Die Hard (1988)

DIE HARD  (1988)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: John McTiernan
    Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia,
    Alexander Godunov, James Shigeta, Robert Davi
The movie that kicked off the franchise, starring Bruce Willis as John McClane, who's like the blue-collar junkyard dog of action heroes. McClane's a New York cop who flies into L.A. in time for Christmas and a hoped-for reunion with his estranged wife and family. What happens instead is that he gets dropped off at the luxury office skyscraper where the Mrs. now works, some terrorists move in and take over the building, and McClane turns into this barefoot one-man army who's equally handy with a punchline or a machine gun, and a guy who knows the difference between Gary Cooper and John Wayne, which the kingpin terrorist (Alan Rickman) does not. The whole time I was watching Bruce Willis in this, I kept imagining Mel Gibson. Bruce can do the indestructible wise guy routine as well as anybody, but Mel's got a crazier edge. He'd be good, too. Fans of classical music might want to listen for how many ways Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" turns up on the soundtrack.