Die Hard
I don’t remember the first time I watched this film. I don’t know how many time I’ve watched it, either. A lot. (Although not as many as my BIL who firmly believes in “Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”
- Our introduction to John McClane is through his faults: not enjoying plane travel. Fear – but also carrying a gun.
- Middle of the airport and he lights a cigarette? What a time.
- The introduction of Holly is fantastic – dealing with Ellis the idiot coworker, clearly a boss, also a loving mother.
- I like Argyle a lot. He’s a stereotype of course – the young mouthy black guy, listening to his rap music – but I still believe that he rises above the stereotype. Could just be that I am accustomed to him.
- Touch screen! So fancy. Unlike McClane’s reaction to Holly using a different name…
- By golly I loathe Ellis. The epitome of 80s corporate douche.
- I really like the dynamic of John and Holly. They’re in a difficult position personally, maritally, emotionally. I like that we land in the middle of ongoing arguments, and what it shows about each of them. Also that John beats himself up over it a bit.
- Also? John is not ripped. He’s no slob, but he’s no Arnie either. I prefer this era.
- The misdirect of the villains entering the reception is magnificent.
- I adore Alan Rickman’s entrance.
- Gasp! Villains are not speaking English! (At least they’re not Arabic or Russian?)
- I will neither confirm nor deny that I have made fists with my toes after a plane trip.
- Hans is sublime. The little black book, the impeccable suit. And of course, the English accent when that was still a Hollywood trope for a villain.
- Was it a reasonable assumption, in 1988, that Hans et al were terrorists? Since that is what Mr Takagi assumes. I don’t feel like there’s been any real indications of that – but maybe that’s my having seen it very many times.
- John has an emotional reaction to the killing! and makes a noise! So, quite different from other action-man types. And his first instinct is to get help in the form of firefighters – rather that going it all alone – but that doesn’t work. AND his first fight is intended initially to disable, rather than kill.
- Karl has already been shown to be a brute and a bit out of control, what with the chainsaw and the electrical cables. But Hans? Hans can still control him.
- The introduction of Al is a nice play on stereotypes: the fat black cop buying snacks – “for my wife; she’s pregnant” – although of course we have no idea whether he really is just a plod or not.
- Shows like this always make me think about the guts of buildings and how much we don’t usually pay attention to that.
- I enjoy how John gets more and more dishevelled over the course of the film.
- “Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs… “
- Poor Al didn’t deserve to have a body land on his car.
- I am fascinated by the narrative choice to give us so much insight into Hans’ plans – that he expected, indeed needed, police intervention, and so on.
- The media interlude is… weird. Why do we suddenly have a rogue reporter arguing with his network? Seems like an unnecessary addition to the narrative.
- “Enough plastic explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger” – it’s only 1988 and Arnie is already being referenced.
- Holly’s early interaction with Hans is perfection.
- 1988 is such a different time in terms of dealing with suspected terrorism. The response of the police boss on-site is wild – the fact that he’s allowed to be making that decision! And Al and John both know it’s terrible, showing that they are the smart ones.
- Ellis’ cocaine-fuelled greed-is-good attempt at negotiation always makes me want to punch something.
- … I have just realised that Al is the Sam Gamgee of the film.
- The way Hans manipulates the police expectations of terrorists… so clever.
- Ah, Agents Johnson. More fabulous stereotypes.
- I love the melodrama of Hans pretending not to be Hans. And his accent is hilarious.
- It’s hard to express how much I loathe the reporter and his approach to the McClane household. The reporter is more loathsome than Hans.
- Even when I recognise a trope like “the hero is wounded and we’re not sure if he can continue,” I still enjoy and appreciate it, especially here: pulling glass out of your foot, being exhausted – Willis plays it so well.
- Al’s tragic background… I mean, I get its copaganda, but it’s still touching.
- The irony of “Ode to Joy” as the vault opens – for the villains – is magnificent.
- This film does not love the FBI.
- Jumping off the roof, attached to the fire hose? Iconic.
- It’s such a great use of Argyle and his limo.
- This is 5 years after Wrath of Khan. Do we think “HAAAANS” is modelled after “KHAAAAAN”?
- The watch!
- Hans’ face, as he falls, is truly THE scene.
- Naw, the bromance of John and Al. Adorable.
- … and the resurrection of Karl is so unexpected. Does Al need this sort of violent redemption? I personally don’t think so, but then I’m not an American living in the 1980s.
- Holly punching the reporter, though, is basically justified.
His only contribution: hey. the villains’ theme is “Ode to Joy”!
A Good Day… to watch Bruce Willis
Wellllll… let’s be honest here. Pretty much any day is a good day to watch Bruce Willis. But to be specific, I finally watched A Good Day to Die Hard.
It seems to me that the Die Hard franchise is much like the early Star Trek movies; the odd-numbered ones are the good one (I do have a soft spot for #2, but it is not as good as 1 or 3). This outing for old-man-McLean is definitely a more enjoyable film than the fourth one was. And I think there’s a really significant reason for that: he’s with his son, rather than his daughter.
SPOILERS ahoy!
The story: Our McLean finds out his son is in a Russian prison. He goes to see what’s happening. He arrives as his son is breaking a Russian political prisoner out. It is revealed that the son is in fact working for the CIA… and then things continue to Not Be As They Seem. And Chernobyl is involved.
Firstly, the good bits: there are some awesome chase scenes. There are helicopters doing mad things. One of the villains regrets that he did not become a dancer, and does a shuffle to prove it while also kicking away McLeanx2’s guns. Some great banter ensues, especially between father and son, and there are two (that I counted) delightful references to early Die Hard which I think is probably perfect – they were very good and appropriate references, and it doesn’t overdo the call-back which is always a threat in such films.
And then… well, I did have a couple of issues. As mentioned above, I enjoyed this film more than the fourth because of the interaction between the father and child, in this case the son. The daughter is not wholly lacking in awesome in the fourth, but she is a captive and therefore lacking in real agency. And the dude/son-replacement that McLean goes along with just got annoying. Whereas here, father and son are totally equal; their skills complement each other, in every fight they’re equally awesome, etc. So that made me a little bit sad for the daughter. Interestingly, there is a daughter character in this film too (actually two, since the McLean daughter gets a look-in as well, but she is largely irrelevant), who is also interacting with her father – she first appears to be working against him, but then it turns out she is actually working with him. So that’s an interesting inversion of what’s going on with the McLeans. I was a bit worried that the two youngsters would end up getting it on, but that wasn’t a problem because she ended up being Evil, as did Pa, and there wasn’t even time for flutter-eyes between the two Hot Young Things (thus, bonus: no romance!). Good Family have issues but work together despite them; Bad Family are sneaky and always working together even when it doesn’t look like it.
Very watchable, but not re-watchable. I really hope this is the end of the franchise, because the only place to go from here is McLean and grandchildren – which he’s already done in Look Who’s Talking – or McLean in retirement village, which he’s already done in RED (and eeee so excited for RED 2).
Randomly Yours, Alex 