I'm generally not a fan of your basic action flick...but Die Hard is just so flipping awesome!! I have mentioned before that one of my problems with so many action films is that the effects may be fine, but we don't care about the people involved so we have nothing to invest our emotions in. At that point it's just a light and sound show. Die Hard works because we care about our main hero, therefore, kudos to director John McTiernan for casting Bruce Willis as John McClane. Willis has that "everyman" quality that really works in a film like this. When we see an actor like Schwarzenegger, Stallone or Van Damme in a role like this there is no suspense about what is going to happen. We know they will conquer all in the end. With Willis, you wonder how the heck he is going to get out of this situation. The situation in Die Hard revolves around a group of terrorists who have taken control of the Nakatomi Corporation building in L.A. The group, led by Hans Gruber (played brilliantly by Alan Rickman), is holding a group of employees hostage on the 30th floor. They have made demands to the police, but all of these are a ruse to their main goal, which is to steal 600 million dollars from the buildings primary safe. Things start off well for the terrorists, but there is something they didn't count on, John McClane. McClane is at the party, visiting his wife who works with the company. He is a NY cop who has come out to visit for the holidays, and when the terrorists take over the party, he is able to escape to a different floor. When he realizes he is not going to get much help, or sympathy, from the local police, he realizes he must neutralize this threat by himself. John McClane wages a one-man war against the terrorists and provides us the audience with some of the best action ever put on the big screen. Die Hard is a must own in the home library of any action movie fan.
(While not as good as the original, parts 2 and 3 are worth a watch for sure)
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