Right so welcome to the first post of the month of April and this will be another revisited one which is on one of the most popular and acclaimed action films of all time: the 1980s classic action thriller, Die Hard. So again this post is an extended version of the original (on this blog anyway as it appeared originally on my tennis blog!) which will pretty BIG overall!
So without further ado let's give this action classic another look.....
And yes even though the film is pretty old and we all know the story, just for sake of it, the usual warning applies:
SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!!
STORY
Right so the film starts with New York police officer, John McClane (Bruce Willis) arriving in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to meet up with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) who has a very prominent job working for the Nakatomi corporation. McClane soon arrives at the Nakatomi plaza and is greeted by her boss, Joseph Takagi (James Shigeta) who arranged his ride in a company limo driven by Argyle (De'Voreaux White).
Pretty soon however, a group men in cars and a truck pull into the plaza, two of the men in the car, Karl (Alexander Gudonov) and Theo (Clarence Gilyard) enter the building and Karl shoots the security guard on the front desk. Theo locks down the building using the computers in the security office, and the other men enter the building from the parking lot in the basement of the building, who are terrorists lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who soon take the workers at the officer party hostage. Hans once having identified Takagi takes him upstairs to the boardroom where he asks for the code to their vault as he wants to enter the vault to steal $640 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds. Takagi however refuses to cooperate and Gruber shoots him, leaving Theo to try and hack the locks and break into the vault.
At this point McClane has managed to sneak away from the terrorists and listens in on Hans conversation with Takagi. McClane then sets off a fire alarm which attracts the attention of Hans, who sends one of his men, Tony (Andreas Wiesnewski) to investigation, who soon finds McClane, they fight and in the ensuing struggle, the terrorist is killed. McClane then takes the terrorist's gun and checks his pockets to find he has a phoney ID and a CB radio. The terrorist however is revealed to be the brother of Hans main henchman, Karl, who is furious at news of his death.
McClane runs up to the roof where he uses his radio to call the police, who respond to his call, but don't believe his call is for real. By then Karl and his men engage McClane in a gunfight on the roof, which McClane narrowly escapes and makes his way back into the building, via the elevator shafts. The police dispatchers however send an off duty officer, Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) to investigate the Plaza, on arriving he speaks with one of the terrorists, who has assumed the role of the security guard, and reassures nothing is up. During this point, McClane having re-entered the boardroom, and after a gunfight with some of the terrorists, with McClane killing them, takes one of the bodies and dumps it out the window onto Powell's car to get his full attention and the LAPD's.
Pretty soon more LAPD officers arrive on the scene lead by deputy chief Dwayne Robinson (Paul Gleason) and try to take control of the situation by sending their SWAT team into the building, however Gruber's men shoot and maim the team members who try to make their way in the front door. The SWAT team also try to send in a reinforced vehicle (RV) to the building, which the terrorists destroy with a rocket launcher. McClane outraged retaliates by using some of the C4 he found from one of the terrorists, and throws it down the lift shaft, which kills the two terrorists, James (Wilhelm von Homburg) and Alexander (Joey Plewa).
During all this McClane keeps in contact with Powell by radio, and gives him an assumed name to protect his identity. However one of the execs at the party Ellis (Hart Bochner), a cocky negotiator for the company, in attempt to end the seige, gives McClane's real name away to the Gruber, and tries to reason with McClane to give himself up, but McClane refuses, and pleads with Ellis to tell them he isn't McClane's friend, however Gruber shoots Ellis.
After the debacale with the SWAT team, the FBI are sent in to try and mop up the situation, lead by special agents Johnson (Robert Davi) and Johnson (Grand L. Bush) who arranged to cut the building's power and go in with armed choppers to take out the terrorists, who they have agreed to meet with on the roof, allegedly with choppers for transport. However it is soon revealed than Hans has plans of his own and its up to McClane to stop Hans from what he is doing and end the terrorist seige......
THOUGHTS
Die Hard is without a doubt one of the best action movies of the 1980s and it signalled the start of Bruce Willis's film career as an action star. The film has its fair share of tense action scenes which are handled confidently throughout by its director, John McTiernan (more on him later). And the appeal of Die Hard is about all things proposterous, and what it does very well, is take an average joe like McClane and turns him into a hero in an impossible situation. Of course as the Die Hard films progressed the situations got even more and more ridiculous, right up until Die Hard 4.0 where McClane faces off a Harrier jet plane (apparently it happens every day!) and the less said about A Good Die to Hard (i.e. Die Hard 5) well....the better!
