Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to your families and you. I hope you were all on the nice list, and Santa treated you well. Flicks with Nick decided to give you one last present, a review on the best Christmas movie, Die Hard.
Die Hard was released on July 15 1988, and grossed over 143 million at the box office. The movie stars Bruce Willis as John McClaine, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero, and Reginald VelJohnson as Sgt. Al Powell. The director is John McTiernan, who has also directed action classics like Predator, and even the sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance. The movie currently has a 94% for both Rotten Tomatoes and Critic Scores.
The film opens up with John arriving in LA to see his Wife Holly during the holidays (see already a Holiday movie). He is picked up by his limo driver Argyle, and during the ride, we learn that John and Holly are separated, and he’s visiting her in LA for the first time. John arrives to the Nakatomi building, while Argyle is playing Christmas music. John arrives at the Christmas party, and meets Ellis, who’s a sleazy salesman, and also a druggie. John also meets Holly’s boss Takagi. We find out later why John met these two, before he sees his wife. After a fight with John, Holly leaves to go give a speech to the Holiday party. John stays behind in the bathroom, and while Holly grabs the troops, they are bombarded by Hans and his crew. For the next 90 minutes, the movie is a thrilling cat and mouse action film.
John’s first takedown of the terrorists is when he attempts to get the fire department to show up, by pulling the fire alarm. The henchman shows up to the floor where the alarm was pulled, and we see his attempt to search and kill John. John takes down the henchman, and comes up with a clever plan to show his presence to the other terrorists on the floor below. He takes the deceased henchman, and puts a Santa hat on him. He then writes on his sweater, now I have a machine gun Ho-Ho-Ho. John puts him in the elevator, and brings him to the floor for Hans and the rest of the crew to see.
Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are when Hans is integrating Takagi, Ellis tries to get John to surrender himself, and the interactions John has via radio with Al. My favorite scene in the movie is when John and Hans meet for the first time. Hans pretends to be a hostage to trick John, and even uses an American accent to fit in. The story goes that they wanted Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman’s characters to meet each other before the end of the movie. They asked if Alan could do an accent, and he said he can only do a Califorian accent, so the writers wrote in the scene during production.
I think this is one of the most quotable action movies of all time. We get funny one liners from multiple characters from the movie. Some of them are “Welcome to the party pal”, “now I know what a tv dinner feels like”, Hans! Boobie!, I’m your white Knight” “Shoot the glass”, “I want blood” , “We’ll do it the hard way” “It’s Christmas Theo, it’s the time of miracles”, and of course we have the infamous movie line, “Yipee ki yay Muthafucka”
This movie has stood the test of time, and even had copycats through the years after it’s released. We got Die Hard on a bus, Die Hard on a mountain, Die Hard in the White House, and Die Hard on a plane.” The use of practical effects has made this movie age beautifully.
If this movie was filmed today, it would have just been full of CGI, and might have been too distracting. The best shot of the film is when John ties himself with a hose, and jumps off the building, as it explodes.
Alan Rickman to me is one of the best movie villains of all time. He’s smart, dresses well, funny, and he’s fearful, without being a brute force.His sarcastic humor is on cloud 9, whenever someone tries to outwit him. This is one of the best movie villain acting of all time too. His deliverance of the Yippe Kai Yai line, is just as impressive as Bruce Willis’ version.
I love how we get random funny scenes too, for example the SWAT cop runs into a bush and yells ouch!, the FBI agents make jokes about both having the last name of Johnson, and one of the terrorists eating a candy bar, before he starts shooting people.
The final showdown of the movie turns into a Mexican standoff, where Hans has Holly, and there’s still one more guard with Hans. Before John confronts Hans, he finds a Christmas wrapping station, and duc taps his gun to his bare back. John shoots both Hans and the henchman, and says “Happy trails Hans” As Hans is falling, he takes Holly with him, and they are dangling from the window. Hans is held to dear life by Holly’s watch. John manages to remove the watch, and we get this epic slow motion shot of Hans falling off the building.
The end of the movie we get this touching interaction of Al and John meeting for the first time, and they hug each other. No shame, I always get a little teary eyed during this scene, as they’ve built this friendship, with never meeting each other till the end. We get one final bad guy make a last attempt to kill John, to only be saved again by Al. The final scene of the movie is Argyle taking Holly and John to the limo, and they kiss, as Christmas music is being played. Not sure if I’ve heard of Christmas music being played in a movie, that wasn’t a “Christmas movie”
This is one of my favorite action movies of all time. It includes humor, tension, and surprises along the way. Alan Rickman introduces us to a cunning, and funny villain, where we believe they will get away with it, till he finally falls off the Nakatomi building. Bruce Willis overnight went from a TV star on Moonlighting, to an action star. The first promos of the movie poster actually didn’t even include Bruce Willis, as they were afraid the audience wouldn’t accept him as an action star. After the amazing buzz of the movie, they finally put Bruce Willis back on the movie poster.
The movie is still relevant after more than 30 years of being released, with people still asking a very controversial question, “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” The issue was even discussed on the Today show, and CNN recently. My wife loves themed movie months, especially Halloween and Christmas movies. A couple of years ago while dating,I tried to introduce her to Die Hard for Christmas movie month, and after 30 minutes she wanted me to turn off the movie, and she said “this movie is slow, and it’s not even a Holiday movie” This has sparked the debate every year with family and friends. Honestly, I think the case is closed… I’ve given you the rundown of all the Christmas references throughout the movie, and how it played an important role. I would love for someone to explain to me why this isn’t a Christmas movie.
I give this movie a 4.5/5
Do you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Drop your comment on your thoughts and answers.
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TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick 
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