Stubs - Predator

Predator (1987) Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Richard Chaves, Jesse Ventura. Directed by: John McTiernan. Screenplay by Jim Thomas and John Thomas. Produced by Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, John Davis. Run Time: 107 minutes. USA. Color. Action, Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction

Quickly name a film from the 1980s that would feature two future governors. Hopefully, you know that answer from reading the credits, but Predator has this distinction. After making his name as pro-fitness and pro-after school care, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to maneuver himself into becoming the Governor of California as part of the recall of Gray Davis in 2003. But former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura would beat him into the governor’s mansion, this one in Minnesota in 1998.

That bar bet settled, it’s a shame that the film wasn’t better than Predator.

The movie starts off with the science fiction angle. A spacecraft flying near Earth releases a bright object which enters the atmosphere.

Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives ahead of his team.

Cut to the Val Verde jungle. Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team — mercenary Mac Elliot (Bill Duke), tracker Billy Sole (Sonny Landham), gunner Blaine Cooper (Jesse Ventura), explosives expert Jorge "Poncho" Ramírez (Richard Chaves), and radio operator Rick Hawkins (Shane Black), are hired by a former commando and friend of Dutch’s, Colonel George Dillon (Carl Weathers) to rescue an official being held hostage by insurgents after the helicopter he was in crashes. Also present is Dutch’s old commander, General Phillips (R. G. Armstrong), who has instigated the meeting but does little else.

Dutch is initially happy to see a former colleague, Colonel George Dillon (Carl Weathers).

Who this official being held and who he works for is as nebulous as the insurgents. But Dutch takes the job before finding out that Dillon will accompany them.

The commandos are choppered behind enemy lines.

The team is choppered in and left behind enemy lines. They soon discover the wreckage of a chopper as well as three skinned corpses. No one can figure out why the rebels would do something like that. From one of the dog tags left behind, Dutch identifies them as members of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit he knew personally. So now the mission takes on a personal dimension.

What's left of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit.

When they reach the insurgent camp, even though they’re outnumbered, Dutch’s team is too much for the rebels and they kill everyone, save one, including a Soviet intelligence officer who has been searching through captured CIA documents. Dillon, when confronted by Dutch, admits that the three bodies they found had been sent in weeks earlier in a failed rescue attempt. The mission, Dillon confirms, was not so much to rescue an official as to get back the stolen intelligence.

Dutch's men destroy the insurgent camp.

The lone survivor of the guerilla is a woman named Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) whom Dillon insists on bringing back to base to interrogate. Dutch tells him that she is Dillon’s responsibility as the team proceeds to the extraction point.

Dutch's team is followed by the Predator using thermal imaging.

While Dutch’s team is ignorant of the fact they’re being tracked using thermal imaging, the audience is not.

Rick Hawkins (Shane Black) catches Anna, but in doing so becomes the first victim of the Predator.

Seeing her opportunity, Anna escapes and is chased down by Hawkins, but soon afterward, they are ambushed by the Creature. Anna is spared, but Hawkins is taken away.

Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) is spared by the Creature.

Dutch organizes a search party for him, during which Blaine is killed by a blast from the Creature’s plasma weapon.

Blaine (Jesse Ventura) is killed by a blast from the Creature's plasma weapon.

Enraged by the death of his friend, Mac initiates a firefight, laying down a massive amount of ammunition, still managing only to wound the Creature.

Dutch, Mac Elliot (Bill Duke), and tracker Billy Sole (Sonny
Landham) lay down a barrage of bullets at the Predator. 

The Creature bleeds a luminescent green fluid.

The Predator bleeds green luminescent fluid.

When the unit regroups, Anna, who can suddenly speak English, tells them that this is really nothing new to the jungle. She tells them that their stalker is a myth to locals, called "el demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres", or the demon who makes trophies of men.

Everyone is on eggshells knowing that the Creature is out there. During his watch, Mac mistakes a wild pig for the Creature and kills it. In the confusion, Blaine’s body is stolen by the Creature. Dutch figures out that their pursuer is using the trees to get around.