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section is BIG and may contain spoilers not to mention explicit language!)
In terms of performances, Die Hard has a pretty strong cast, and Bruce Willis is perfect for the role of John McClane, a wise-cracking cop, who is very down to earth and quite likeable and has plenty of quotable dialogue and memorable moments.
And to mention a few I will start off with the scene where McClane confronts his wife, Holly, over using her maiden name instead of his own. And in the scene after Holly says to him "I missed you" McClane says to her "I guess you didn't miss my name, huh? Except maybe when you are signing cheques? Since when did you call yourself Ms Gennaro?!". And after they are interrupted by one of the employees and Holly is lead away to give a speech, John mutters to him "Good job, John. Real mature!".
Another scene is when McClane sets off a fire alarm and it alerts the attention of Hans who sends one of his men, Tony to investigate it. And in the scene McClane looks down below as he sees a fire truck below in the streets and he says to himself "That's it, baby, come to pappa! I'll kiss your fuckin dalmatian!" but the fire truck turns a corner away from the plaza prompting McClane to angrily bang the window and shout "You stupid motherfuckers!! NO!! NO!! Turn the fucking truck around!!!". However McClane is interrupted by Tony and he surprises him pointing a gun at his head from behind he says "Drop it, dickhead! Its the police!" and Tony says "You won't shoot me, you're a policeman, they have rules for policemen!" and McClane says "Yeah, that's what my Captain keeps telling me!".
Then there is the scene where McClane makes himself known to Hans by talking to him on one of the dead terrorists radios. And McClane says to Hans "Oh I'm very serious, Hans, I didn't get that message, maybe you should have put it on the bulletin board!". And as Hans tries to humour McClane by saying to him "You are most troublesome for a security guard" McClane makes a buzzer noise and says "Sorry, Hans, wrong guess! Would you like to go for double jeopardy where the scores can REALLY change?!". And when Hans starts to get annoyed and says to McClane "You really think you have a chance against us, Mr Cowboy?!" McClane utters the memorable line "Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!".
Another good moment for Willis comes when McClane is horrified by Hans's action to destroy a police RV attempt to get into the building. And McClane yells angrily to Hans on the radio "Hans, you motherfucker, you made your point, let it pull back!!" but Hans sarcastically replies "I will take it under advisement!" and tells his men to hit the RV again. And this prompts an angry McClane to plant some plastic explosives on a chair with a computer monitor's cable wrapped around the chair. And McClane says angrily "Let's see you take this under advisement, jerkweed!" and throws the chair down an elevator shaft exclaiming "Geronimo, motherfucker!!". But the explosion causes the flames rise back up the shaft toward McClane who exclaims "OHHHH SHIT!!!!!!!" and he jumps out of the way of the flames.
And Willis shows that he can be quite effective as a dramatic actor as shown in the scene where Ellis tries to talk McClane into giving himself up to the terrorists but McClane refuses to. And McClane says to Hans "Hans, this asshole is not my friend I just met him tonight, I don't know him! Jesus Christ, Ellis, these people are gonna kill you, tell them you don't know me!!". But Ellis continues to try and bluff his way out of it only to be then shot by Hans, who warns McClane "Where are my detonators?!! Where are they, or shall I shoot another one??!! Sooner or later I might get to someone you DO care about!" and McClane says, disgusted to Hans "Go fuck yourself, Hans!".
And lastly is the scene when McClane makes his way up to the roof of the plaza building and he tells the hostages up there to get downstairs but he is almost shot off the roof by the FBI in the helicopter. And McClane rather than make his way downstairs, decides to use a firehouse and attach it to himself to dive off the roof. And McClane while rolling out the hose says to himself "Oh, John, what the fuck are you doing? How the fuck did you get into this shit??!!". And as McClane get's up on the ledge and looks down below with the fire hose wrapped around his waist he says to himself "I'll never think of even going up a tall building again! Oh God, please don't let me die!" just before he jumps off the roof and it is blown by Hans.
Alan Rickman next up (RIP Alan, who sadly died earlier this year) is great as Hans Gruber and he plays one of the most memorable villains in modern cinema and has plenty of great moments.
