A resurrection of the action movie genre

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 1999)

In 1988 Bruce Willis released two films to follow up the mediocre success of his major motion picture debut "Blind Date". The first of these was the much hyped "Sunset" co-starring James Garner. When this film flopped the critics were unsurprised, after all it was just another T.V. star failing to make the transition to film. Then word began to spread from advance screenings of the second film that here was something special. That second film of which few people had heard anything of prior to release was to revolutionise the action movie genre. That film was Die Hard. It combined many of the classic elements which go toward making a great movie. Action, of course but this film also had humour, surprises, a love story, a thrilling screenplay and brilliant acting. Despite all this however, what is most notable about the film is that when seen today (11 years after it's release) it will still have you on the edge of your seat even if you have seen it before! The format may have been copied many times since, but nothing has come close to matching Die Hard for sheer thrills.