Action. Adventure. Willis. What More Could You Ask For?

Rating: 9/10 (13 October 2007)

All NYPD cop John McClane wanted to do is to celebrate Chtistmas with his wife in a newly-opened 40 storey building in Los Angeles. But a group of 12 terrorists have other plans.
Die Hard opened in 1988 with explosive results. Until today, it is one of the finest examples of how an action movie should be made. It has everything you want in an action movie: cool heroes, bad guys getting it, explosions, stunts, and more. This is a recipe for an action masterpiece.
Bruce Willis portrays McClane, who (is now and later significantly for the three sequels) is at the wrong place at the wrong time. He plays a hero unlike those other 80's action types like the indestructible Schwarzenegger and the one-man-army Stallone. And definitely not like the stereotypic Van Damme and Seagal. Willis is in a class of his own, emitting one liners to make the audience chuckle and sympathize for his character, which is a rare thing in action movies nowadays. He is the perfect definition of a REAL human hero, one that someone else could relate to.
Alan Rickman plays terrorist leader Hans Gruber. He is the example of a cruel but wise mastermind who systematically plan out his sequence of events. He will do anything to succeed his goal, but always get foiled by McClane. Rickman portrays Gruber so masterfully that I put Hans Gruber in my Top 5 greatest villains ever.
The cinematography and editing is also great. Jan De Bont does a great job of scoping out the Fox Plaza for the Nakatomi Tower. The interior sets of the tower looks confined, thus giving the film a claustrophobic sense. This explanation can be further exampled when McClane crawls inside a ventilation shaft. Also, the quick cuts make the action scenes feel fast-paced, giving all the action scenes glory in delivering its effect. Production designer Jackson DeGovia should be given Kudos for making the interior sets as realistic as possible.
Action sequences are also properly handled. Director John McTiernan, who helmed the gung-ho Schwarzenegger action fest Predator a year before, returns to up the ante on this cinematic treat. He gives the action scenes realism, like during the rooftop helicopter scene. It is one of those things that you cannot argue whether it is absurd or not. That is what I like about it. The writing is also good, too. Screenwriters Jeb Stuart and Steven E. De Souza adapted the Roderick Thorp novel "Nothing Lasts Forever" and gives us a screenplay full of thrills. The tension is also well written and filmed, both the situation in the building where McClane is having trouble, and also on the ground where the police are confused, as in both situations you do not know what happens next.
Finally, let's give an "Ode To Joy" for the late great composer Michael Kamen, who gives a suitable orchestral score for the movie that suits it very, very well indeed, instead of giving us those annoying electronic 80's score.
Overall, Die Hard deserves a place on any "Top Action Films" list. An instant masterpiece that is well appreciated then and now, it will survive the test of time and will forever thrill audiences for many, many years to come.
9.96/10 Delton