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Die Hard
1988
On Christmas Eve, a New York cop comes to L.A. to see his estranged wife at her company's Christmas party, held on the top floor of a sparkling skyscraper. When terrorists capture the building, the incredulous cop is the hostages' only hope for survival.One of the greatest action movies of the late 1980s, DIE HARD ushered in a .. Read more
| Starring | Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Gleason, William Atherton |
|---|---|
| Director | John McTiernan |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
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Die Hard
On Christmas Eve, a New York cop comes to L.A. to see his estranged wife at her company's Christmas party, held on the top floor of a sparkling skyscraper. When terrorists capture the building, the incredulous cop is the hostages' only hope for survival.
One of the greatest action movies of the late 1980s, DIE HARD ushered in a new standard for the genre. With the dissolution of the Cold War, both the stereotypical Russian threat (represented in movies such as TOP GUN and RED DAWN) and the destructive egoist (as seen in OCTOPUSSY) became less fearful. With DIE HARD, director John McTiernan introduced Hollywood to a new type of villain: the terrorist entrepreneur. Alan Rickman stars as Hans Gruber, a relentless businessman whose lethal tactics achieve his goals. Unlike most '80s film villains who committed globally dangerous acts for liberty, genocide, or megalomania, DIE HARD's Gruber uses guns, explosives, and cunning to storm the Takagi Corporation's Christmas party and heist millions of dollars from the company. In addition, DIE HARD also saw the development of the clumsy or bad luck hero with John McClane (Bruce Willis), a man in the wrong place at the wrong time who chooses to intervene. Action fans would see this misfit hero archetype again in UNDER SIEGE (Steven Segal). Although DIE HARD contains many action movie cliches (one-liners, pyrotechnics), it also broke new ground in its genre.
| Starring | Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Gleason, William Atherton, Hart Bochner, Alexander Godunov, Robert Davi, James Shigeta |
|---|---|
| Director | John McTiernan |
| Studio | 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 7 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs 6 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Cops & Robbers, 100 Eighties Greats, 100 must-see movies, 100 Top Thrillers |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
| Language | English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish |
| Released | DVD: 01 Dec 2001 Blu-ray: 19 Nov 2007 Production year: 1988 |
| Format | DVD |
Die Hard (1988)
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Critics' reviews (5)
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This is, quite simply, one of the best action thrillers ever made. Director John McTiernan set a new standard for movie suspense when he placed one-man army Bruce Willis in a skyscraper under terrorist control and then had the supercop engage in one dynamite, eye-popping stunt after another. It's one of those rare films that just keeps getting better on repeated viewings. Willis cemented his sardonic tough-guy image and Alan Rickman thoroughly enjoys himself as the German mastermind behind the sinister plot.
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A hi-tech thriller with a human heart, offering slam-bang entertainment on a par with Lethal Weapon or Aliens. On... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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14 out of 17 people found this review helpful
Awesome action flick
Classic.
Die Hard is one of those seminal action movies that everyone remembers, whether they actually like it or not. That in itself is some achievement given how many of these types of films are released.
Bruce Willis stars as John McClane, a New York cop whose estranged wife invites him to Los Angeles for Christmas, where he is to meet her at her offices, in the dazzling Nakatomi building.
Unfortunately terrorists, led by the stylish Hans Gruber (brilliantly played by Alan Rickman), take control of the building and demand the access codes to the vault below.
Escaping the initial takeover, it is up to McClane, with radio assistance from a deskbound cop who just happened to be passing by, to stop the terrorists from stealing the money and killing everyone held hostage.
Wisecracking galore, classic action set pieces and a relentless pace from Director John McTiernan (who later made Predator), added to a first class performance from all the cast, make this film by far and way a top five action film classic.
The print on this R2 disc is a little soft in places, but the remixed Dolby 5.1 mix really kicks in hard during the numerous gunfights and explosions.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder was a similarly plotted sequel that actually stands comparison with Die Hard and is well worth your time also - unfortunately the same can't be said for Die Hard with a Vengeance, which followed years later.
There are talks afoot to do Die Hard 4 apparently, with Willis returning as McClane, and Britney Spears of all people playing his teenage daughter!! Doesn't sound promising does it? Still, perhaps she'll get her tits out for the boys - her music career could certainly do with the publicity!! -
Most recent members' review
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Classic
It's Die Hard! I don't like many action films, they have to be good. This is one of the best. Great performances from Willis and Rickman, plenty of suspense and action. A real classic of the genre.
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News and features
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Yippee-ki-yay, new Die Hard 4 trailer online
- 04 Apr 2007
Those who enjoy the action movie genre might be excited to watch a new trailer for the forthcoming Die Hard sequel, entitled Live Free or Die Hard. Returning to the role of John McClane is Bruce Willis, who will hopefully recite the famous "yippee-ki-yay" phrase in his fourth outing as the daredevil police officer. However, while the character used to be a top-level detective, he is now an ex-alcoholic who has found a job with America's homeland security department. But good old... Read more
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