Die HardA hero is an everyman, somebody who doesn't just roll over when the crooks and highwaymen of the world boss you around...someone who has a reason to fight above mere survival. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is a New York cop visiting his estranged spouse, Holly Gennaro-McClane (Bonnie Bedelia), for Christmas Eve in California, where she has settled as a high-ranking executive in the Nakatomi corporation. But as a jovial Christmas party ensues on the 30th floor of the corporate headquarters, a dozen highly trained German mercenaries and thieves led by the urbane Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) infiltrate the building and take hostages, leaving John to devise a way to save everyone from their cutthroat tactics--including his wife--by any means necessary.
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There is a strong argument out there for Die Hard being considered a "Christmas movie", in addition to an action film. Aside from merely being set on Christmas Eve, and featuring a multitude of Christmas music throughout, Die Hard is also a film about selflessness and helping those in need when they need it the most. (One could also joke that John crawling through the vents is not unlike Santa Claus descending through a chimney.) There is no real sense that aside from seeing Holly, John has any desire to set foot in California; he is nervous about flying, and looks on at the decadence and weirdness of California and its denizens with exasperation. John does not contradict his verbose, yet down-to-earth limo driver, Argyle (De'voreaux White), when he surmises that John and Holly are on the breaks because of career differences--their argument in the bathroom at the party confirms it--but John comes to the west coast all the same. Why? Because John is realizing that he needs to also be the family man, and to defend what it is he truly values. John fights back against Hans and his heavily-armed thugs, because as a cop, he understands that men like Hans are all too willing to put innocents in the line of fire if they stand to profit from it. These criminals do not value life, and beyond their guns and explosives, this is what makes them a fundamental threat to Holly and everyone else. John gives back to the people who need him by also undermining Hans' efforts through clever sabotage. John watches his quarry from the benefit of stealth when he can, knowing he will need every edge he can get to survive. John is brave and tough, running and gunning through the half-complete floors of the Nakatomi building in his bare feet; but he is also intelligent and resourceful. He gets to know his enemies, utilizing skills he's picked up after eleven years on the force, adeptly observing that Hans and his ilk are likely well-funded and foreign, even from a pack of cigarettes he pilfers. While Hans appears to have the building completely sealed off, and masked from any external intervention, it is John's initiative which manages to finally--for better or for worse--involve the police after dramatically capturing the attention of a patrolling cop, Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), officially welcoming him to the "party".
There are very few pairings of hero and villain in action movies which seem better suited than the conflict between John McClane and Hans Gruber, two very different men embodying two very different ideologies. John represents the "all-American", and is even mockingly described as a "cowboy" by Hans via their trading of barbs via the radio. He and Holly are both fighters, even when they are both just fighting over their interpretation of what it means to raise a family. Hans attempts to coerce the preliminary access code to the Nakatomi vault from their primary hostage, chief executive Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi (James Shigeta), who calls them terrorists; Hans shrugs and claims that he isn't a "terrorist". Ironically, Hans exploits the image when dealing with the woefully inept Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason), because Hans is really a corporate shark engaged in a (very) "hostile takeover". Hans' motivation is strictly money, and he has carefully and meticulously planned the entire event that unfolds, even the eventual intervention of the police and FBI. What Hans really represents is the same kind anxiety that pervaded the national psyche of an encroaching foreign power nibbling away at the edges of "America", just as men like John McClane see it. Hans is also a sophisticated, well-educated man, who is capable of commenting on mutual fashion taste with Takagi, and describes his knowledge of terrorist organizations abroad as being obtained from reading world news. Hans is a business man; and though his methods are unquestionably criminal, he uses the perception of terrorists clinging to an ideology only to further his own finances.
