Die Hard (1988) - Movie Review

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Bruce Willis is amazing as John McClane. Alan Rickman is perfect as the quintessential bad guy as Hans Gruber. These two characters facing off makes for a perfect mixture, adding in the roles of Holly Genero McClane (played by Bonnie Bedelia), Sgt. Al Powell (played by Reginald VelJohnson) and Karl (played by Alexander Godunov).

I watch this movie at least once a year because, even though it was released 25 years ago, it is a classic. This is the one that started the Die Hard franchise. And has continued to be built on since the franchise is now up to five movies.

The movie is fairly slow until Gruber and his cohorts take the 40 story Nakatomi tower and everyone inside hostage. This includes John McClane and his estranged wife, Holly; John is a NYPD detective on vacation visiting his wife and children for Christmas. When Gruber and company take charge John is thrust into saving the day and taking out the terrorists. Amazingly, he does this all while barefoot.

This movie made Bruce Willis's career. Without this movie in his portfolio there is no telling where he would be today. On the other hand, without Bruce Willis there is no telling how successful the Die Hard franchise would have been. Alan Rickman also made the perfect bad guy, and there is no telling how well this movie would have done with someone else in that role.