I want a friend like John McClane

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2017)

Remains a stone-cold action classic even by modern movie standards. The premise is widely inventive, the action is always tense, the comedy is on-point, and the cast is top-notch all around. The highlights are by far the charismatic Bruce Willis and "always awesome in everything" Alan Rickman, who have a fantastic hero- villain dynamic that the franchise would never quite capture again. The definitive "Christmas" movie for action fans everywhere.
When terrorists take the staff of a hi-tech skyscraper hostage during a Christmas Eve party, a lone New York cop trapped in the building with them fights for survival while trying to foil their plans. Die Hard was a watershed moment in the evolution of the action movie, and was genre defying in that the heroes usually tended to have everything under control in action movies previous to this, while a blood soaked and desperate John McClane always seems one step away from defeat. This makes for some very suspenseful action and Willis' charismatic performance rightly elevated him to mega stardom. It has its faults, namely in the soapy back story of he and his wife and especially the ridiculous nonsense about his would be partner Al and his holstered pistol. These are minor points however as the quips are funny, the action beautifully choreographed and its a thrill ride that has dated surprisingly well. One of THE classic action movies.