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Friday, December 20, 2013

DIE HARD

Here's the best action Christmas movie to have ever been made...




Yeah, it doesn't have any Christmas morals or themes, but it does take place on Christmas, so it's a Christmas movie! Plus believe it or not, it does have a Christmas atmosphere; holiday quotes and puns; and heck there's even a Christmas soundtrack (Especially towards the end); you can even say that Willis is the films guarding angel than just a hero or modern day cowboy. IT'S A CHRISTMAS MOVIE! Anyway, getting on to the plot; Bruce Willis plays New York City cop John McClane who goes to California to see his estranged wife for the holidays. However, at the building where she works, terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) hold everyone hostage and plan to rob the building and then destroy it. It's up to John to stop them and save everyone including his Wife.





When I think of Bruce Willis, I immediately think of him in this film! This performance is probably his best performance in his career! Why not? He's badass; has a fun sense of humor; all his action moments are kickass; he has some good emotional moments; and there are so many memorable moments with him in this movie that it truly makes him unforgettable! This film also gives Willis so many challenges that how he figures them all out, is just genius writing! He's even in barefoot throughout the whole movie, which makes it even more difficult for Willis as we feel his pain and struggles all the way throgh. This performance in general is undoubtedly Willis at his best!





Another great aspect and character to the film is the villain played by Alan Rickman. Before we all knew him as potion master Snape in the "Harry Potter series", people knew him as this villain and his performance still holds up. He's classy, but he's crazy; he acts professional, but he'll kill you the minute you mess up or if he feels like it. On top of it, this villain is so smart that he really puts Willis to the test. Of course, we know now that Willis can defeat him, but it's still interesting to see the two challenge each others wits. Oh and the villains final scene is so memorable that it's been made fun of countless times, even Rickman himself made a joke on it.





The supporting cast while starting out as goofballs and not needed characters, they actually do at some point later on serve a purpose in the film. When I first saw characters like the Limo driver and the cop played by Reginald Veljohnson, at first I'm thinking what purpose do they serve? As I let the film play on, Veljohnson's character became interesting and serves as a great supporting character to Willis; and the Limo driver actually does do something important in the end as well as saying a great one liner to close the film. Bonnie Bedelia as  John's wife is the typical victim, but she still is likable, has some great lines and doesn't like to be interviewed after going through such of event. Han's Gruber's henchmen are also as cool and memorable their lead and though I can't simply go through them all, I will say they are indeed as great as our villain. The film also has a dumb police chief played by Paul Gleason and two FBI agents both named Johnson, and despite that people like Roger Ebert hate these characters and find them stupid, well personally that was the point of them. We've seen stupid cops in other films before and while this Chief and these two FBI men make poor decisions they still brings more problems to Bruce Willis just like our villain, which of course makes the situation and film more intense. It surprises me how idiots like them were somehow qualified for their positions, they in the very least don't fall under the category of Sheriff JW Pepper from the Bond films.




The film once again has a great Christmas and action atmosphere and the best part about it is you don't have to watch it around the holidays to still enjoy it since it can be as a stand alone action flick that just happens to take place on Christmas...BUT IT'S STILL A CHRISTMAS FILM! The action, stunts, cinematography, explosions, and lighting are so kickass and awesome that it's still cool, entertaining, and fun. In fact, after seeing this, I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the many action films that action films today would get some heavy inspiration from. The scenes, moments, and time we spend with the characters are so memorable, so enjoyable, so awesome that many of us can point out our favorite moments from this film. The dialogue is also very fun, entertaining and quotable but I'm sure the line that most of us remember is "Yippie Kai Yay Motherf--ker! Yeah it does have moments that are unrealistic, in fact, it's amazing that the building never collapses after all that abuse, but it's one of those movies where you feel so engaged by the characters and set-up, thoroughly entertained from start to finish, and so mind blown by the action ,that you can just be willing to suspend your disbelief to enjoy it and if a film can do that, than anything is possible.

What more can I say, it's an awesome movie and everything about it is just plain awesome!

RATING 5/5

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