It may have been 25 years since Bruce Willis hit the big screen as John McLane in the original DIE HARD, but this action classic STILL rocks.
Willis is NYC detective McLane, arriving on Christmas Eve to visit his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) at her new high profile job at Nakatomi Tower. Separated, they barely have time to meet, get close and fight in her office before a group of terrorists take over the building.
WIllis manages to escape and become a one man army against the bad guys. It's so well executed on every level, DIE HARD made Willis a movie star and it still holds up great today.
Alan Rickman is the greatest Euro villain ever and his Hans Gruber has been often copied, but never equaled. Reginald VelJohnson is really good as Sgt. Powell, the only cop with any common sense on the scene, battling with FBI agents Johnson & Johnson and a whole lot of twinkies. Having spent some time in the 20th Century Fox towers, filling in here as Nakatomi, its amazing how much of the building they appear to explode, shoot up and destroy. The special effects team led by Richard Edlund (Star Wars, Raiders) works overtime to great effect, as does Michael Kamen's best movie score.
One of the best action films of the 80's, DIE HARD still packs the same explosive punch that it did back in 1988. It sits nicely in my top 100 of all time, with an annual Christmas season revisit...and YES, it's a Christmas Movie!
Yipee-Kay-Aye! it gets an A.
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