Day 2: Yippie-Ki-Ay, Mamma-Jamma

DIE HARD (1988)
Directed by John McTiernan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Reginald VelJohnson

It's the fact that I had never seen a movie this well-known that I started this project.  Everyone has seen Die Hard. It's like Dark Side of the Moon - everyone you know owns a copy (maybe even two).  And now, I have caught up with the rest of the world.

If, like me, you have never seen it, Die Hard is the story of John McClane (Willis), a New York City cop visiting his wife in Los Angeles.  While at a Christmas party at an LA high-rise, a group of European terrorists drop in, led by the ice cold Hans Gruber (Rickman).  And...that's it, really.  John McClane, aided by Los Angeles Police Sergeant Al Powell (VelJohnson) on the ground, eventually saves the day, despite the best efforts of the LAPD and the FBI.  But not before a lot of stuff gets blowed up real good.

Though it's probably not true that this film started every trope that has been in every action movie for the last twenty years, it is fair to say that this is the film that "turned it up to eleven," so to speak.  It's a pretty thin story that relies mostly on the explosions and Willis' machismo to sell it.  However, the fireworks are spectacular and Willis is more than enough man for the job, even if his character is equally thin.  McClane is often called a "cowboy" by Gruber, and that's a pretty accurate assessment.  He sees wrong and is compelled to right it.  Sure, his wife is among the hostages at the party, but little is made of that fact.  He is on a mission, and it'll take more than C4 and surface-to-air missiles to stop him.

But quite the opposite of Willis' bragadocious McClane is Alan Rickman's chilling and yet wonderfully charismatic Hans Gruber.  I've always believed that the hero of any story is only as good as the villian.  And Gruber is one of the best ever.  The thing that makes him so convincing is that Gruber believes, in his heart of hearts, that he is in the right, and Rickman, in his feature film debut, emphasizes this trait.  Of course, it's impossible for me not to love Alan Rickman.  His suave yet intense delivery has carried a lot of films (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves comes readily to mind).  His demeanor - polite, yet ruthless - makes for a memorable bad guy.


Even though there was nothing really new in this movie, it was still enjoyable, if in a testosterone-fueled, escapist revenge fantasy sort of way.  But the makers of this film knew that audiences like to be taken on a wild ride, so long as the danger isn't real.  This is why roller-coasters are so popular.  It's manufactured terror in a controlled environment, with a few laughs thrown in.  And we ever feel we've had a rotten day, we can pop in Die Hard and say, "Well, at least I'm not this guy."