The next morning, the effort to bring the Creature out in the open fails, leaving Poncho injured. Mac, followed by Dillon, set out to engage the Creature, but they are both outwitted and pay the price. Later it catches up to the others, killing Billy and Poncho, but only wounding Dutch.

Dillon is no match for the Creature in one-on-one combat.

Dutch realizes that the Creature does not target unarmed prey, reasoning that there is no sport in that for it. He sends Anna, unarmed, to the extradition point with the now famous “Get to the Chopper!” line.

The Creature, still invisible to Dutch, chases him into the river, causing its cloaking device to malfunction, allowing Dutch to finally see it. Dutch crawls out of the river into a bank of mud and is surprised when the Creature, only feet away, doesn’t see or sense him. Dutch realizes that the mud is somehow masking him from the Creature’s sensors.

Dutch realizes that the mud interferes with the Predator's sensors.

The Creature skins his kill and removes the spinal columns from their bodies. While he’s doing that, Dutch lays down a series of traps and weapons, once again trying to draw the Creature out, this time using a war cry. While Dutch manages to disable the Creature’s cloaking device and inflict minor injuries, he is still cornered.

For some reason, the Creature, which is bigger and stronger than Dutch, decides to fight him mano y mano and removes his garb, including his weapons, to fight him. Dutch is still no match for the Creature’s strength but still manages to lure it into a trap, where he crushes it under a heavy counterweight.

The Predator chooses to fight Dutch in hand-to-hand combat.

As the Creature lays dying, Dutch can’t seem to bring himself to kill it. Instead, he asks “What the hell are you?” The Creature, which can mimic human voices, replies in a garble and while Dutch watches, activates a self-destruct weapon and laughs. Running away, Dutch manages to jump out of the way just in time as the bomb explodes.

The next morning, Dutch is rescued by his commander and finds Anna already on the copter. And the world is rid of the Predator until Predator 2 (1990) and then it’s LAPD officer Lieutenant Michael "Mike" R. Harrigan’s (Danny Glover) problem.

The film plays, somewhat unsuccessfully, with the idea of misdirection. As a rescue mission in the jungle turns into the Most Dangerous Game. This is something Psycho (1960) did so well, turning a story about embezzlement into a horror story; though the title of the film was a dead giveaway that there was going to be more to the story. Here, the surprise is destroyed in the beginning when we see that something has landed on Earth from out of this world. The attack of the Predator is to be expected, rather than come as a surprise of genius story-telling.

The pre-Governator Arnold is a likable movie star, though the word actor seems a little inappropriate. He is always playing the same sort of character during the 1980s, strong and deadly and usually with some sort of catchphrase. While “Get to the Chopper!” might not be as strong as say “I’ll be Back”, it is what passes here in Predator.

The group as a whole is less winning that its leader. Jesse Ventura is big and strong, but like Arnold, that is his role in films. Dutch’s men have enough testosterone between them for hundreds of teenage boys. The jokes are sexual, juvenile and lame. Hate to say it, they’re not a likable bunch, which works against audience sympathy as they are killed one by one. Perhaps if we cared a little more about them, then their deaths would have had more impact. Instead, their deaths are sort of a relief as they stand between Dutch and the ultimate showdown. The motivation for the Creature to decide to battle in hand-to-hand combat doesn’t seem right either. Few mindless hunters take it to that step with their prey and that’s all we are to this Creature, sport.

Some of the actors, Bill Duke in particular, seem to have trained at the Nicolas Cage school of scenery chewing. Subtlety is not one of the strong suits of these actors and while that is not required in most action films, it is always appreciated when it does happen. Elpidia Carrillo is only okay. There really is not much for her to do but run in this film.

The Predator (Kevin Peter Hall) is nightmare fuel.

The Creature, the Predator (played by Kevin Peter Hall), has an interesting design, though you have to wonder what evolutionary crisis his planet went through to end up with a mouth like he has. (Pretty and handsome must not be terms on his home planet.) While I get the comparison between the Predator and the stereotypical hunter, who sees anything below him on the animal scale as fodder for a trophy room, I don’t know of any hunters that have self-destruction kits strapped to themselves.