And to start off with a few examples there is his first main scene where Hans and the other terrorists take the employees hostage on the 30th floor. And Hans says to them "Now where is Tagaki?!" and he starts to quote a bio of his life until Tagaki finally reveals himself to Hans, and Hans smiles warmly and says "How do you? Its a pleasure to meet you" and Tagaki is then lead off by Karl.
Then there is the scene where Hans asks Tagaki for the code to access the vault and he says to Tagaki "Mr Tagaki, I'm really not interested in your computer, but I need the code key but I am interested 600 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds you have locked in your vault and the computer controls the vault!". And Tagaki looks on surprised "You want money??? What kind of terrorists are you?!" which prompts Hans to laugh saying "Who said we were terrorists?!". And as Tagaki refuses to cooperate, Hans takes his gun and says "I'm going to count to three, there will not be a four!" and after he finishes Tagaki tells him he doesn't know the code and "You'll just have to kill me". And Hans simply says "OK" and shoots Tagaki in the head and says "We do it hard the way!".
Another good moment for Rickman is when Karl receives the bad news about the death of his brother, Tony, and he goes apeshit and angrily topples over a desk, which sees Hans grab Karl and push against the wall and Karl barks "I WANT BLOOD!!". And Hans says "You'll have it! But once was Henreich sets the detonators and Theo prepares the vault, then you can tear the building the apart looking for this man, but until then WE DO NOT ALTER THE PLAN!!". And Karl says angrily to Hans "And if HE alters it????" and Hans let's him go, taking his point.
Then comes the scene where Hans checks out upstairs to see if the explosives are set in place and jumps down off a platform to see McClane at his feet carrying an sub-machine gun and McClane smiles simply saying "Hey, how you doin'?" and Hans feigns a terrible American accent saying "Oh, God! You're one of them!!". And after the two men talk and Hans uses the name of one of the employees (Bill Clay) and have a cigarette. McClane asks him if he has ever used a gun. And Hans says to him, using his American accent "I spent a weekend at a combat ranch. You know where they shoot red paint, but it sounds stupid to you.".
McClane then gives Hans his own gun and says to him "Well, time for the real thing, Bill" and Hans takes the gun and as McClane walks ahead Hans takes out his radio and speaks German and cocks his gun at McClane and says to him in his own accent "Put down the gun and give me my detonators". And McClane says to him "Its pretty tricky with that accent, you oughta be on fuckin TV with that accent!" and as Hans says "I'm going to count to three" McClane says "Like you did with Tagaki?" prompting Hans to pull the trigger but nothing happens and he tries again, still nothing. And McClane says "No bullets! You think I'm fuckin stupid, Hans?!" and as the elevator behind them pings, Hans says smugly "You were saying!".
Then later there is the scene where the F.BI. arrive to take control of the situation and order to cut the building's power giving the terrorists just what they need to finally access the vault. And Hans says to Theo "That's the FBI they are ordering the others cut the building's power, regular as clockwork" and Theo catches onto his drift "Or a timelock!". And Hans smiles says "Precisely! The circuits that cannot be cut are cut automatically in response to a terrorist incident. You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the F.B.I!".
And lastly we have the moment when Hans finds out that Holly is in fact McClane's husband as he sees a TV broadcast of Holly's children and he sees Holly's reaction and McClane lifts up the picture Holly had put face down in her office of Holly and McClane and the kids. And Hans takes out his gun saying "Mrs McClane, how nice to make your acquaintance!" and he fires the gun at the roof to get everyone's attention and he grabs Holly. And a few scenes later as Hans starts to load the bearer bonds, Holly says to him "After all your posturing, after all your little speeches you are nothing but a common thief!" and Hans angrily turns to her and says "I'm an exceptional thief, Mrs McClane and since I'm moving up to kidnapping I think you should be more polite!".
Reginald Veljohnson is also really good in the film as Sgt Al Powell, the LAPD police officer who calls in the police SWAT teams after McClane dumps a terrorist's dead body onto his car and he develops a bond with McClane as they talk via CB radios.
