Plot: John McClane is a New York cop who is visiting his wife, Holly in L.A. at the Nakatomi Plaza where she works. But when a group of heavily armed men lead by Hans Gruber takes control of the tower, taking Holly and the other employees hostage, it's up to McClane to face Hans and his men and save the hostages.
Let's not beat around the bush; Die Hard is an action classic. As Jeremy Jahns put it best in his own review of the movie, "Every year or two, the filmmakers in studios are like 'alright, we gotta make the new Die Hard; the new Die Hard of modern day.' Problem is, Die Hard still holds up as a sweet-@## action movie, so Die Hard is Die Hard of modern day." Whatever you have seen in other action movies nowadays, are likely stuff that are in Die Hard. The cop on cop partnership, the jerky chief of police who keeps getting in the way, the big catchphrase, it's in other film from that time, but it's done so well in this movie.
A point that some people commonly say nowadays, is one of the major problems with the later Die Hard films. And that is they make John McClane like any other major bad-a action hero, when in fact what made him likable in the first movie, was that he was more human. With most action films like some of the later Die Hard films, the hero is more capable of kicking butt - usually with ease, making the danger they face not as dramatic. But here, the danger is indeed real. He may be a cop, but what he is facing is something out of his league. He's outnumbered, his resources are limited to whatever he finds from the men he manages to kill, he has little to no help apart from communicating with Powell, and he has to use his wit to get things done - heck, sometimes the choices he makes are not always the right one. This makes him more human, and thus more relatable to the audience, as it can make you imagine yourself in his shoes. You may not do all of the things he does if this happened to you, but you still watch the movie picturing yourself in this situation.
The supporting cast is also a lot of fun to watch. Alan Rickman does an excellent job as Hans Gruber. He and Bruce Willis work off each other so well without hardly ever being in the same room. He also gives the right amount of showing that he still is a threat, while still irritated at what a thorn on his side McClane is. He also delivers some of the most memorable jokes in the film. Reginald VeUohnson was also great as Powell - again, like with Hans, he pulls off having this strong relationship with McClane with little to no scenes where they are in the same location. The most memorable of Hans' henchmen apart from Karl in my opinion, was the Asian guy, Uli, just because of that cute moment where he's taking a crunch bar from this snack stand as he and another henchman are getting ready to fight policemen who are trying to get into the building.
The action? Pff, it's awesome of coarse. Little to no shaky cameras, explosions only when necessary, the choreography to the fight scenes are not fast pace, it just gives us a more believable but still very epic action.
And that's my review for Die Hard. Do I really need to say anything else? The protagonist is relatable, the other characters are memorable, the action is full of thrills, it's just a great, classic action movie. If you have not seen it yet, do so.
With all of that said, farewell Alan Rickman, and thank you for all your memorable performances that you have given us over the years. Requiescat in pace (rest in peace in latin)
Rating: 100%
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