Die Hard

***Die Hard*** is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, produced by Joel Silver, and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It was produced by the Gordon Company and Silver Pictures and distributed by 20th Century Fox, The film was placed in the National Film Registry in 2017.

The movie spawned four sequels: *Die Hard 2* (1990), *Die Hard with a Vengeance* (1995), *Live Free or Die Hard* (2007), and *mh:awfulmovies:A Good Day to Die Hard* (2013).

A planned sixth film entitled ***McClane*** was cancelled, but will be rebooted as a prequel television series entitled ***Easter***.

## Plot

New York City policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) on Christmas Eve 1988. He joins her at a holiday party in the headquarters of the Japanese-owned business she works for. But the festivities are interrupted by a group of German terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who take over the exclusive high-rise, and everyone in it. Very soon, McClane realizes that he's the only person who can save the hostages.

## Why It Never Dies Hard

1. It's often considered to be one of the greatest action movies of all time.
2. The film came out during an age when the action movie heroes were portrayed as invincible killing machines, and John McClane feels like a breath of fresh air, who actually felt real to us as he had suffered pain and emotional moments, and yet still manages to be an awesome hero.
3. Bruce Willis does a great performance as John McClane as well as the other actors.
	* Special mention goes to Alan Rickman as the film's evil mastermind Hans Gruber, one of the greatest movie villains of all time. Especially noted that this was **his very first movie!**
4. Aside from the lead characters John McClane and Hans Gruber, the supporting cast is pretty strong as well.
	* Joe Takagi played by James Shigeta is the President of Nakatomi Trading, and a caring, encouraging boss with a defiant side.
	* Holly Gennero-McClane played by Bonnie Bedelia is John's ex-wife who took position to protect the hostages when Takagi gets shot.
	* Harry Ellis played by Hart Bochner is a love-to-hate character who's a sleazy businessman with a caring side for his workers.
	* Ginny played by Dustyn Taylor is Holly's secretary.
5. A ton of cool action scenes such as the fight on that construction site on the building.
6. Amazing score from composer Michael Kamen.
7. Plenty of heartwarming moments such as John trying to protect his family from the terrorists.
8. For an R-rated action film, it sure gives plenty of Christmas themes to make this film look like a Christmas movie.
9. Very memorable dialogue:
	* "***Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!***"
	* "***No fucking shit, lady! Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?!***"
	* ***"Now i have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho."***
	* ***"Welcome to the party pal!"***
	* ***"Happy trails Hans"***
10. John McLane is the ultimate action hero.

## The Only Bad Quality That Made It Die Hard

1. Overuse of product placement, such as Twinkies.

## Trivia

* There's heavy debates on the internet about whether this film is a Christmas movie or not. Famously, Bruce Willis declared it's not a Christmas movie, but the screenwriter and many of the Internet think otherwise.
* YouTuber Cody Leach regards this movie as his favorite movie of all time.

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes