If you ever watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you should remember how Jake Peralta was obsessed with Die Hard. The entire Die Hard franchise was a pop-culture staple for many kids who grew up around the 80s. Today, we walk down memory lane and present to you one of the greatest action films of all time in our Die Hard review.
Die Hard Review
The Plot
Hostile In Nakatomi Plaza
Detective John McClane, who is currently in the NYPD, is hoping to reunite with his estranged wife Holly Genarro on Christmas Eve. The party is in Nakatomi Corporation at Nakatomi Plaza, where Holly works.
Argyle, a driver of the Nakatomi Corporation picks John up from NYPD to drive to Nakatomi Plaza. Argyle tells John to wait for him. While John changes for the party, German radical Hans Gruber with his team Theo and Karl, keeps the Nakatomi Plaza hostile.
Somehow, McClane manages to escape the situation while the rest of the hostages stay in the same situation.
McClane vs German Terrorists
Hans Gruber comes out as a terrorist who is planning to bag 640$ million dollars from the unknown building vault. Gruber kills the executive of the building, Joseph Takagi.
The terrorist group is aware of McClane’s presence in the building and sends Tony, one of Gruber’s men to kill the lead actor.
McClane kills Tony and takes over to his weapons. McClane calls LAPD to further investigate the issue. In the meanwhile, he kills more terrorists and figures out the bag of C-4 and other explosive materials.
Sergeant AI Powell was sent to investigate the situation. While Powell was about to return to his workplace finding nothing, McClane tricks Powell when he drops a terrorist’s body inside the sergeant’s car.
A SWAT team comes to rescue the hostels but gets interrupted by other terrorists. McClane happens to kill all of them by dropping a C-4 detonator to create an explosion to end the assault.
Negotiation, Theft And More?
Harry Ellis, Holly’s co-worker, tries to negotiate with Gruber but eventually gets killed by him. Gruber manages to trick McClane and successfully finds the vault and opens it for his team to steal the million dollars.
Speaking of all this badass action, have you checked out our The Godfather review?
Knocked Out The Germans
The FBI takes control of the situation and negotiates with the FBI. McClane gets the plan of Gruber to blow up the building’s rooftop.
McClane also kills Karl who is Tony’s brother. Gruber tries to exploit the FBI helicopter to kill the rest of the hostages. Meanwhile, Holly is kidnapped by Gruber.
McClane drives the hostages away when Gruber takes the attempt to destroy the building’s roof. Theo tries to help escape Gruber but gets knocked out by Argyle, who followed the entire situation through his car radio.
Death And Reconciliation
McClane finds out about Holly being held hostage by Gruber. McClane tricks Gruber by surrendering to him but at the end, John pushes Gruber and he falls from the building.
Gruber tried one last time to kill McClane and Holly, when he clasped Holly’s watch. McClane unclasps the hand from Holly and Gruber falls to death. Karl gets killed by Sergeant Powell. Holly and McClane escaped the place in Argyle’s limo.
Cast, Director, Screenplay
- Bruce Willis, who is known for his role in 80’s comedy drama Moonlighting, played the role of Detective John McClane.
- Alan Rickman, the legendary British actor played the antagonist, Hans Gruber.
- Russian actor Alexander Godunov played the role of Karl, Gruber’s second-in-command and Tony’s brother.
- Bonnie Bedelia is Holly McClane, who is the estranged wife of McClane.
- Limousine driver Argyle was played by De’voreaux White.
- Theo, Gruber’s tech specialist, was played by Clarence Gilyard.
Die Hard was directed by John McTieran. The screenplay of the movie was written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza.
Movie Trivia
- Die Hard was based on the book, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ by Roderick Thorp.
- The role of John McClane was offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Later, they turned down the role.
- Bruce Willis was offered 5$ million dollars for the role of John McClane.
- Singer Frank Sinatra was offered the role to play John McClane. But at that time, he was already 70 years old. Due to his age, he got rejected.
Speaking of Sylvester Stallone, check out our Tango & Cash review!
Our Review
At first, Die hard wasn’t the favorite movie of the critics. Critics even constructively criticize the plot and the choice of the cast. Eventually, after many times of watching the movie and based upon many reviews, Die Hard has become one of the greatest action movies of all time. People have remembered the movie so much that till now, even if they are in a hostile situation, the first thing they could relate to is ‘The Die Hard’ situation.
For action lovers, the hostile situation was aesthetically pleasing enough to fantasise and enlisting as an unlocked fantasy. As Die Hard is based on the novel of Roderick Troup, there was enough resemblance with the book.
John McClane was an unusual role for Bruce Willis to play. Bruce’s acting in the film showed why he took 5$ million dollars for the role.
Hans Gruber was the debutant role for Alan Rickman. The British actor acted extraordinarily in his role which led him to get the title of one of the most influential and legendary actors of all time.
Alan Rickman naturally has a deep voice. The character Hans Gruber is a German terrorist. In general, German’s don’t have an eargasmic accent. Rather, they have a thick accent due to their widely spoken German language. Director Treiman picked the perfect person to imitate a German who speaks good English.
Other actors were excellent in their significant roles. The movie follows a series of 5 films releasing with a gap and with different casts.
