• Like McTiernan’s 1987 entry the year before, Predator, Die Hard is an updated (and modified) western. Instead of The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai) it’s Shane here in many ways
  • Clichés are clichés for a reason and Die Hard would go on to be so influential to the action genre that it may seem cliché now—but it isn’t—it’s an architype – a standard and the premise has been copied a hundred time sense (DP Jan de Bont did it pretty well himself in Speed)
  • Pure good and pure evil—much like Shane with Ladd and Palance—we have Willis and Rickman here
  • Gorgeous use of 65mm for special effects in the beautiful slow-motion death from falling shot (so well done) with Rickman

Gorgeous use of 65mm for special effects in the beautiful slow-motion death from falling shot (so well done) with Rickman

  • It’s not Bergman or anything intellectual, but I think it’s smarter than most critics give it credit for. I don’t think it’s a coincidence or lazy that it’s the 1980’s and all these terrorists want is money
  • Willis became a star and his performance here is deserving. He’s an everyman who is cool and witty. “Does it sound like I’m ordering a f*cking pizza?”-haha. He may not seem it now (he’s been an action/genre star for 30+ years) but at the time Willis was counter-casting to the muscles that usually got these films/roles (Arnold and “Rambo” are in the text– these three, including Willis, would start Planet Hollywood in 1991)

He may not seem it now (he’s been an action/genre star for 30+ years) but at the time Willis was counter-casting to the muscles that usually got these films/roles

  • Very smart narrative addition to have Reginald VelJohnson as the cop who Willis talks to and becomes friends with
  • There are still a handful of cheeseball “thanks for the advice” one liners and even poor Willis’ wife is falling to her death nearly while her husband is delivering a one-liner
  • Bordwell wrote this great piece in 2019- talking about McTiernan’s impressive use of rack focus, capturing much of the film in a wider shot and deftly shifting the viewer’s attention– and not just bouncing back and forth like so many films do http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2019/12/17/not-just-a-christmas-movie-die-hard-on-the-big-screen/

McTiernan’s impressive use of rack focus, capturing much of the film in a wider shot and deftly shifting the viewer’s attention– and not just bouncing back and forth like so many films do

  • Willis is film’s revelation — but Rickman (in his big screen debut believe it or not) is equally masterful—the film doesn’t work as well without those two in lead

it is near impossible to believe this is Alan Rickman’s big screen debut — whoever decided to cast both him and Willis in 1988 deserves a medal

  • Paul Gleason (principal from The Breakfast Club) has some good comedic lines as do the dueling FBI agents both named Johnson (Robert Davi and Grand Bush)— “this is just like Saigon” and the other one says “I was in junior high”
  • Hart Bocher as “Ellis” is pure comedic genius as well— “bubby”— plays on the fish out of water comedy as he’s a gritty streetwise blue collar New York City cop in California (as he’s kissed on the cheek by a guy at the Christmas party)
  • Very smart to set this film in Xmas- it feels grounded to have it during the Christmas holiday, at a holiday party, “Ho Ho Ho” line by Rickman and Run-DMC— “Christmas in Hollis” song, Twas the Night Before Christmas,

venetian blind shadow perfection here- there are really three signature frames from Die Hard— the slow-motion 65mm falling shot, the claustrophobic air vent shot, and this one here

  • Lens flare galore here- pre JJ Abrams
  • Haven’t seen glass breaking like this since the Joanna Cassidy death in Blade Runner
  • Countless “cowboy” references (including two John Wayne references and one during climax, Gary Cooper) which helps my McTiernan as modern day western director theory
  • There are some  small plotting issues- Willis checks the building directory clearly to show that she’s now going by her maiden name…. it’s a set up—the guard then says they’re the only ones left in the
  • During the finale it’s absolutely ingenious to have Willis tape the gun to his skin– would’ve fooled me
  • Must-See top five of the year quality