And Reggie has some good moments in the film also that include the one where Powell first arrives at Nakatomi and has a look around and talks to one of the terrorists Eddie (Dennis Hayden) posing as a receptionist. And Powell looks around briefly but then decides to give up and says "Aww to hell with this!" but unbeknownst to him one of the terrorist's is hanging around the corner, but Powell walks away. Powell then heads back to his car and tells the dispatch that nothing is happening and he get's back in his car just as one of the terrorist's dead body's smashes onto his causing Powell to yell out "JESUS!! GODDAMN JESUS H. CHRIST!!!".
And as Powell backs up his car he takes gunfire from one of the terrorists above and yells into his radio "Office taking rifle fire down at Nakatomi! I need backup assistance now!! NOW GODDAMNIT, NOW!!!" and his car crashes over the edge of a wall. And in the next scene, the sleazy news reporter, Dick Thornburg listens in on a CB radio at the TV station and we hear Powell yelling "I'm down at Nakatomi and they're turning my car into Swiss cheese!! I need backup assistance now!! NOW, GODDAMNIT, NOW!!!!".
And later on there is another good scene from Reggie when just after Ellis is killed, Lt Robinson misreads the situation thinking McClane just let him die and Powell tries to set him right. And Powell says " Christ, man. Can't you see what's happening? Can't you read between the lines?! He did everything he could to save him. If he gave himself up, they'd both be dead right now!".
And as Robinson says to Powell "You tell you partner to stay the hell out of this, or I'm really gonna nail his ass, boy, believe me!". And Powell angrily says to him "The man is hurting! He is alone, tired, and he hasn't seen diddly-squat from anybody down here. Now you're gonna stand there and tell me that he's gonna give a damn about what you do to him, IF he makes it out of there alive? Why don't you wake up and smell what you shoveling?!!". And Robinson says to him "Any time you wanna go home, Sergeant, you consider yourself dismissed!" and Powell angrily says "No, sir! You couldn't drag me away!".
Bonnie Bedelia is also excellent as Holly Gennero McClane, John's estranged wife who invites John over to Nakatomi to try and work out their differences.
Bonnie's highlights include the scene where Holly tooks to John near the start and she apologises for Ellis's over exuberant behaviour. And Holly says to John "You'll have to forgive Ellis, he's get's very depressed at this time of year. He thought he was God's greatest gift, you know". And McClane "Yeah I know the type. And he's got his eye on you!" and Holly says "That's OK, I've got my eye on his private bathroom!". But the two of them start to argue over Holly using her maiden name and as they argue McClane says to her "I don't think you have a clue as to what our marriage should be, Holly!" and Holly spits back "I know EXACTLY what you think the idea of our marriage should be!".
Another good scene from Bonnie comes when Holly asks Hans if they can move a couch up for one of the pregnant workers. And as Holly walks into her office where Hans is sitting she says "I have a request" and Hans says without looking up "What idiot put you in charge?" and Holly sharply says "You did! When you murdered my boss. Now everyone is looking to me. Personally I'd pass on the job as I don't enjoy being this close to you!". And as Holly reasons with Hans to move a couch up for the woman, she continues saying "And unless you like it messy, I'd start bringing us in groups to the bathroom" and Hans says "Yes, you're right, it will be done". And as Holly starts to walk out, Hans looks to her and says "Mr Tagaki chose his people well, Mrs...." and Holly says to him "Gennero. Miss Gennero!".
Alexandor Gudonov is also really good in his role as Karl, Han's ruthless main henchman, who goes on a personal vendetta to kill McClane after the death of his brother, as well as commit the robbery.
Gudonov (who was formerly a ballet dancer before turning to acting) has some good scenes also that include the scene where Karl enraged on hearing on the death of his brother, uplifts a table in one of the offices. And Karl yells "I WANT BLOOD!!" and Hans tries to reason with Karl telling him he can kill McClane once they carry out their plan but until then "WE DO NOT ALTER THE PLAN!!" and Karl says "And if HE alters it?!".
Then we have the scene where Karl and two of the terrorists get in a lift to go to the roof to kill McClane and Karl assembles his Steyr AUG assault rifle. And Karl coldly says to the others "No one kills him but me!" as they prepare to leave the elevator.
And lastly, just for quickness there is the scene where Karl finds McClane upstairs after he finds the explosives for the roof and he cuts him short when speaking to Powell. And Karl in the scene holds McClane at gunpoint with his rifle and he says to him as he takes away McClane's radio "We are both professionals, this is personal!" and McClane says "Awww!" and manages to bat away Karl's rifle and they engage in a fierce fist fight.
