I just saw Die Hard for the first time. (I know, shut up.) But I was struck mainly by how (relatively) grounded and unburdened by exposition it was — compared to modern action movies anyway. The hero’s a cop. The baddies are robbers... Today it would be like this:

Tech giant and upstart military contractor Nakatomi Dynamics has just opened the Tower, a new, hermetically-sealed high-rise R&D complex where all of their most secret projects are housed.

During their opening ceremony, meet John McClane, an Afghan war vet turned chief security advisor for Nakatomi — on his last day, forced into early retirement for warning the higher ups about fatal flaws in the new Tower’s supposedly airtight security system.

Enter Hans Gruber. Uber-terrorist who exploits said flaws to break into the Tower. Reveal his intent — to steal the Skeleton Key — a program developed by Nakatomi that will allow him remote access to all the world’s nuclear weapons. Now only McClane can stop him.

Oh and Argyle’s the quippy hacker/Lyft driver stuck on the outside who becomes the ace up McClane’s sleeve in the last act.