Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the "Reaction & Review Christmas In July Special". Yes, guys, I'm once again doing another Christmas movie in July. And for this year's special, I'm covering a rather famous movie that has a rather infamous "controversy" of sorts. It is an action thriller from 1988. That movie is "Die Hard".
Yes, guys, believe it or not, I have never seen this movie before. I know of it's premise, which is about our main character, being played by Bruce Willis, as he's trapped in a large building with a bunch of terrorists and he has to escape from the building, while trying to evade being killed by these terrorists. That's all I remember about the plot, which, to me, sounds like a really cool premise already.
But as I just mentioned already, this movie has something else that a lot of people on the internet seem to have an interest about. You see, people who have already seen this movie, whether it be fans of something or the like, debate on whether or not the movie counts as a Christmas movie. Which, to me, I find to be a really stupid debate for two reasons. One, the movie already confirms it itself, as the premise mentions something of a Christmas party that takes place around the building that Bruce Willis's character takes a part in. And two, I watch a bunch of movies around Christmas time, which don't even center around Christmas, whether it gets mentioned or not. For example, "Pokemon The Movie 2000" has nothing to do Christmas, but I watch it every year around that time. And if you want a live-action reference, "Dead Snow" really has nothing to do with Christmas, even though it's set around a wintery area in the mountains of Norway.
Basically, guys, I find the whole debate on whether or not "Die Hard" is an actual Christmas movie to be really pointless. All I care about is whether or not this movie is entertaining. And if it *is* entertaining, then I'm most certainly gonna add it to my yearly tradition of Christmas films that I must watch every year. But the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is entertaining at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Die Hard".
18 minutes later
Well, guys, right now, I don't have a whole lot to say at the moment, but I am, so far, getting into this movie. And it looks like these terrorists are about to start to their takeover, so I'm hoping that our plot will finally get kick in now that they've arrived.
15 minutes later
OK, well, it's good to know that Argyle still has his priorities straight. He's still listening to loud music in his limousine, and I also have to question how Argyle, ignoring the loud music, would be able to hear gunshots from, possibly near the top of the building to which McClaine was a witness to. I'm really kinda curious here.
8 minutes later
OK, I like John's little "calling card" we shall say. And the fact he just indirectly tells them that he has one of their machines guns basically is an indication that, yeah, he's coming for them, and I'm gonna be here for the entire ride.
4 minutes later
Wait, so even though these lady cops obviously heard gunshots going off while John was trying to call for help, they sound fucking casual about the whole thing as if this was a prank call. Yeah, they said they would send a black and white out to check the building, but the fact that they didn't take a hint that there were gunshots going off in the background makes me hope those people on the line get fired for negligence on their part! Just...wow.
12 minutes later
Well, that's certainly one way to get the cop's attention. Just throw one of the terrorists dead body out the window and onto their car. Problem solved. At least, I hope so anyway. However, by the time that this is all done, I don't think they're gonna be all that necessary after McClaine takes care of business by himself. Calling it now.
20 minutes later
You know, guys, out of the things I've seen blown up in movies and TV shows, that might've been one of the greatest ones I've seen of all time. Holy shit, that was amazing.
15 minutes later
So, John is actually going to help Hans out, who, I should mention, John doesn't even know that it's him. Why the fuck is he helping him out? Doesn't he know that there are terrorists in the building, and he doesn't suspect some guy in a suit, and is obviously suspicious? Unless Hans stays unarmed, then John is still kinda stupid for bringing him along. Just saying.
20 minutes later
Sorry, guys, for not saying very much at the moment, I'm really getting invested into the story here. It's been amazing so far.
8 minutes later
Well, guys, after two hours into the movie, Argyle actually did something of value. I was really beginning to question the validity of his appearance in this movie, but he actually did something useful. So, I'll cut him some slack for now.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Die Hard". And, man oh man, what a way to end a movie. Holy shit...well, I may as well go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. First things first, I'm gonna answer this question so I can put this debate to bed. Is this movie actually a Christmas movie? Yes. It totally is. And any retard who keeps debating about it is just fooling themselves. It has Christmas decor. Hell, it even ends Dean Martin's rendition of "Let It Snow!". So yeah, this movie totally counts as a Christmas film. And not only that, but it's a fantastic Christmas movie, as well. Which makes me wonder why I even waited this long to finally watch it, but hey, never late than never, I suppose.
So now, let's actually talk about the movie a bit. I'm gonna start with writing. And in most cases, I would probably just disregard writing when it comes to action movies, because, as I've mentioned time and again, most people don't care about the plot. They only care about the action scenes. And there's plenty of it here, mind you. But it also has something else to it that a lot of action movies don't really have. It actually has depth to it. It makes you want to keep watching it to see what happens. This is the kind of action movie that makes you *care* about these characters. Which is something that I don't see a whole lot from action movies that operate on a standard format. Now don't get the wrong idea here. I don't mind when action movies do their own thing, like with most of Andy Sidaris's action films, because he never aims for anything more than just making a cheesy, action film with playboy models with big tits pretending to be action stars. Those are an exception.
But with this kind of movie, it shows that you *can* add depth and personality to your action movie if you take the time to put in that effort. Now granted, the story here is very simplistic, which is fine for an action movie. As I said earlier, it's about Bruce Willis's character, AKA John McClaine, who is a New York cop who gets caught up at the wrong time when terrorists take over a building where his wife is works at. And the terrorists are there to break into a vault to steal shit, while McClaine is a one man army who attempts to take them all on while trying to escape the building. So yes, it's a very standard plot, but it's also so damn compelling that you want to see how McClaine gets out his situation, even when he's battered, bloodied, and, even during one point of the movie, he runs across glass while being barefoot while trying to make an escape, and the entirety of his sole is bloodied to all hell. I couldn't even begin to imagine that kind of pain, and frankly, I don't really want to. Now I should mention that you don't visibly see him running across glass, as it was covered by a flash grenade from one of the terrorists. But still, I think you can get an idea of what happened to him after his escape.