Paul Gleason is also pretty good as the somewhat inept, commanding police officer, deputy chief Dwayne Robinson who arrives on the scene after Powell calls it in. And Gleason has some amusing moments as his ignorance towards the facts often put him at odds with Powell.
And Gleason's good scenes include his first when he arrives on the scene and asks Powell "Right, Powell, what do these pricks want?!" and Powell says "You mean the terrorists, we don't know, we haven't heard a peep from them". And Powell continues to tell Robinson about McClane and Powell says "I think he's a cop. Maybe not LAPD, but he's definitely a badge" and Robinson asks "How do you know that?" and Powell says "Things he said. Like being able to spot a phony ID" and Robinson dispairs saying "Jesus Christ, Powell! He could be a fucking bartender for all we know!".
Another good scene is when Robinson preps the SWAT team for going in to the building and Powell protests but Robinson says "We don't know shit, Powell. If there's hostages, how come nobody's come to us with ransom demands, huh? If there's terrorists in there, where's their list of demands? All we know is that somebody shot your car up. It's probably the same silly son of a bitch you've been talking to on that radio!". And this pisses off Powell as he angrily asks "Excuse me, sir! But what about the body that fell out the window?!" and Robinson says "Who knows? Maybe some stockbroker got depressed!".
And last of all is moment when (SPOILER!!) the terrorists blow the roof and the FBI chopper is caught in the blast, killing the two FBI agents (Robert Davi and Grand L. Bush). And Robinson looks up above at the explosion, shocked, and says to Powell "Holy christ! We're gonna some more FBI guys, I guess!".
Hart Bochner also does well in his role as the cocky Nakatomi employee, Ellis, who ends up trying to end the hostage crisis and (SPOILER!!) fails miserably at a cost to his life.
Bochner's best moments include the scene just after McClane caps off the first terrorist, Tony and the others discover his body in an elevator and Holly and Ellis observe Hans and Karl arguing in her office. And Holly says "Something's wrong" and Ellis says "Cops?" and Holly twigs what has happened and says "John!" and Ellis says "John? Aw, Christ, he can fuck this whole thing up! What does he think he's doing?!" and Holly says "His job!" and Ellis spits back "Bullshit! His job is three thousand miles away! Without him we might still be able to have a chance to get out of here" and Holly says "Tell that to Tagaki!".
Then there is the scene where Ellis decides he's had enough of waiting for McClane to end the seige and he says to Holly "I'm tired of waiting to see who get's us killed first. Them or your husband?!". And Holly looks on surprised saying "What are you doing?!" and Ellis cockily says to her "Hey babe, I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash!".
And in the next scene Ellis enters Holly's office where Hans and Karl are and he tries to negotiate with them. And Ellis says to Hans "Hey, business is business. You use a gun, I use a fountain pen what's the difference? Let's put it in my terms: you're in a hostile takeover, you snatch us up for some green mail, but you're not expecting some poison pill to be running around the building, am I right? Hans, bubby, I'm your white knight!". And Hans wearily says "I must have missed 60 minutes. What are you saying?" and Ellis goes to sit down "That guy upstairs that's fucking things up, I can give him to you!".
William Atherton next is also pretty good at playing sleazy roles as he did in Ghostbusters (as EPA rep Walter Peckman) and here he is no different as he plays the slimey news reporter, Dick Thornburg perfectly.
Atherton has a few good scenes that include the one where he pleads with his producer to try and get a truck to head out to Nakatomi plaza. And he says to his producer "I can't get the jump if you can give me a remote!" and his producer tries to ignore him but Thornburg continues "Fine! You won't give me a truck, I'll go out and steal a truck!". And this prompts one of the newcasters, Harvey Johnson, who is about to go live on TV, to say "Give us a break, Thornburg!" and Thornburg shouts back to him "Eat it, Harvey!!!".
And later on there is the scene when Thornburg finds out Holly's address and he goes to the house where he pesters the housekeeper to let him in who refuses. And Thornburg finally says to her "Look if you're not gonna let us in, I'm calling the IMS, comprende?! Look this is the last chance these kids are going to have to speak with their parents!" and the housekeeper finally relents to let them in.
