entire war.
And for dessert, what about two great bombings inside the building itself? First, there is that unforgettable and visually-dazzling massive explosion made by McClane with a 'bomb chair' and, second, that epic roof bombing, which can be visible from the far other side of the city.
This is the great part of the visual. The less shining part is the light circles and ovals which constantly appear and disappear during nearly all the movie. This is very annoying and disturbing.
Other than Gruber and McClane, there are only two very interesting characters. The first one is Gruber's henchman Karl (Alexander Godunov). Just looking at him is dreadful. His eyes are aggressive, cold and piercing. And his indelible grimace render him menacing and serious. He's that kind of guy with whom it is preferable not to make angry.
The other interesting protagonist is Sgt. Powell (Reginald VelJohnson). He's the only contact that McClane has with the exterior from inside his glass pseudo-prison. Together, they develop a close relationship with each other during the operation although they never see each other until the end, in a very heart-warming scene.
"Die Hard" wins points for what it is and for what is has become. In 1988, it showed a whole new kind of action sub-genre: the die-hard genre, which is an action picture taking place in a restrained place, such as a skyscraper, a plane and so on... The hero was a real human being, instead of being a reckless soldier, a suave spy or a martial-arts expert. It is a great example of the near-perfect action picture. It's "Die Hard" that launched a wave of big-budget action pictures, making the 90s what we could call the 'yippee-ki-yay' generation.