Retro Film Review: Die Hard (1988)

(source: tmdb.org)

One of the complaints I get about my reviews is about my tendency to slam modern- day Hollywood films harder than the mainstream critics usually do. Well, I must admit that I too picture myself as more anti-Hollywood than others. However, I also believe that I have good arguments for my anti-Hollywood stance, built on the years of movie-going experiences. Through all those years I was continuously disillusioned with Hollywood and bitter disappointments always prevailed over pleasant surprises. Naturally, I began to greet any major studio film with great deal of skepticism and that skepticism was often validated by generally poor quality of American movie industry in 1980s and 1990s. The worst of such disappointments usually came in the form of big budget summer action blockbusters - film that almost never managed to live up to the hype. But there was one summer blockbuster that actually proved not only to be quite decent piece of cinema, but also one of the best action films ever made. That movie was Die Hard, 1988 action thriller by John McTiernan.

The plot of the film begins on Christmas Eve when New York police detective John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) arrives to Los Angeles in order to patch up his quickly dissolving marriage. Six months ago his ambitious wife Holly (played by Bonnie Bedelia) left him in order to pursue lucrative business career as one of top executives of Nakatomi Corporation. McClane surprises his wife by appearing on Christmas party that takes place on the top floors of the Nakatomi skyscraper. But before he can plead his case, the building is apparently being invaded by the large group of international terrorists who manage to block all exits, cut all telephone links and take all people hostage, except McClane who managed to hide. The leader of the terrorists is Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman), suave, well-dressed and soft-spoken German who would show both his true motives and utter lack of scruples during the brief conversation with Nakatomi's executive Joseph Takagi (played by James Shigeta). To McClane's utter horror, Takagi is shot by Gruber after refusing to give the code that would allow terrorists to snatch some 640 million US$ of bearer bonds from company vault. McClane is now determined to take out the terrorists, even if it means that he would have to fight alone against many. Even when he gets radio he can't rely on any outside help - his calls are ignored by Los Angeles police who see this as nothing more than a crank call. Desk sergeant Al Powell (played by Reginald VelJohnson) is nevertheless sent to Nakatomi building to make a routine check.

Even those who don't particularly like Die Hard are quite aware of its importance. The main plot element – terrorists who take over isolated space and lone individual who must stand in their way - was not only endlessly repeated in 1990s action films but also new word for subgenre of its own. However, this simple formula, no matter how well executed, can't explain success of Die Hard; the bad results of this "die hard" formula being used in some other instances (boats, trains, airplanes etc.) shows that there is something more in the screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. The real answer lies in the lesson director John McTiernan have learned from the works of another master of action films, James Cameron. Action, no matter how spectacular and breathtaking, is shallow and meaningless without strong context of human down-to earth story. In the case of Die Hard this human story is hero's attempt to return to his family; whole with terrorists and hostage taking is only obstacle in his way and all of his actions are subordinated to this goal. McTiernan does wonderful job in the short introductory scenes that explain protagonist's motivations and make us root for him more than we could ever do with average testosterone-fueled heroes.

Hero in this film is played by Bruce Willis, one of the most popular yet also the most underappreciated actors of the past decade. In the first major Hollywood role he showed that he could transcend his image of fast-talking detective from Moonlighting and turn into image of hard-working blue-collar law enforcer who is forced to make his hands dirty in the process of catching bad guys. Willis in this film doesn't only bares his body (for the most of the film he walks barefoot and wears nothing except pants and undershirt) but also displays a lot of muscles (which later inspired one of late 1980s Croatian critics to find some homoerotic overtones in McTiernan's tendency to show a lot of half-naked male flesh in his early films). But although he uses those muscles, he is clearly portrayed as normal human being and not Superman - for the most of the film he sweats, bleeds, feels a lot of pain and generally looks like someone who would prefer to spend Christmas Eve in the different manner, despite his jingoistic and wise-cracking comments telling the other story. Even his choice of romantic partner indicates someone who is closer to average viewer than god-like personalities of average Hollywood action hero - Bonnie Bedelia is attractive, but nevertheless plain looking. Finally, Willis finishes this realistic portrayal by letting someone else finishing his job in the last scenes of the film.

