Very good action film with a believable hero protagonist

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2011)

Believe it or not, this is the first time I have watched Die Hard. Yeah it's been on TV tons of times, and I only saw snippets but I sat down and watched the whole thing properly.
And what a ride it is! Die Hard takes a simple premise and turns it into a slick action, suspense film. Bruce Willis is perfect as John Mclane who doesn't abide by the rules in order to save a floor of people from getting killed by some captors - led deliciously by Alan Rickman. I don't know if Rickman did a perfect job with the German accent but he is still very effective in his role - mainly because he isn't a stupid character that makes stupid mistakes as in most films of this genre.
And it is also Mclane's character that makes you root for him - his cool attitude makes it very easy for you to go along the ride for him. And the other cop in this film who talks to him via walkie talkie represents one of the cops that actually have sense in these situations instead of the usual red tape that makes it harder for people to do their jobs properly.
The director keeps the pace of the film steady so you aren't left hanging too long - it knows where it wants to go and it doesn't waste time building up unnecessary melodrama to fill in the gaps - because it wouldn't really work here. This is an action film and one that is done very well and is highly enjoyable from start to finish.