Die Hard is
the best christmas movie ever made. Period. Some of you may laugh at
this statement, asking “How can Die Hard be
the best christmas movie ever when it's not even a christmas movie?”
Obviously, if you think this then you have never seen Die
Hard and only know about it from
clips, quotes, trailers, and it's sequels. Die Hard is
very much a christmas movie. Don't believe me? Here are the facts:
- Die Hard takes place on christmas eve.
- Hans Gruber interrupts a christmas party.
- There are quotes like “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho.”
- The theme of the movie is the importance of family and togetherness, a theme prevalent in many “traditional” christmas movies.
- There is christmas music, notably “Christmas in Hollis” by Run DMC.
Obviously,
by any measure, Die Hard is
a christmas movie. What separates it from other christmas movie is
that it is an action movie filled with guns and terrorists. But just
because some people get shot and buildings explode, doesn't mean that
this can't be a christmas movie. I'm pretty sure that's in the bible,
just after the part about the three wise men.
Bruce
Willis plays John McClane, a New York cop visiting his wife, Holly,
and kids in Los Angeles for christmas. He stops off at his wife's
office building first. Their relationship is on the rocks after John
stayed in New York after she accepted the job, thinking that it
wouldn't work out and she would come back to New York. After getting
into a spat with John, Holly returns to her companies christmas
party, which is shortly interrupted by a group of terrorists led by
Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). John is able to sneak away from the party
without being noticed and tries to contact the police, the fire
department, anyone who could help him out. Soon he realizes that he
has to fight off all the bad guys by himself. Even after the police
and FBI do show up, they are still of little help, with only one LA
cop being on John's side, Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald ValJohnson, aka
the dad from Family Matters).
The chess match between Hans Gruber and John McClane is one of the
best duels in the history of action movies. Each of them don't know
who the other is, and John doesn't know what Gruber's motivation is
for attacking Nakatomi Plaza, but he intends to find out, one bullet
at a time.
This
movie is a lot of fun. I've made a tradition of watching this movie
every year around christmastime. This was the fourth year I've
practiced this tradition, and it definitely here to stay. Willis
proved himself in this movie to be a solid action star, a role he
continues to play to this day, despite being a quarter-century older.
Alan Rickman is magnificent as the villain, playing a steely cold,
yet refined and cool character that he would reprise as Snape in the
Harry Potter films.
This film is action packed, but like all great action films it also
has it's fair share of laughs. Action films should never take
themselves too seriously, because they are meant to be a fun time,
and Die Hard takes
itself just serious enough to let us know what the stakes are, but
not too seriously that the movie is a drag. I highly recommend you
make this film a tradition of your own and watch it every year at
christmas. But after the kids are asleep, of course, perhaps as
you're getting their presents out of hiding on christmas eve.
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