OVP: Die Hard (1988)

Film: Die Hard (1988)

Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, James Shigeta

Director: John McTiernan

Oscar History: 4 nominations (Best Film Editing, Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

In recent years, the controversy over what constitutes a "Christmas movie" has become a weird social media obsession.  People get into arguments over whether or not a film having even the remotest connection to Christmas qualifies it as a "holiday film," in one of those internet arguments that doesn't actually mean anything, but is a welcome distraction from the dystopia of 2020.  Few films have highlighted this problem better than Die Hard, the 1980's action-adventure staple, and possibly the "most important" American film that I had never seen before I, deciding to wade into the Christmas film debate (spoiler alert-it's a Christmas movie) decided to indulge my inner-action hero & catch it in time for the holiday season.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie centers on John McClane (Willis), a New York City cop who is visiting his estranged wife Holly (Bedelia) in Los Angeles, where she is a high-powered executive at the Nakatomi Corporation.  During the holiday Christmas party, which McClane is invited to, a group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Rickman), invade the building, killing the security guards & imprisoning the party guests, with only McClane not held captive.  He begins to use his New York City street-smarts to outfox Gruber, taking out his men one-by-one, with the help of LA Police Sergeant Al Powell (VelJohnson) on the ground.  The film ends with Gruber falling from the building, his attempts to steal $600 million in bearer bonds ruined (and almost all of his men dead, though one is left alive for Powell to shoot), and with John & Holly reuniting before the credits roll.

Die Hard was met with mixed reviews when it initially came out, and it's not difficult to see why.  The plot is repetitive, and it's not subtle.  Gruber is pure evil, as if plucked out of a James Bond film, and several aspects of the film require suspension of belief, specifically the complete incompetence of the FBI, LAPD, and of several of the party guests, particularly a man named Ellis who foolishly thinks he can outfox Gruber.  Other than John, Holly, Al, & Gruber, no one in this movie has so much as two cents worth of brain cells, and it makes it a bit thin.

But...I didn't care.  Die Hard may be on its surface quite stupid, but it's also incredibly well-constructed.  The action sequences are universally impressive & well-choreographed.  The film's editing and sound effects are sharp & fast-paced (certain scenes involving Willis hanging down an elevator shaft or off the side of the skyscraper are the stuff of legend now, but even if you know they're coming it's thrilling & well-cut).  And the performances are great.  Willis wasn't an action star at the time (many thought Fox was nuts for spending so much money to secure a TV actor for this role), but he was afterwards for a reason.  He has an everyman appeal that's impossible to deny (sheer star power), and he's sexy as hell in his dirty white tank.  Alan Rickman is his equal as the nasty Gruber, both parts camp & swagger; he was also an unknown, and would suddenly come to Oscar's attention after this.

And the visual effects are dynamite (sometimes literally).  This is in an era more focused on practical effects, but they totally work as we see McClane & Gruber tear apart the gigantic skyscraper, in some ways a throwback to the disaster films of the 1970's.  While the hardest to pull off was likely the gigantic explosion at the base of the building, my favorites were the later scenes involving Willis cascading off of the roof & through a glass building in almost seamless precision.  Die Hard is not Citizen Kane, but it earns its place as a modern classic of action-adventure even 30+ years after its initial release.