rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 14:33:27 GMT -5
DIE HARD (1988) - ***** - MasterpieceForget IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Screw A CHRISTMAS CAROL, all 1,532 versions of it. No more A CHRISTMAS STORY marathons, please! Now this is a holiday classic. DIE HARD either started or propelled cliches of action cinema that we've had for over two decades. The regular-joe hero, the wife/lover split from him until the finale when they reunite, the smarter (and very arrogant) villain, the incompetent police bureaucrats, the token minority characters, the hostage/terrorist demands, you name it. Yet the difference from DIE HARD and every other movie that's either copied its blueprints correctly (UNDER SIEGE) or not (MASTERMINDS) is that John McTiernan's masterpiece did it all perfectly the first time around. We must start with Bruce Willis, who was booked only after every other movie star turned down DIE HARD, including Richard Gere. It was a risky and very desperate move to cast a TV comic star as your action hero, yet Willis succeeds in ways beyond expectations. Unlike the steroid-musiclemen from the 80's like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Willis early on in the picture never gives off the natural look or behavior of a badass. We accept Willis as a layman NYPD cop, that what will proceed on Christmas Eve at the Nakatomi Building is way beyond anything he's ever encountered or even dreamed of. Willis instills such a nice breath of fresh air for a decade full of unstoppable action figures, that the smallest dilemmas that Arnold or Sly would have easily walked over, become giant obstacles for John McClane. Every moment of great peril, from desperately scaling the air ducts or jumping for dear life off an exploding rooftop, is great tension because we believe in the character, and in this slightly fantastical reality. He's filthy and nasty by the finale, and we feel his pain. Certainly after Willis walks across the floor of broken glass and has to pluck the shards bit by bit, I always grimace at that sight of Willis dragging himself to the bathroom, leaving behind a juicy blood streak of a trail. Though a great hero can not exist without a great villain. Alan Rickman is the quintessential know-it-all adversary who has planned for every spot, to counter-act every act conducted by the police & FBI, and to compensate for every possible deviation from his masterminded plan. He's not smart for the sake of it, for he's actually cooked up a great operation, but a certain poison pill just keeps getting in his way. It's such a damn good plan, we sorta cheer when the FBI inadvertedly help the terrorists score their payday. Even while verbally dueling (unsuccessfully) with Willis on the CB radio, Rickman sincerely believes he will prevail until a key moment when the Rolex watch slips off, and we witness the look on his face when he finally realizes that he won't. For a movie that famously promised to "blow you through the back wall of the theatre!," and recently named the Greatest Action Movie of All-Time by Entertainment Weekly, the "action" itself doesn't occur until 25 minutes well into the picture. McTiernan and DP Jan DeBont are able to craft a compelling prelude explaining the hero's situation, how the baddies enter and take over the skyscraper, and using a macguffin of an opening gag to explain why Willis begins his guerilla warfare without any shoes. The extremely tight action and suspense delivered afterwards is so great because of smarts and talent from both men. The fact that DeBont himself later helmed great action cinema in SPEED shouldn't have surprised anyone. Yet the genius that lies beneath DIE HARD that nobody ever talks about is that of Willis' characterization of McClane. As carried over in the only true sequel in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, also directed by McTiernan, the hero is a funny guy at times, but he's also an incredible asshole. He drove his wife away because her career ascension violated his comfort zones. In their brief argument before the plot kicks in, such great heat is from the fact that she isn't the wife as he demands or expects. In both pictures, Willis' McClane is a ass-kicking hero, but with very visible faults and prejudices on the surface. You probably couldn't stand him in real life, but when there are terrorists, who you gonna call? DIE HARD is indeed a great movie, and a true masterpiece of action cinema.
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Grendel
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
But ... why is all the rum gone?
Posts: 17,593
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Post by Grendel on Dec 23, 2007 14:36:16 GMT -5
I concur. It's a great smurfing movie. I own the whole series.
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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Dec 23, 2007 16:07:28 GMT -5
rra, You just won my eternal respect and loyalty for giving "Die Hard" a ***** rating.
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Post by Dynamite Kid on Dec 23, 2007 16:12:20 GMT -5
Best Christmas movie ever.