And last of all there is (SPOILER!!!) the scene when the ordeal is all over, McClane makes it out of the building with Holly and Thornburg approaches them with the cameraman behind him, he holds out his mic to McClane. And Thornburg says to him "Mr McClane, Mr McClane! Can you tell us after this incredible ordeal, how are you feeling?" and Holly (having seen the broadcast of her children on TV) angrily looks at him and punches him in the face, which prompts some laughter nearby and a rather stunned Thornburg to look at the cameraman and says "Did you get that?!".
Clarence Gilyard is also good as Theo, one of the terrorists who has a cocky personae and is a tech specialist who hacks his way into the Nakatomi vault.
Gilyard has some good moments too that include the scene where Hans murders Tagaki when he won't co-operate and Theo makes a bet with Karl if Hans will need to kill Tagaki or not. And as Hans tries to get Tagaki to give him the code and doesn't play ball, Theo says "I told you!" to Karl who says in reply "Its not over yet". But in the end its a bet Theo ends up winning as Karl gives him some money after Hans shoots Tagaki.
And the scene after this sees Han ask Theo "now you can break the code?" which prompts Theo to say "You didn't bring me along for my charming personality" which draws a smile from Hans as he walks off.
And lastly there is the scene where Theo keeps an eye on the security monitors and sees the police SWAT team attempt to enter the building. And Theo says on the radio to the other terrorists "All right, listen up guys. 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except... the four assholes coming in the rear in standard two-by-two cover formation!". And as the police send in their RV to break into the building, Theo says "Oh what have we here?! The police seem to have themselves an RV!". And when the two terrorists, James and Alexander hit the RV with their rocket launcher, Theor delivers the classic line "Oh my God! The quarterback is TOAST!!".
De'Voreaux White also does well in his role as the cocky limo driver, Argyle who picks up McClane from LAX airport and drives him to the Nakatomi plaza.
And enroute Argyle tries to engage a reluctant McClane into a conversation and McClane wearily asks "Do you always this many questions, Argyle?" and Argyle says "Sorry, man, I used to drive a cab so people always expect a little chit-chat". And Argyle asks him "So are you divorced?" and McClane, annoyed says "Just drive the car, man" but Argyle persists "Come on, man, are you divorced? Separated? Did she beat you up?!".
And as Argyle drops McClane off he asks him "So if it doesn't work out, have you got a place to stay?" and McClane says "I'll find a place". So Argyle then says "Look here's what I'll do, I'll pull in the parking garage and wait. If you score with your wife, give me a call on the car phone and I'll leave your bags inside at the desk. If you strike out, I'll get you a hotel" and he gives McClane his business card. And McClane smiles and shakes Argyle's hand saying "You're all right, Argyle" and Argyle says "Just remember that when you sign for the tip!".
And last of all is the scene near the end when Argyle crashes his limo out of the locked down security gates of the car park below the building to pick up McClane. And as McClane and Holly get into the limo, Argyle smiles to himself and says "If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Year's!".
And last of all Robert Davi and Grand L.Bush are pretty good in their roles as the special agents Big and Little Johnson (respectively!) and they almost appear like a double act together. And Bush has a fun moment where he introduces themselves "I'm special agent Johnson and this is special agent Johnson. No relation!".
Another fun scene comes when Little Johnson tells the police their plan "We've shut them down. We let 'em sweat for a while, then... we give 'em helicopters" and Big Johnson says further to this "Right up the ass!". And Big Johnson then makes a call saying "This is special agent Johnson. No the other one!".
And later on there is the scene where Big Johnson says to the Little one as they fly in the chopper to take out the terrorists and Big J shouts out "This is just like fucking Saigon, eh slick?!" and Little Johnson says "I was in junior high, dickhead!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Finally moving onto the director, John McTiernan does a terrific job here with the film as he expertly cranks up the tension and suspense as it moves on. McTiernan also proves after his success with Predator, the year before in 1987, that he is more than capable of handling the film's terrific action scenes of which there are plenty to be found, which include McClane's rooftop gunfight, his fight with Karl and the famous moment where jumps off the roof just as it blows.
McTiernan also for the Nakatomi plaza used the Fox Plaza building in Century city, LA, which was also under construction at the time of making the film and is now the headquarters of the 20th Century Fox production company.
