Die Hard (1988) Analysis

Die Hard (1988), John McTiernan
4.5/5

***SPOILERS***

This is one of the best, if not the best Action film ever made. Based on the novel "Nothing lasts forever" by Roderick Thorp, this film is iconic and set the stage for not only the Die Hard franchise, but also setting the tone for the action genre in the 90s and beyond. What makes this action film so great, that it still stands up after more than 20 years is the well constructed plot, great cinematography and snappy dialogue. It's the little details that make this film great and the smart construction of visuals to develop plot, something that is sadly lacking in most Action and B films of recent years. It is also one of the best Christmas movies, as it is set on Christmas Eve.

It is beautiful to watch the opening sequences unfold, as the visuals set up all that is to come later in the film. A single shot of John McClane (Bruce Willis) sharing a look with the Stewardess on the plane, gives the audience a clue about his character and as we learn later perhaps issues with his marriage. All the little Checkov's guns are great. The opening scene in the plane serves not only to set up John McClane as the major character, but also we learn that he is a cop and hear the advice about "make fists with your toes" to 'cure' jetlag. This seemingly throw away line than John seems to brush off comes into play later when he tries is and this serves as the reason he has to go barefoot throughout the rest of the film.

Another interesting way of introducing the Hero of the Action is that we learn his name through a shot of a sign held up at the airport by Argyle, his limo driver that is more like a cab driver. The witty reparte or interrogation by Argyle in the limo serves to not only divulge important information about John and his separation from his wife, establishing it before we even see John and his wife Holly Genero (Bonnie Bedelia) interacting, but also is just a really funny scene. A number of shots throughout the film establish John as perhaps a womaniser and a misogynist including the glance with the Stewardess at the beginning, the POV shot at the airport of the woman in tights where he exclaims "Fucking California". These humourous wise cracks establish John as both an everyman, quite conservative and traditional (as in the traditional male archetype hero character) and that he finds the sort of liberal culture of California to be quite strange. When John enters the Christmas party there is a POV of John, showing a woman in the window, which is interrupted by a homophobic moment as a man kisses John on the cheek and he sort of brushes the kiss of with a surprised grin and repeats the line from earlier "Fucking California". Then John meets Mr Takagi and the quality of the writing is great as Mr Takagi gives John a bit of a tour while detailing important information for later including the fact that "several floors are still under construction".

The next scene shows the tense meeting between Holly and John as well as introducing the coke snorting Ellis with his sleazy attitude he makes a comment about the Rolex watch that the company gave to Holly. John and Holly exchange a chaste kiss on the cheek in front of Takagi and Ellis before reverting to bickering once alone divulging in more detail the issues of their marriage. Which is then interrupted firstly by a couple acting flirtatiously, which highlights the issues between Holly and John also with the composition with Holly and John at far ends of the room from each other. The arguing couple are interrupted for a second time, this time by Ginny the pregnant woman in the office, thus amping up the tension, yet also serving to introduce Ginny and John. Which may seem a small moment, but serves to explain that she is the last person to know his true identity in the later parts of the film. Once Holly leaves to make her speech, there is one of the best moments of the oft used hero talking to himself, where Bruce Willis gives the most convincing talking to himself, which seems really authentic as he berates himself saying "That was great John, good job, very mature".

During these sequences it is intercut with shots of trucks and cars arriving and finally we get introduced to the 'terrorists' including the head honcho Hans Gruber brilliantly played by Alan Rickman (Harry Potter series). These scenes with the terrorists arriving at the building are edited and shot brilliantly conying all the important information through visuals rather than ridiculous and obvious dialogue. The film then returns to John making "fists with your toes" with a clear establishing shot of his bare feet. Cut across with shots of one of the terrorists cutting at wires, John calls Argyle who is down in the parking garage and thus makes clear the purpose of the terrorist's wire cutting as the phones go dead, as well as to serve as a clue to John that things are going wrong, which is then confirmed when he hears machine gun fire.

Another funny moment is after John escapes barefoot upstairs, gun drawn (which the film established he had on him in the opening scene on the plane) and tries the phone saying "think...think" which then cuts to a POV shot of another building with a woman standing in the lit window, which recalls images from Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984) that sort of voyeuristic aspect. John serves as a sort of hapless everyday hero, no doubt proving his great worth as an action hero and cop, but this only serves to contrast his own failings and normal problems in his personal life. The argument between John and Holly in the bathroom/ office spawns from John making a comment about Holly reverting to her maiden name of Genero, and the pay off is at the end of the film, where John becomes more mature by introducing Holly to Argyle using Genero, but instead Holly, corrects him by saying "Holly McClane".  Thus reverting to the married man and wife paradigm with all gender roles are in their place with the traditional archetypes.

