Movie #40: Die Hard

Movie #: 40
Movie Title: Die Hard
Year Released: 1988

Director: John McTiernan
Notable Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson

Short Description: John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #32
Lifed.com: #80
Empire.com: #29
FilmCrave.com: #26
FlickChart.com: #33



Date Watched: 10/8/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: The second best Christmas movie only to Jingle All the Way, Die Hard delivers excellent non-stop action and a hero that's hard to not root for. The dialogue is a little bad, but honestly, that's not why you watch this movie. I did enjoy the friendship that formed over the CB radio and walkie-talkie between Bruce Willis' John McClane and Reginald VelJohnson's Al Powell (didn't hurt that I affectionately remember VelJohnson from Family Matters) and I like Alan Rickman and didn't mind his performance as bad guy Hans Gruber, but he came off as more like a top henchman for a bad guy than the main bad guy himself.