The hero of Die Hard has the privilege of being confronted with truly impressive villains, probably one of the best in history of cinema. Alan Rickman, same as Willis, used this film in order to become one of the most recognisable actors of the past decade. His Hans Gruber overcomes the old Bondian cliche of villains who try to be charming by sophisticated dress (or, in this case, good education and table manners). The real trick with Gruber is in his intelligence - unlike most of the cartoon villains, his motives are quite simple, rational and understandable; for the most of the film he knows what he is doing, he shows great deal of leadership ability and intelligence than enables him to quickly adapt to new situations. Few action heroes had to deal with such dangerous adversaries. When we compare character of Gruber to his near-psychotic subordinate Karl, played by Alexander Godunov, the superiority of characterisation and Rickman's performance is underlined.

Although Die Hard relied mostly on those two characters, there were plenty of room for character actors to shine in smaller but nevertheless impressive roles. Reginald VelJohnson perhaps looked too stereotypical or incarnation of every possible police thriller cliche, but his "buddy buddy" role was fitting for this kind of film. Same could be said for Hart Bochner as arrogant yuppie, Robert Davi as overjingoistic FBI agent, William Atherton as overzealous but nevertheless professional newsman, De'Voreaux White as cab driver with the heart of gold, and finally veteran James Shigeta as corporate official whose sense of duty takes precedence over his own survival. The acting is accompanied by fine photography by Jan de Bont, nice production design by Jackson de Govia and with truly clever use of music. Original score by Michael Kamen doesn't sound like anything special, but it is nevertheless intertwined with popular Christmas songs, Horner's soundtrack leftovers from Aliens and finally with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" which is used as the ironic comment in one of the most effective scenes of the film. Of course, McTiernan again validates his reputation of action director proving that he can handle such scenes in the labyrinths of corporate skyscrapers with the same ease he had handled action in Latin American jungle in Predator one year earlier.

A lot has been said and written about Die Hard being metaphor for fears that plagued American society in 1980s or ideological messages that aren't very acceptable in today's climate of "political correctness". Those critics might be right to a certain degree. The action takes place in a skyscraper which is the symbol of Japanese corporate take-over of America and Japanese in the form of Takagi are portrayed as people with shady motives, reactionary ideas about women at work and fanaticism worthy of kamikaze in WW2. America is powerless towards Japanese, same as towards sophisticated Europeans whose motives are less shady, but more sinister. This all happens to the decline of American economy, which is ironically symbolised in the movie location - Century City, real estate made out of 20th Century Fox studios sold in order to rescue that cinema empire from the collapse caused by Cleopatra box office disaster in 1960s. The reason for that lies in coke-snorting, arrogant and selfish yuppies, symbolised in the character of Ellis, people ready to abandon their patriotism, principles and even common sense for the sake of profit. The movie offers conservative solution in the form of tough, blue collar, not sophisticated but incorruptible Americans who remained loyal to the country by sticking to national cultural values and rejecting everything that is foreign. This message, which doesn't fit well with multi-cultural dogmas of today, might be problematic, but nevertheless doesn't devalue this film. From today's perspective Die Hard actually looks even better. Some elements of the plot turned out to be prophetic. For example, jingoistic FBI agents and their bungling of hostage situation are now more believable than before events in Waco. On the other hand, Cold War terrorists who abandoned their ideology and turned into money-grabbing criminals look in many ways like the former Communist Nomenklatura of Eastern Europe which suddenly turned into greedy and unscrupulous neo-capitalist elite of "new democracies". Because of that and because of many other things, Die Hard is a film that should be recommended as the truly timeless masterpiece of action genre.

RATING: 10/10 (+++++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 20th 2000)