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This was the first installment of the Die Hard series. Introducing NYPD detective John McClane. He is separated from his wife and family who live in LA. She has decided to be Ms.Genero, instead of Mrs. McClane. She is a 1980's woman. It is Christmas, and she has invited him to her office party in LA, at the Nakatomi Plaza. As he arrives in LA he is picked up by limo and delivered to the party. Shortly after arriving, a party of foreign party crashers arrive. They have machine guns, explosives and rockets, and a computer expert to disable the security locks on the safe. . .The vault that is holding $300M in negotiable bearer bonds. Well when they arrive, it is late in the day, and everybody else is gone. They kill the guards and take over the building. Nobody on the 30th floor (Nakatomi's Executive Offices) is aware of a problem until they abruptly step out of the elevator. While everyone is being rounded up, John is able to slip out. The ring leader Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman tries to get Mr. Tanaka, president of the company, to give up the code, but when he won't, he is shot. Now the computer expert goes to work. The plan is to stall for time until six of the seven code locks are disabled. The seventh lock cannot be disabled without a total power grid (Downtown LA) shutdown. To achieve this, the plan is for the FBI to be called in under the guise of a terrorist plot to seek the release of other terrorists being held in prisons all over the world. All would be going to plan except for John McClane. He is the proverbial monkey wrench in the plan, and so far he has taken out half of their numbers, and most of their explosives. With the help of an LA cop who was on his way home, McClane has been able to keep chaos a factor for the crooks. Like a bad penny, he keeps after them, constantly screwing up their plan, wearing them down, until they start taking chances, and he keeps taking them out one by one. Eventually through the screw-ups of the FBI agents, and the local LAPD, who are led by a complete imbecile, McClane is able to take out Hans Gruber and the last of the thieves.Read full review
It seems clear now that the 1988 film "Die Hard" is one of the most important cinematic touchstones of our lifetime, simply because every action film since then can be reduced to being a variation on the theme (e.g., "Speed" is "Die Hard" on a bus). I am not going to claim that "Die Hard" is more than mindless entertainment, but rather that it is the standard by which all mindless entertainment is to be judged. One Christmas New York City cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) flies out to Los Angeles to enjoy a nice, quiet Christmas with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who is climbing up the corporate ladder of the Nakatomi Corporation. However John arrives at the company office party a few minutes before a group of terrorists, led by the urbane Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), takes over and holds everybody hostage. While the bad guys begin the long process of breaking into the building' vault, McClane becomes the proverbial "fly in the ointment," on the loose in the building and causing problems. The only person on McClane's side is Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), a cop on the outside who learns about what is really happening inside Nakatomi tower when McClane drops a dead body on his squad car. Also working against McClane are top cop and complete idiot Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason) and sleazy reporter Thronburg (William Atherton). What makes "Die Hard" work? First, the film had the virtue of making Bruce Willis a movie star. Prior to this point he had failed to make his success with television's "Moonlighting" translate to movies. Leading roles in "Blind Date" and "Sunset" were disappointing enough that the best part of Willis's cinematic resume was being a courtroom spectator in "The Verdict." But in John McClane he had a character that allowed him to get off his one-liners but was also involved in some big action sequences and still found time to use his brains on several occasions. I also like the adding insult to injury twist of fate that finds McClane barefoot when things start happening. The result was that suddenly Willis was promoted to the A list, which almost always makes a bigger splash than when the star is there to begin with. Second, there were the action sequences, the best of which remains McClane's jump off the exploding top of the building with a fire hose wrapped around his waist. Everything else pales next to that one, but the common theme you have with all of the key sequences is that McClane is an ordinary guy facing long odds in a series of extraordinary circumstances. Another common denominator is that for what McClane comes up with usually involves some thinking as well, such as using an office chair and a computer to create a detonator for plastique explosives. McClane might be unlucky, but he is not stupid. Add to this the fact that the action is pretty much non-stop once it gets started, and this is by no means a boring film. Even the fact that "Die Hard 4: Die Hardest" is currently in pre-production can distract from the reputation of the original. Actually the two sequels are better than most of the imitators that have come down the road ("Speed" is definitely the best of that bunch). Besides making Willis a big time movie star it certainly set the bar higher for all the action films that have been made since 1988 and showed that you needed to have some heart and a sense of style to go with all the witty one-liners and explosive pyrotechnics. "Die Hard" is still a lot of fun to watchRead full review
Any fan of action will enjoy Die Hard. From it's cheap humor, Christmas rap music, and poorly imitated German terrorists to Bruce Willis' snappy come back lines and need to prove his machoman-ness. Who wouldn't like a film in which puts down the F.B.I. and the principal from "The Breakfast Club"? There's plenty of gunfire, murderers, coked - up employees, gunfire, explosions, intimidation and gunfire to go around. The cast ensemble is perfect - Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, the principal from "The Breakfast Club", and the black guy on Family Matters! All I can say is I was always partial to Roy Rodgers myself. ENJOY!
one of a kind movie. love to watch it all the time.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
New York cop John McClane flies to Los Angeles on Christmas eve to spend the holidays with his family. He arrives at the Nakatomi corp. building for his wife's office party. International terrorists take over the building and hold every one as hostage to steel $600 million of bonds from the vaults of the building. Now its up to McCLane to face the terrorists and save his wife and the other hostages. "Die Hard" is a terrific example of what happens when all the pieces of a movie fall together perfectly. The perfect modern action movie.
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