Genre Grandeur – Die Hard (1988) – Encore Review 6 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Bestselling/Popular Novel Adaptations, here’s a review of Die Hard (1988) by Me

Thanks again to Satu of FairyTale Pictures for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Richard of Kirkham A Movie A Day and it is Swashbuckler Films

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to engarderichard@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Richard!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Welcome to the party, pal. ” – John McClane

Number of Times Seen – Seriously too many to count (Video, Cable, 13 Oct 1992, DVD, 4 May 2000, Jan 2012, 24 Nov 2013, 30 Nov 2014, 4 Nov 2015, 11 Nov 2015, 13 Jul 2017, 3 Dec 2017 and 30 Jul 2018)

Link to original review – Here  Here  Here Here Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – An off duty NYC detective gets trapped in a building in LA after terrorist take it over.

My Take on it – This is one of my all time favorite films and I’ve seen it probably 25 times (if not more).

Despite having seen it so many times, I never get tired of it and interestingly, I always notice something new each time.

Bruce Willis is superb in the lead here and they really took a gamble on casting him since he was not known as an action-hero type back then.

Apparently, he was so good in this kind of role, that he has remained a staple in this genre for the past 30 years ever since this film was made.

It’s interesting to note that this film is responsible for creating the genre shown here and despite the hundreds of films made in this “new” genre, none of them have been able to do it any better than they manage here.

The twists and turns in this film are so enjoyable to watch and even if you know the movie by heart (like me), you can still enjoy this so much every time.

The dialogue is great here especially since they are able to help lighten some of the very dramatic scenes presented here and help the story move along at a great pace.

There have (so far) been 4 sequels to this film, yet none have been able to capture the essence of it all like they did here.

This film is loosely based on a novel called “Nothing last Forever” by Roderick Thorpe and they do an amazing job adapting it to the screen and making it even more interesting to watch unfold than the book did.

Bottom Line – Amazing film that gets even better every time I watch it. Willis is superb in the lead here and was so good that he made this kind of role his specialty and even after 30 years, he is still making films in the genre.  The twists and turns are great and even if you know the film extremely well (like me), you can always find something new that you previously didn’t notice. The dialogue is great and helps move the story along. The action is constant and they do an amazing job keeping things light despite it having such a serious premise. None of the sequels are nearly as good as this one is. This film spawned a genre of films yet none of the hundreds that have been made since this one have been successful in making a better film than we are given here. This is loosely based on a novel and they do an amazing job adapting it to the screen. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  The scene where McClane falls down a shaft was a mistake by the stuntman, who was supposed to grab the first vent, as it originally was planned. He slipped and continued to fall, but the shot was used anyway; it was edited together with one where McClane grabs the next vent down as he falls. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)

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