Die Hard (1988)

A while ago I wrote an article about the death of DVD and Bluray as I think we are slowly seeing a move from ownership to access. Sites like LOVEFiLM, Netflix and the Apple store which stream movies, make it very easy. It’s so easy that when I wanted to rewatch Die Hard, which I actually own I was too lazy to seach for it and decided to stream it. It made me realise that DVDs are not so important to me anymore.

I had been meaning to rewatch this movie for a long time, but after watching the very disappointing A Good Day to Die Hard I was in a rush to watch it cause I needed a reminder about how awesome the first movie was.

It’s funny how you sometimes forget a lot of details about a movie you love, but haven’t seen in age. It must have been over 10 years since I last saw it and in my mind this movie was set in New York (because it was in a high building). So I was surprised seeing how John McClane (Bruce Willis) was going to Los Angeles. I actually liked the fact I had forgotten so much about the film. It almost felt like watching it for the first time again. For those that don’t know this movie (and you should stop reading this review and immediately go see it) it’s about a N.Y. police officer who ends up in a tower on christmas eve, which is taken over by terrorists, lead by Hans Gruber (the always excellent Alan Rickman). John McClane manages to escape them and tries to outwit them and get the L.A.P.D. to the building to free everyone.

There is so much to love about this movie. First of all I like the attention to detail. An example of this is the fact that Bruce Willis is barefoot for most of the movie. The reason he’s not wearing any shoes because he followed the advice of someone he saw in the plane. When he takes them of the tower is attacked. Now in any other movie he would be barefoot after that and you’d start asking why he didn’t search for shoes. Here he actually grabs the shoes from someone else, but they are too small for his feet. Even later in the movie the villain uses the knowledge of those bare feet in his advantage. Another example is the McClane’s wife, who you know will be discovered somewhere during the movie. As the movie plays out you think you know who’ll tell Gruber, but it doesn’t turn out that way.

Die Hard doesn’t have a boring moment and has a normal guy outsmarting a group of trained men using the environment to his advantage. He never chose to be in the situation, but tries to survive the best way he can. Die Hard is an action movie, but one where the action always feel natural and never over the top. I was very happy to be able to rewatch it and so should you if you haven’t yet.