Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
4/4
A hero who bleeds
Andulamb - wrote on 10/02/2020
Die Hard gets right what so many action flicks today do not. John McClane is human. He has emotions. He feels pain. He makes mistakes. Whereas 99% of action movies made within the last ten years have taken the opposite approach, giving us emotionless super-humans for heroes. Contemporary action movies are all about exuding cool: cool explosions, cool battles, cool 'tudes. So I guess John McClane isn't cool. A lot of the time he doesn't know what he is doing. He's in a building full of bad guys, and he's just winging it. He isn't armed to the teeth. He can't shoot a gun with his left hand and throw a knife with his right hand, simultaneously, without looking, while doing a backflip through the window of an exploding building. He gets himself into much less extreme situations that, …
Rating of
4/4
The pinnacle of action movies!
memento_mori - wrote on 08/11/2013
Die Hard is the pinnacle of action movies. It constantly tops best lists, is extremely quotable and an average audience member could relate to John McClane in a special way. And I don't blame them.
John McTiernan directed Die Hard, and this is a guy that knows how to direct an action movie and make it memorable. He caught the vibe of adrenaline, and channeled it very smoothly during this movie, always keeping you on the hook and interested.
The script was very well written for a 1980's action movie. It was intellectual and it showed through its grand characters. Some you wanted to hug, some you wanted to strangle.
And then of course, there's Bruce Willis as John McClane.
I don't think Bruce Willis needed to do another movie after the success of Die Hard. He made this small …
Rating of
3.5/4
Yippe Ki yay!!!!!!!
MovieAddict - wrote on 07/01/2012
Bruce Willis solidified his place in movie history by filming an entire action film barefoot. His performance as John McClane is exciting and launched the career of Willis into superstardom, spawning three sequels. McClane is not muscle bound killing machine but a New York cop who turns up in the Nakatomi Building in Los Angeles to meet his wife who he hopes to spend Christmas with. But the party gets gate crashed by terrorists led by a diabolical thief disguised as a terrorist leader Han Gruber (Alan Rickman) who takes 30 people hostage. Only McClane escapes and he ends up being everyone’s only hope against the terrorists who don't care if they spoil everyone’s Christmas.
This is the guy who started the one-liners that became a cliché for action heroes later on. He's fearless, …
Rating of
3.5/4
"Die Hard" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 12/20/2011
When terrorists take the staff of a hi tec skyscraper hostage during a Christmas Eve party, a lone New York cop trapped in the building with them fights for survival while trying to foil their plans. Die Hard was a watershed moment in the evolution of the action movie, and was genre defying in that the heroes usually tended to have everything under control in action movies previous to this, while a blood soaked and desperate John McClane always seems one step away from defeat. This makes for some very suspenseful action and Willis' charismatic performance rightly elevated him to mega stardom. It has its faults, namely in the soapy back story of he and his wife and especially the ridiculous nonsense about his would be partner Al and his holstered pistol. These are minor points however as …
Rating of
4/4
Die Hard review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/17/2011
Inspiring cop flick that is emulated by many but never duplicated until The Bourne Series. Bruce Willis is Detective John McClane, who is squeezed in a Nakatomi Plaza building where 12 armed men are planning to steal millions of bearer bonds. The criminals are led by the dreadful Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) is the only one who John trusts, but is overpowered by the FBI. Some lines from the film: Hans – “I wanted this to be professional. Efficient, adult, cooperative, not a lot to ask. Alas, your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way, so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life.” John – “Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass.” “Yippee-ki-yay, m@t#%rf^ck&r.” “ I promise I will …
Rating of
4/4
Review - Die Hard (1988)
Delorted - wrote on 12/16/2009
What better way is there to spend Christmas Eve than with your family in front of a warm fire, thinking about all the good times? Well, there is family involvement here, and a warm fire certainly, but there are no good times for Detective John McClane this Christmas in the action-packed gun-blazing Die Hard.
On Christmas Eve, during a Christmas party at a large business building in Los Angeles, a group of terrorists begin raising hell, and McClane, visiting his wife in the same building, takes it upon himself to put a stop to the violence. What accumulates is nothing but more adrenaline-pumping violence that never lets up.
It is so awesome in every conceivable way. That's really the one sentence I can use to describe this film. I'm not even sure what else to say, because that …
Rating of
4/4
Yipee-KiYea
mdtinney - wrote on 08/01/2009
The eighties was the decade of the big blockbuster action flick - Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, Cobra, Commando etc. But one film outdoes them all and this is it Die Hard, the action sequences are superb and set the standard for everyone to follow. The premise is a good one and while not exactly realistic it provides a firm base for some rocking action.Our main hero John McLaine (Bruce Willis) is well drawn and manages to avoid falling into the cliché trap of some action hero's, a sub-plot with his estranged wife is given just the right amount of time to provide depth without spoiling the pacing of the movie or feeling tacked on. The other main relationships in this movie is equally well played with the one good cop on the outside John forms a bond through humour and necessity and …
Rating of
4/4
The Quarter Back is Toast!
Holas - wrote on 04/16/2009
The perfect comedy/Action movie. Moonlighting's star, Willis, portrays a 24/hr cop. He is the definition of a police officer, never off duty. He's a man on christmas vacation visting his children and estranged wife who live on the other side of the country. In the middle of a bathroom scene, this man becomes yet again 'the top cop.' The building that this x-mas party is at is taken over by terrorists and the black dude from 'Matlock' (and yes, i used a matlock reference in my review for 'twelve angry men'). One by one, and sometimes two by two, McClaine (willis a.k.a Cowboy) takes down the terrorists and has time to crack a few jokes. He befrieds a local P.D., who hasn't used his fire arm since he accidentally shoots a little boy for holding a toy gun, is reporting to the scene …
Rating of
3/4
Excellent action-packed movie with few flaws
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/2008
"John McClane," a New York City police officer, has finally got some time off, and goes to California to spend Christmas with his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and their two kids (Taylor Fry and Noah Land). He is taken from the airport to his wife's place of work, a Japanese-owned skyscraper which is still under construction by a very friendly limo driver (De'Voreaux White), who once worked as a taxi driver.
Not too long after "McClane" arrives to the building, meets his wife's boss and co-workers and has a continuing argument with his wife the building is taken over by a group of terrorists who take "Holly" (Bedelia) and her co-workers hostage. "McClane" is able to slip away as chaos ensues, and he is unable to contact the Los Angeles Police for help until he takes things into his …
Rating of
4/4
One of the best action films ever
TheWolf - wrote on 07/25/2007
The first in a series of movies that defines the action genre. This was the first time I ever saw Alan Rickman in a film, and he became one of my favorite actors immediately. Bruce Willis was amazing as always. The thing that made this movie unique is that while McClane was on his own the entire time, you would never know it with the way he talked to himself all the time, and then out of no where he would out right answer himself.
Reginald VelJohnson was fresh as his personality hadn't yet been exploited by the show Famly Matters, and while this could be added as another "buddy cop" movie, it would be the first in which the buddy cops are in the same shot for a couple minutes, the rest of the time John (Willis) is inside Naktomi Plaza, and Al (VelJohnson) is outside the building. …
