Solid Action. Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2006)

Die Hard. (1988) The first of the trilogy. We start off with a Christmas party in L.A. at the Nakatomi plaza. John McClane invited and shows up to his estranged wife and old pal, then cue the terrorist.
McClane is the only one to evade their sight and escape to a higher floor that is under-construction. The bad guys are well armed, well skilled and are led by Hans Gruber, a well dressed and intelligent leader.
McClane has to try and fight off some bad guys who eventually notice a disturbance in the building. McClane also has radio contact with one police officer to keep his spirits up. In a situation like this, anyone would need the boost in morale and keep you from going nuts or giving up.
Then we meet the only character that is useless. Dwayne T. Robinson played by the late Paul Gleason, that does not even care that McClane is helping out in there and comes off as an idiot and a jerk. The decisions that Dwayne makes are stupid and reckless without thought of the consequences. His stupidity ruins a lot here.
Despite that, Die Hard does deliver the goods and has some impressive stunts and special effects that don't get old, from an explosion that rips though the building resulting from a plastic explosive, to jumping through a plate glass window while hanging on to a fire hose!
The Last Word: This is a good movie. The shortcomings of Paul Gleason's character are bad. To make a movie a high octane, well oiled thrill ride, we need not any characters that are that stupid. No offense to Gleason, he has a few good lines and was a great actor, his character was useless here. That aside though, Die Hard is fun and the directing is solid, with a excellent performance by Alan Rickman.