Jacked In Reviews ‘Die Hard’ (1988)

To solve the ongoing debate for whether or not Die Hard is in fact a Christmas movie, Jacked In’s Jack, reinvestigated by seeing the movie on the big screen at Tyneside Cinema on December 3rd 2021… Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherf*cker!

As the time capsule in the form of an aeroplane carrying, charming, ‘80s Bruce Willis, lands amidst a friendly piece of advice for nervous flyers, you take a sip of your beer, nestle into a velvet cinema seat and get ready for the beginning of the festive season.

An undisputed classic in the world of action movies, Die Hard – which was almost a direct sequel to The Detective (1968) – follows the story of John McClane (Willis), a New York cop currently separated from his wife (after not supporting her career), visiting his family in Los Angeles during the holidays to try and make amends.

After being picked up at the airport, John rendezvous with his wife, Holly Gennero/McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) during her office Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza. Unfortunately for John, a bunch of European terrorists – led by the intelligent, smartly dressed, sociopath, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) – also decided to attend. Willis brings his earlier charismatic and comedic stylings to the role of John McClane opposite the marvellously talented Rickman, playing arguably one of the most infamous villains in action movie history.

Serving as a gateway into the prime period of action movies with explosions, witty one-liners and cigarettes, John McTiernan’s Die Hard doesn’t just contain most of the tropes from the genre, it invented them! Not only that but upon your umpteenth viewing, you begin to notice that everything is perfectly foreshadowed or given a plausible explanation. Whether it’s giving a reason as to why John is barefoot by the brief conversation at the start, Takagi explaining that the top floors of the plaza are still under construction, which will later give John plenty of room to sneak around undetected, or even Holly taking back her maiden name, which allows her to allude any association with her husband John, whilst being held hostage. In short, every quirk, nuance and conversation, adds to the bigger picture, making it, not just an entertaining action movie, but a perfectly structured story with well-developed characters.

Now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for, the question that keeps getting asked… Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Well, it takes place during the Christmas holidays, several Christmas songs are featured and numerous Christmas references are made throughout. In saying that, none of the sequels carry on these traits and Willis himself has even denied it being a Christmas movie! So, take from that what you will.

However, for many people, it still remains one of their festive favourites and let’s be honest, it just isn’t Christmas until you’ve seen Hans Gruber fall from the top of the Nakatomi Plaza.

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