Another great funny moment is John's 'schizophrenic' conversation with himself by saying "Why the fuck didn't you stop 'em John?" replying to himself "'cause you'd be dead then too, asshole". John's character is great evoking the everyday hero and also particularly the hero of the Western, with explicit references to him as "Cowboy" by Hans and referring to him as "John Wayne" and "Mr. Cowboy", also John stating "I was always actual kind of partial to Roy Rodgers" which then connects to his code name to the police outside the building saying "call me Roy" and also connects to his classic line "Yippie ki-yay mother fucker". John is also somewhat of a 'bad' hero with his ass hole, wise cracking demeanour, and his character plays beautifully to the American love of the rebel, as John replies to a terrorist that "that's what my Captain keeps telling me" implying that he is a cop that doesn't follow orders or rules. John is not your average police man and it plays nicely to his sense of humour that he places a terrorists dead body in a Santa hat and writes "Now I have a machine gun, Ho, Ho, Ho" on his jumper.

There are a number of elevator sequences in this film which are iconic and destined to be remade and paid homage in latter films. Another 'nice' sexist shot is John making his way through the stair well, and his head turning to stare at the poster of a naked woman on the wall, but unlike most films where this would merely be a misogynistic and gratuitous shot, it instead serves both the character John and the audience to establish where in the building he is in later scenes, to help distinguish between the similar grey walls and staircases.

John's personal character arc works beautifully throughout the action. The scene in particular where John talks to Al (the policeman first on the scene) on the radio about telling Holly a message that he is sorry and Bruce Willis gives a great performance, as he is still the hero type, trying to fight off tears as he leaves a message for his wife regretting his behaviour in belief that he will probably not make it out of the building alive.

Also playing against the frustration and derision of the police force, and the FBI in particular as the fail time and time again, citing bureaucratic policies and rules that set them well behind the terrorists actions.

There are definitely some crazy and ridiculous moments in this film, all the more awesome because of it. Favourites would be sliding down the elevator shaft and managing to grab hold and get into a duct, jumping from the exploding roof tied to a fire hydrant hose and shooting his way back into the building through a window. What makes these unbelievable elements enjoyable is the film's recognition through nods to the audience that they are ridiculous, with dialogue where John says "What are you doing John?" and "This is a very bad idea".

The pay offs for the little details in this movie are great, for instance the symbol of Holly's separation from John and tie to the Company away from her, the Rolex watch is paid off in the climax where Hans as he falls out the window grabs Holly by the watch and is dragging her with him. John manages to undo the watch clasp, both freeing Holly and sending Hans off the building in one of most awesome slow motion falling shots. Thus John gets rid of the watch symbolising their separation and they embrace in a kiss. This acts circularly to resolve the awkward kiss on their meeting at the start of the film.

Not only are the police and FBI represented negatively with bureaucratic pitfalls, but also the media is cast in a negative light. These moments are all resolved with Al the "Stevie Wonder" and "Desk jockey" of a cop becomes a hero and also Holly punches out the media ass hole Thornburg (William Atherton). Thus the film ends returning all awry at the beginning, with the romantic reunion of the husband and wife, Al and John both representing the success of the police force and the punishment of the vulturistic media by Holly punching Thornburg in the face. While Holly has aspects that make her a strong female character throughout much of the film, she still acts with a dual role as the "maiden in distress" which John must come and rescue.

There are also a number of racial elements in the film. For instance the 'terrorists' are all of stereotyped European depiction. And while there are a number of key African American characters for instance Argyle (De'voreaux White) and Al Powell (Reginald Weljohnson) Al is reverted to the hapless side-kick character and Argyle serves as the comic relief.

Another great payoff is early in the film when Holly speaks to her child who asks "Is Daddy coming come?" and then she slams a family portrait down on the desk. This serves as a key point along with Holly's use of her maiden name Genero to hide the relationship between Holly and John once his identity is revealed to Hans as 'John McClane'.

This film has so many great moments, references and subtext to analyse that I can't possibly analyse it all, but overall this film is one of the best constructed, well performed and hilariously fun action films ever made.