“Die Hard”

I imagine the pitch meeting for “Die Hard” must have seemed strange: a Los Angeles high rise is taken hostage by Germans terrorists, but they’re defeated by a New York cop played from the dude from “Moonlighting”. Nevertheless, the film has become the quintessential action flick upon which all good action films are judged.

Bruce Willis is John McLane, a cop visiting his estranged wife for Christmas. When her office is taken hostage by a group of Uzi-toting Germans, headed by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), McLane takes matters into his own hands. The fight scenes are over-the-top but entertaining thanks to director John McTiernan.

And Willis as McLane raises the bar of convincing action film heroes. He’s more similar to Indiana Jones than he is any character played by Steven Segal or Jean Claude Van Damme: he’s not afraid to show his weaknesses and imperfections. By the end of the film, McLane winces in exhaustion, and we know exactly how he must feel.

However, the real highlight of the film is Rickman’s performance. Gruber is putting on an act of his own – posing as a suave and sophisticated European, that is until his manners and composure are shattered by McLane’s survival. He unravels slowly, finally disintegrating entirely in the end.

Released in 1987, “Die Hard” has withstood the test of time not only to become one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time (I know, kind of twisted, huh,), but also it’s become a the gold standard of action films.