DIE HARD: A XMAS REVIEW (SPOILERS)

This time of year Die Hard discourse turns to whether it’s a Christmas film, but I don’t care about that. I care that Die Hard is a perfect antidote to the luke-warm, cookie cutter, algorithm-generated tripe that passes for Hollywood action...

...movies these days. From the 1st moments of Die Hard you notice something both retro AND refreshing: it isn’t in a hurry. The script takes time to introduce & detail its characters, from John McClane himself, to McClane’s wife and the shameless, coked up yuppie she works with.

Even Argyle, McClane’s limo driver, is carefully painted as a fun-seeking, endearing, relatable young man at the start of a minor career change. The next thing that sinks in is that our hero is a flawed, flawed man. He’s surly, unfriendly even, makes bad life choices, and...

...smokes like an out-of-control barbecue. This works to the film’s advantage because, aside from making McClane relatable, his character grounds the inherently implausible scenario in reality. A heist to steal millions in bonds from a highly conspicuous corporate building...

...that involves taking over the entire place has just too much potential to go wrong, which it does, but the presence of the sweaty, irritable, reluctant hero cop McClane somehow anchors this ridiculous situation back into reality whilst simultaneously raising the stakes.

Our hero isn’t a willing participant in chaos, just the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, a vulnerable, pissed off man surviving out of sheer bravado and luck. Unlike many of the one-man armies of eighties action, he can be injured easily and you really feel like...

...he might not make it out alive. His motivation isn’t some form of grandiose revenge, but the prospect of having a nice time with his family. All this character work really raises and sharpens the emotional impact of Die Hard and goes to prove that the action genre benefits...

...from diligent character work as much as comedy or suspense. The action in Die Hard, too, cleverly straddles the line between the implausible and the mundane. Although McClane gets involved in increasingly large-scale, explosive and just plain silly action sequences...

...throughout the film, he seems just as surprised as we are by the consequences of his actions. He has no idea the amount of damage that will ensue from tossing several kilos of C4 down an elevator shaft but he does it anyway. He writes a taunting message on the sweater of...

...one of the dead terrorists, later rubbing it in the face of the man’s clearly enraged and very dangerous brother. McClane is rash, obstinate and intermittently incompetent to the point where, having walked over broken glass to escape a shootout, he openly questions whether...

...he’s fated to make it out alive. At the same time, a combination of luck, bravery, nimble intelligence and strong motivations prevents him from quitting. The film juggles all of these character traits in such an interesting, slick, relatable and efficient way that you never...

...lose interest in the main character himself, which keeps the stakes high whenever he’s in trouble. The script seldom relies on over-long or unmotivated exposition to develop either the plot or any of its characters, preferring to show rather than tell at the right moments.

And, unlike modern action movies where cuts occur every second or so to induce a false and exhausting sense of excitement, Die Hard allows the atmosphere of the setting to breathe. Even though the narrative occurs in a large and complex environment you always know where...

...everyone is and what’s going on. There are plenty of clear establishing shots and middle-distance takes, even during hectic fights, that let you see where everyone is. Rather than forcibly injecting you with adrenalin via pounding music and dozens of hyperactive...

...cross cuts, Die Hard employs a dramatic but restrained score and spends time showing the consequences of violence by letting you see facial expressions and the deteriorating physical state of the protagonist.

Action scenes, rather than occurring one after the other as in so many formulaic movies today, are spaced out, interspersed with lively, humorous and humanizing character moments that set up call-backs for the emotional pay-offs to come.

Even the exchanges between the bad guys work to flesh them out, making it more meaningful when they get blown up later on. These aren’t the drone-like, expendable, red shirt walking mannequins of so much of the committee-written action dreck we endure today.

They’re alternately calm, impulsive, ruthless, bumbling, and child-like. There’s even a scene where, hungry while guarding his position, one of terrorists last about ten seconds before reaching into a glass candy case to stuff himself.

The acting by Alan Rickman as the lead baddy is masterful because he looks calculating and unhinged at the same time. You’re never sure if he’s sincere or manipulating everyone or what cruelty he’s capable of.

Here, again, the script makes an intelligent choice in having Gruber be a vulnerable antagonist who would certainly lose to McClane in a head-to-head fight and who needs to resort to dirty tricks to get his way.

If you had to summarise what makes Die Hard Better than 99% of the action films of the past few years, you might say it’s because it takes extra care to transcend its genre. It would have been easier to blow a few things up, have a couple of fist fights and some gore, and just...

...tick all the boxes but Die Hard goes the extra mile with character work, humour and an interesting setting and scenario that work together to truly invest the audience in the final outcome. And it IS set at Christmas too, which definitely counts for something.