And speaking of characters, all of them are great. John McClaine here is charismatic, and he has depth and personality. He's sorta like the reverse Rambo. Where with Rambo, he was mostly the silent type who would kill you in an instant when he got a chance. With McClaine, he's not like that. While he's still a one man army type like Rambo, he acts more vulnerable, but he's still able to be creative with his mind in very tense situations. Some of the stuff that he actually comes up, like when he tapes a gun to his back while pretending to be vulnerable is something that, if I were put in this situation, I would never have come up with something like that. Or the thing involving that massive explosion. Believe me when I say that this is the kind of explosion that Michael Bay would not be able to recreate, even if he tried to. But yeah, McClaine here can be vulnerable, but he's still able to be a badass, even in scary situations where tries to act calm, even though he's probably scared to death on the inside. But then again, considering he's a New York cop, I would imagine that he's learned to control his fear when he signed up for that job. Though that's just me theorizing.
If there was any sort of negatives to characters, I would probably have to go with Argyle. Because Argyle, for almost the entirety of the movie, does nothing of value. Not only that, but he really has no kind of character to him other than him being a rookie limousine driver. Now yes, I did give him credit earlier in which he stopped one of the terrorists from escaping by disguising themselves as an ambulance worker, but that was towards the end of the movie. Before that, he really just does nothing other than sit on his ass in his limousine while listening to loud music. Now, in some fairness, when he picks up that McClaine was in the building he actually does start to listen a little bit about what's happening to him. But other than that, and beyond his lack of character, I honestly believe that you could've replaced him with any other character, and you wouldn't have missed a thing with him. Aside from that, though, I will still give him credit where credit his due for stopping at least one of the terrorists.
But yeah, our other characters here are also decently developed. Granted, a majority of the hostages aren't really focused on. The only one I can think of is John's wife, who he has been trying to get back together with after being in an estranged relationship with. But otherwise, you're not really gonna care about the hostages because, as I just said, they're not really the focus. Our villains, including Hans Gruber, is incredibly unlikable. However, you're not really suppose to like the villains, and they do a great job of making you want to hate them. Also, I have to mention the cop, Sgt. Powell. The friendship that he and McClaine share, even though they almost never physically meet each other is fantastic. It really is some of the better character depth I have seen between two friends that I haven't seen in a long time with other movies. Although that may be just a personal thing on my part.
So, guys, if it's not made any clearer, the writing in this movie is fantastic. It's an action film that has depth and personality to it, it has characters you can care about, and for a movie that's only a little over two hours, it doesn't feel very long either. But then again, it's not very short either. Basically, this is a movie that is worth the slightly over two hour runtime that it's working with, which is perfect if you ask me. The acting here is also fantastic. Every single actor in this movie is giving it their all here, and it shows. Even if it's a minor actor, they still turn in a fantastic showing. Special mentions go to Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. With Rickman, he oozes off with a lot of charm to his character, even if his character is slightly on the generic side of things. He's still able to take his character and just makes you want to despise him. And he does a fantastic job of it. And as for our hero of the movie, Bruce Willis is incredibly charismatic here, and he'll even take one-liners and turn them into gold. I obviously don't need to bring up his famous quote because anyone who, even if you have never seen this movie, chances are that you've at least heard it uttered at least a couple of times beforehand. I don't know what else to add to all this other than to say that the acting here is nothing short of fantastic.
Special effects in this movie are also really good, too. Blood effects here are brutal, especially the scene I mentioned earlier where McClaine is taking the time to take out shards of glass out of his bloodied foot. Mind you, that's one of the instances I can think of, other than him having a bloodied shoulder as well. Still though, blood effects are really good here. The pyrotechnics are also fantastic as well, not including the obvious here. Now I'm not sure how much of it was legit or how much of it was done in CG, but I still think it looks great for the standard of late 80's special effects.
Everything else, guys, involving camerawork, lighting, sound-mix, and music is all great here. There's really not anything special I can mention about the technical work. I could also mention that, for a supposed Christmas movie, there's not much Christmas music playing, other than the end credits. But I'm kinda thankful that they don't play any of it during inappropriate moments, otherwise, it might come off as a little bit awkward. At least, to me, it would.
But otherwise, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Die Hard"? Oh, fuck yes, guys. This movie is fantastic, and if you somehow still haven't seen it yet, then I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Not just as a fantastic movie, but I would also say it's worth watching during Christmas year. Which I'm totally gonna be doing from now on because this thing has more than proven worthy of that honor. Now is it my favorite Christmas movie of all time? Well, I'm not sure if I would put it that far. I mean, it's gonna be difficult for it top films like the first "Silent Night, Deadly Night" movie or even "Tokyo Godfathers", but I would say it ranks very high up there now, thanks to my first viewing of it. And you bet your ass I'm gonna be watching it a lot more often, even not during Christmas time. It's just that great, and you owe it to yourself to check this movie out. It is fantastic in every single way. Now...seeing as how I brought up Rambo, I'm probably just gonna watch one of my Rambo movies right now. I don't know which one at the moment, but I'm gonna go watch one of them right now.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. And until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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