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Post by chibidiablo on Dec 23, 2007 16:14:58 GMT -5
John McClane is better than every person you know or have ever met
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Jiren
Patti Mayonnaise
Hearts Bayformers
Posts: 35,163
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Post by Jiren on Dec 23, 2007 16:18:22 GMT -5
It's a great movie BUT my favourite Christmas movie is still "Gremlins"
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Dec 23, 2007 16:24:56 GMT -5
It's a damn great movie, but I don't know if I'd consider it a masterpiece. They were a few things about it that sort dragged it down a bit. Ellis anyone?
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Post by B'Cup x on Dec 23, 2007 16:26:00 GMT -5
Just out of curiousity, why dont you consider die hard 2 to be a true sequel?
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Joie De Vivre
Hank Scorpio
There's always next year.
Posts: 5,278
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Post by Joie De Vivre on Dec 23, 2007 17:07:34 GMT -5
One of the best Christmas presents I ever got. Great film.
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The Raven
Hank Scorpio
Where The Raven flies, there's Jeopardy!: Sports Edition
Posts: 5,907
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Post by The Raven on Dec 23, 2007 17:43:57 GMT -5
Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.
We could do it, RRA. Die Hard.
Hasn't been written yet. We could write it.
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Post by 'Foretold' Joker on Dec 23, 2007 17:50:15 GMT -5
Die Hard is truly a great film.
But a Christmas classic? Not so sure about that.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Dec 23, 2007 17:59:53 GMT -5
I wrote a paper about how race is presented in it last year for an English class. I think I got a B+ or an A- in it. Maybe even an A. Damn my memory!
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Post by rubber johnny on Dec 23, 2007 18:14:25 GMT -5
every christmas without fail at my house it's this, gremlins and christmas vacation that get played
it's alan rickman's performance that makes it, although everybody's great
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:32:27 GMT -5
It's a damn great movie, but I don't know if I'd consider it a masterpiece. They were a few things about it that sort dragged it down a bit. Ellis anyone? Why does Ellis drag it down? He's a coked-up, corporate douchebag that thinks he can handle these terrorists like the Arabs or Japanese....and well, he can't. I should note too that DIE HARD has two of the great "douchebag" persona actors of the 80s: William Atherton and Paul Gleason. FTW
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:33:21 GMT -5
Die Hard is truly a great film. But a Christmas classic? Not so sure about that. Lets see.........its an action classic, yes? And its set at Christmas. DING DING, Christmas Classic baby! Beats the infamous Salkind-produced SANTA CLAUS movie.
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:33:40 GMT -5
Now I know what a TV dinner feels like. We could do it, RRA. Die Hard. Hasn't been written yet. We could write it. Write what?
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:34:01 GMT -5
rra, You just won my eternal respect and loyalty for giving "Die Hard" a ***** rating. Took long enough.
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:37:12 GMT -5
Just out of curiousity, why dont you consider die hard 2 to be a true sequel? To simply put it, because DHWAV has McClane get the total shit kicked out of him, and looking like it. There is some realism to the incredible insanity he has live through. Not fall off a FLYING AIRPLANE and walk off without a scratch, like DIE HARD 2, or be thrown out a window of a tall complex, and run back up, like in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. I enjoy all the DH pictures in varying degrees, but DHWAV is the only true sequel in that there is consistency with the character. He's an asshole, one that his co-workers can't really stand, an alcoholic, and his wife left his ass years ago. But when shit hits the fan, he always rises up to the challenge to open a whoop ass.
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Post by Virt McGirt on Dec 23, 2007 19:44:02 GMT -5
Remember when we first met John McClane? Argyle picked him up from the plane, And took him down to Nakatomi Tower... To meet with Holly.
He came to get her back and to be her man, But Hans and his buddies f---ed up the plan, And that's about when everything went sour At the Christmas party.
And the terrorists were over-zealous, But it was sweet when they killed Ellis! And, with a little help from Allen, John McClane kicked ass!
We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die as hard as we can!
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rra
King Koopa
Posts: 10,145
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Post by rra on Dec 23, 2007 19:46:52 GMT -5
Remember when we first met John McClane? Argyle picked him up from the plane, And took him down to Nakatomi Tower... To meet with Holly.
He came to get her back and to be her man, But Hans and his buddies f---ed up the plan, And that's about when everything went sour At the Christmas party.
And the terrorists were over-zealous, But it was sweet when they killed Ellis! And, with a little help from Allen, John McClane kicked ass!
We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die, die hard! We're gonna die, die, die as hard as we can! Awesome. What lyrics is that song for?
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