And yet from John's point of view, even Nakatomi is an invasive force who has lured his wife away from her familial obligations, making him kith and kin with men like Hans. John has a somewhat old-fashioned worldview, and to him, both Hans and Nakatomi are power elite who value money over American values. John casually mentions to Takagi that he "didn't think the Japanese celebrated Christmas" as a not-so-subtle dig after seeing his wife's office--where her maiden name has replaced her married one; the executive replies they are "adaptable". It is interesting that while Nakatomi and its employees are really the victims of this violent attack, the company itself isn't really presented in a flattering way. Even the brand emblazoning their logo, meant to resemble a samurai helmet, appears more insectile, like an invasive species. To John, even the whole of California resembles something foreign and unnatural, a place where palm trees sprout in the middle of December--which is a snowless affair--and where most people appear blissfully ignorant of the kinds of real-world problems John experiences, like his fractured marriage. The kind of selfish greed representative of men like Hans is also evident in other participants who complicate the hostage situation, and only down-to-earth guys like John and Al seem to have a real handle on how to resolve things. Holly's sleazy colleague, Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner), and Deputy Chief Robinson both overplay their hands, convinced that they know what's best to save everyone, ignorant to the precarious situation they are in. Even an exploitative reporter, Richard Thornburg (William Atherton), is practically drooling as the chaos ramps up, shamelessly capitalizing on the tragedy by way of the McClane family. And in a sly critique of Eighties-era consumerism and disaffected federal intervention, the FBI agents assigned to "save" the hostages are named "Johnson and Johnson", and are indifferent upper echelon drones who are comfortable with collateral damage. So the conflict of McClane and Gruber is not just one of a tough cop thwarting a villainous terrorist, it is the struggle of the every day, average folks in the face of the greedy crooks on high who value their own pockets over the welfare of America. What could be more wholesome for Christmas?
Recommended for: Fans of an action film so metonymic for the struggle of one man against insurmountable odds that actions films to follow are often described by way of it's title. It was also a wildly successful, breakout role which made Bruce Willis a superstar. And, perhaps, a Christmas movie, too.
There are very few pairings of hero and villain in action movies which seem better suited than the conflict between John McClane and Hans Gruber, two very different men embodying two very different ideologies. John represents the "all-American", and is even mockingly described as a "cowboy" by Hans via their trading of barbs via the radio. He and Holly are both fighters, even when they are both just fighting over their interpretation of what it means to raise a family. Hans attempts to coerce the preliminary access code to the Nakatomi vault from their primary hostage, chief executive Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi (James Shigeta), who calls them terrorists; Hans shrugs and claims that he isn't a "terrorist". Ironically, Hans exploits the image when dealing with the woefully inept Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason), because Hans is really a corporate shark engaged in a (very) "hostile takeover". Hans' motivation is strictly money, and he has carefully and meticulously planned the entire event that unfolds, even the eventual intervention of the police and FBI. What Hans really represents is the same kind anxiety that pervaded the national psyche of an encroaching foreign power nibbling away at the edges of "America", just as men like John McClane see it. Hans is also a sophisticated, well-educated man, who is capable of commenting on mutual fashion taste with Takagi, and describes his knowledge of terrorist organizations abroad as being obtained from reading world news. Hans is a business man; and though his methods are unquestionably criminal, he uses the perception of terrorists clinging to an ideology only to further his own finances.
And yet from John's point of view, even Nakatomi is an invasive force who has lured his wife away from her familial obligations, making him kith and kin with men like Hans. John has a somewhat old-fashioned worldview, and to him, both Hans and Nakatomi are power elite who value money over American values. John casually mentions to Takagi that he "didn't think the Japanese celebrated Christmas" as a not-so-subtle dig after seeing his wife's office--where her maiden name has replaced her married one; the executive replies they are "adaptable". It is interesting that while Nakatomi and its employees are really the victims of this violent attack, the company itself isn't really presented in a flattering way. Even the brand emblazoning their logo, meant to resemble a samurai helmet, appears more insectile, like an invasive species. To John, even the whole of California resembles something foreign and unnatural, a place where palm trees sprout in the middle of December--which is a snowless affair--and where most people appear blissfully ignorant of the kinds of real-world problems John experiences, like his fractured marriage. The kind of selfish greed representative of men like Hans is also evident in other participants who complicate the hostage situation, and only down-to-earth guys like John and Al seem to have a real handle on how to resolve things. Holly's sleazy colleague, Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner), and Deputy Chief Robinson both overplay their hands, convinced that they know what's best to save everyone, ignorant to the precarious situation they are in. Even an exploitative reporter, Richard Thornburg (William Atherton), is practically drooling as the chaos ramps up, shamelessly capitalizing on the tragedy by way of the McClane family. And in a sly critique of Eighties-era consumerism and disaffected federal intervention, the FBI agents assigned to "save" the hostages are named "Johnson and Johnson", and are indifferent upper echelon drones who are comfortable with collateral damage. So the conflict of McClane and Gruber is not just one of a tough cop thwarting a villainous terrorist, it is the struggle of the every day, average folks in the face of the greedy crooks on high who value their own pockets over the welfare of America. What could be more wholesome for Christmas?
Recommended for: Fans of an action film so metonymic for the struggle of one man against insurmountable odds that actions films to follow are often described by way of it's title. It was also a wildly successful, breakout role which made Bruce Willis a superstar. And, perhaps, a Christmas movie, too.