80's Action Movie: Die Hard (1988)

I think the secret to good Bruce Willis acting must have been in his hair. Also the simplicity of having one man fighting off twelve terrorists rather than an army of goons like a video game is much more believable.

Apart from Pulp Fiction, this is the only role Willis has done that I like (admittedly I haven't seen that many). His portrayal of tough New York cop John McClane isn't as contrived as I thought it would be. His reactions to the situations he finds himself in seem genuine enough. The wisecracks he spouts are just about on par with the ones said by James Bond, so that also scores points in my book.

The other performance that has ensnared me is Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series) in his debut performance in a film as terrorist leader (or is he?) Hans Gruber. Rickman's performance is bafflingly good for someone in his first movie role. It feels like a performance from a veteran actor and yet he does a better job on his first go than many distinguished Hollywood actors have given in other films.

Another thing I love about this film is the overall vibe of the film. It hasn't dated like many other action films from the 80's, nor does it have that cheesy feeling that was so prevalent in any film from the decade. Instead it has a sort classy style, the fashion is not too horrendous and the decor is not too garish to distract this modern viewer from the story. (Although I did grow up thinking a stretch limousine like the one in the movie was the coolest thing possible. It has a TV in it!)

And I like this story. It's simple yet when you look at it closely there are some deep layers. A group of so-called terrorists break into a Los Angeles corporation building to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. (See, they were kind of bank robbers after all). But of all people to be trapped in the building with them is the aforementioned New York cop, who really doesn't take kindly to being taken hostage and begins his one man war on the bad guys (but this one man war is much more believable and realistic than in Commando, trust me).

See, this one man war does have guns and it does have explosions, but apart from one massive explosion, all the fighting is relatively small and contained (and I use relatively lightly, there's a lot of property damage done). The setting of an office building really helps this along.

Verdict: Actually a very decent action movie that isn't too over the top.