Genre Grandeur – Die Hard (1988) – Encore Review 9 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Reluctant Hero Movies, here’s a review of Die Hard (1988) by me.

Thanks again to DJ Valentine of Simplistic Reviews for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Paul of Silver Screen Classics and we will be reviewing our favorite New York Films of the 70’s.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Jun by sending them to NYC70spaul@movierob.net

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

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Now, you listen to me, jerk-off, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem. Quit being a part of the f*cking problem and put the other guy back on! ” – 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, 30 Jul 2018, 2 Apr 2019, 29 Oct 2019 and 27 May 2020)

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

Brief Synopsis – An off duty police detective visiting his wife on Christmas Eve must try and save the day when the building is taken over by terrorists.

My Take on it – As soon as I heard the choice for this months genre, I immediately knew that this would be one of my choices to review.

I have always been a fan of this movie ever since I first saw it on video over 30 years ago and it remains one of my all time favorite films.

It is able to work on so many levels and it doesn’t matter how many times one sees the film, there are always new things to discover along the way.

Bruce Willis is the perfect choice for the lead role because of the fact that he looks and acts like an every man yet needs to become a hero in order to save the day.

He needs to learn how to keep his cool while trying to outsmart these very intelligent terrorists.

The pacing of the entire story is great and they find ways to let things pay out so well while the characters move around stealthy with the ability to gather weapons and more importantly information.

The script is extremely clever and allows them to utilize information from previous scenes in order to enhance the current ones and keep the story’s momentum going at full speed.

Unfortunately, the character of John McClane has been somewhat diluted over the year due to the excessive sequels but there is no comparison to the original character who is so perfect here because he is just an ordinary guy in a desperate situation.

There have been so many films over the years that have tried to emulate the near perfection of this film to no avail since there is truly no film like this one which is able to bring so many elements together so perfectly.

Bottom Line – Amazing film that works on so many levels. Willis is perfectly cast in the role of a reluctant hero who must keep his cool while trying save his wife and her colleagues from terrorists. The story is paced really well and allows him to move stealthly through the building gathering information and weapons and the story moves along. The script is written really cleverly and they utilize events and information from previous scenes in order to move the story forward. The character of John McClane has been diluted over the years due to the excessive amounts of sequels yet there is nothing like the original in showing us what a typical guy can do when stuck in a situation where he has no choice but to become the ultimate hero for those around him. So many films have tried to emulate what this one accomplished and none have been able to come close to achieving what they got here because it all comes together so perfectly. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Bruce Willis received a then-unheard of $5 million fee, which was approved by Fox President Rupert Murdoch. (From IMDB)

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