Die Hard (1988)

Die Hard (1988)

9/10

Starring

Bruce Willis

Alan Rickman

Alexander Godunov                          

Directed by John McTieman

Extremely thrilling, and you will have your heart in your mouth most of the time, this 1988 classic action movie introduced a multi-million dollar franchise starring Bruce Willis as the lead, which as of today has spanned over 25 years with the latest addition to the movie franchise released in 2013 and titled A Good Day to Die Hard. This movie is wonderfully cast, superior in its storytelling than most action movies in its time, and the villain Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman who played Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991 with Kevin Costner and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter Film series) was so out of it that it was amazing how he lost the fight.

No better lone hero action movie has been able to stand the test of time like Die Hard has. This 1988 first in the film series was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. Bruce Willis character portrayal in this movie has been highly praised by many, and he has carved a name for himself. As a young boy watching this franchise, my friends and I memorized John McClane’s (Bruce Willis) catchphrase to use whenever, the phrase “Yippee kai yay, motherfucker” was nominated as one of the best movie lines in the AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Lines.

The movie plot and script is an adaptation based on 1979 Roderick Thorp bestselling novel Nothing Lasts Forever, about John McClane, a New York City Police officer, who got in the middle of L.A. skyscraper heist, as he travelled to L.A. to go visit his family.

The heist is led by Hans Gruber, who under the guise of a terrorist attack took over the skyscraper to steal 640 million dollars in bonds. What Hans didn’t plan was running into McClane who was in the same building and this man was ready to do anything possible including risking his life to stop Hans and his group. The sad part of this movie is the portrayal of the Deputy Chief of Police. It was annoying, and you have to overlook his presence to enjoy the film. Which is easy since he had a few screen times.

This movie was a commercial success, making over 140 million based on a 28 million dollar budget and the screenplay is written by Steven E. de Souza [Commando (1985) and Die Harder (Die Hard 2 (1990)] and Jeb Stuart.

To me this one of my very best Bruce Willis movie after Sixth Sense of cause, and the majority have already seen this, so I say, "go see it again."

Also in this franchise are Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard: with a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).