The only negative thing however I might say about McTiernan's direction is his overuse of lens flare in the film as there are plenty of big flashlights and other lights in the film, which cause nothing but lens flare all over the place. It can be a bit visually distracting at times to look at as there is an overabundance of it (way worse than J.J. Abrahams ever had it in his films!) but its the only real negative thing I can say about McTiernan's technical efforts as apart from that this is very much one of his best films.
As for the score written by Michael Kamen, it is an excellent one and has plenty of fine dramatic passages, Kamen of course went on to score the 2nd and 3rd films as well, before he sadly passed away in 2003. However if you listen closely near the end, you can hear a passage that was taken from James Horner's score for Aliens, which was apparently left in by the studio as a temp track (thanks to Wikipedia for that fact).
The other tracks not composed by Kamen in the film are also pretty memorably used, especially Beethoven's 9th Symphony when the terrorists finally crack into the vault and raid it, and of course "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!" perfomed by Vaughan Munroe aswell as Run-D.M.C's "Christmas in Hollis" used when Argyle drives McClane to the plaza.
FLAWS
As for the flaws.....yeah ok Die Hard its not quite perfect.
And to start off one of the film's problem is to do with just how daft the police are depicted in the film as most of them portrayed as dim-witted idiots. And as an example to kick off there is the police officer that takes McClane's call on the radio who dismisses it as nothing but a hoax, but then we hear the gunshot come over the radio as the terrorists spot him and the officer takes the headset away from her going "Oww!". And after this she reluctantly says "See if there's a black and white that can do a drive-by". I mean for God's sake, she just heard gunfire and she's STILL dismissing the idea that anything serious might be going on at Nakatomi! Its pretty clear cut that's what the sound was yet she is still not taking it seriously! I mean stupid or what?!!
And then there is of course Robinson's gullability and naivety for such as supposedly experienced police officer he makes so many rash decisions such as sending in a SWAT team without waiting to even try and negotiate with the terrorists. And later on as Hans finally talks to the police, he feeds them a bunch of crap about wanting terrorists around the world released and Robinson falls for it!
Another issue also stems from the whole concept of Hans's plan as he is purely relying on the police and the FBI to show up so they can access the vault to complete their robbery, yet he appears to have no back-up plan in place and has even kept this info from the other terrorists in the group! So in the end Hans has to just bet on the FBI's stupidity in playing out the situation as routinely as he would hope to expect.
The film also has its fair share of far fetched moments in the action such as McClane's ability to somewhat survive his fall down the elevator shaft after the gunstrap holding his weight gives way and he manages to grab onto a shaft and pull himself up into it. And I'd have to say the chances of that are probably pretty slim not to mention the fact that McClane was able to pull himself up and squeeze quite neatly into the shaft itself!
Also further to this scene in the next one where Karl and his two henchmen check out the airshafts, Karl hears a noise and opens fire on the shafts above, now surely his bullets would have impacted and killed McClane but somehow they miraculously miss him! Either that or McClane was far back enough in the shaft to not get hit by them which is a possibility but it seems unlikely.
It also seems a bit far fetched that McClane having been forced to walk on broken glass and with his feet all cut to shit would be able to walk and even run freely without any apparent pain aftwards! And in the following scenes, McClane engages in an intense fistfight with Karl and then manages to run up onto the roof and evade fire from the FBI helicopter all without any apparent agony for McClane's feet! And its only later on we see McClane limping again as he goes in for his final confrontation with Hans, its almost like he forgot he had it for a while!
And lastly (and this IS a SPOILER!!!) another ridiculous thing in the plot is just how did Karl surive his beating with John after he was hung up by chains and not only that he survived the explosion that took out the roof of the Nakatomi building?!! I mean the guy emerges from his bodybag, albeit all bloody but he readily aims his assault rifle at McClane before he is finally gunned by Powell. Is this guy nearly superhuman or what?!! It just seems totally ridiculous that Karl would be able to survive any of this and for all we know he might not even dead after Powell shot him!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to finally sum up, Die Hard is easily one of the best action films in modern cinema and to this day its still as exciting and suspenseful to watch as when it first came out almost 30 years ago. The cast are all in excellent form, the action is great and the score by Michael Kamen is also well worth a listen and it suits the film perfectly.
And for me its one of those films you will never get tired of revisiting time and time again and it even did well to spawn some decent sequels although they will never match the quality of the original here which is still the best.
So that's it for now and I will be back some other time with another review of sorts.
Till then yippie-ki-yay mother f-ers!!
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