The fisticuffs seem a bit forced, one of those moments in a movie that doesn’t seem to be organic as much as if he doesn’t there is no way to kill him sorts of things. When you can see that come about, you know the film has flaws. In this case, big ones.

Made on a budget of about $18 million, the film would go on to gross about $100 million, so quality is not a criterion for success. As mentioned above, it was successful enough to spawn a sequel. But 20th Century Fox didn’t stop there. No, they combined two space monsters with Alien vs. Predator (2004); Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) before making Predators (2010). Not knowing when to stop, there is going to be The Predator planned for 2018 with a budget at about $50 million more than the original made.

The question, is, of course, whether or not I would recommend this film. If you’re a fan of Arnold’s and you haven’t seen Predator, then you should. It is somewhat typical for Schwarzenegger's sort of films from this period when he was mostly muscle with an accent. If you’re looking for a great film, then you should continue your hunt.

Be sure to check out other Horror films in our Horror Films Review Hub.

Stubs – Die Hard With a Vengeance

Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) Starring: Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry Bryggman, Graham Greene, Colleen Camp. Directed by John McTiernan. Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh. Based on certain characters by Roderick Thorp in the novel Nothing Lasts Forever. Produced by John McTiernan and Michael Tadross. Run Time: 129 minutes. U.S.  Color.  Action. Thriller.

Last December, as part of our Bruce Willis Christmas celebration, this blogged reviewed the first two films in the Die Hard series: the aptly named Die Hard (1988) and its sequel Die Hard 2: DieHarder (1990). Now with the imminent release of the fifth Die Hard film: A GoodDay to Die Hard later this month, we thought it would be a good idea to complete reviewing of the last two of the first four. First up, Die Hard With a Vengeance.

The first thing you’ll note, other than Christmas is not a setting, is that much of the supporting cast and subsequent subplots from the first two films have been jettisoned. Gone is Holly McClaine (Bonnie Bedelia), the on-again, off-again happily married wife of our hero John McClaine (Bruce Willis). Oh, there is a passing reference or two and so on, but Holly is not in danger in this one. The marriage is off and if Live Free or Die Hard is any indication, the marriage is still off and there is even bad blood, as not only does the wife revert to her maiden names, but at least John’s daughter has dropped the McClaine as well. But this is fodder for our next review.

Gone is Dick Thornburg (William Atherton), the annoying TV reporter who outed John to the terrorists in the first film and panicked a plane load of passengers with his on-board reporting of pending doom. Two films with this guy was enough and based on the setting for Die Hard with a Vengeance it would be a big stretch to include him in this film. Good-bye to bad rubbish.

Also gone is John’s career with the LAPD. Part of the premise of Die Hard 2 was that John had moved out west to be with his wife and kids, even calling on his pal LAPD Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) to run fingerprints. Powell’s character is another casualty of the franchise, not even getting a mention in this one. Again, Powell was sort of a one trick pony and it was time to move on. His appearance in Die Hard 2 had been an extended cameo at best.

Finally, also gone is any sort of logical storytelling, but that’s not what you go to see in Die Hard films anyway. The plot of this film is about as convoluted as it can get, so it’s best to believe everything, so leave that disbelief at the door.

The film starts with a bomb exploding in a New York City department store. A man named Simon (Jeremy Irons) calls the Major Case Unit Inspector Walter Cobb (Larry Bryggman) to claim responsibility for the blast. In order to stop further explosions, Simon demands that John McClaine, who is currently hung over and on suspension, be dropped off in Harlem wearing a sandwich board spelling out “I Hate Niggers”.

The opening sequence sets the stage for the rest of the film.

While no one seems to notice this at first, McClaine is pointed out to shopkeeper Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) by his two truant nephews. Zeus is not a fan of white people, but he can’t help getting involved. He tries to get McClaine off the street before anyone else notices. But he’s too late, as a gang of men see McClaine and attack him and Carver. Both men narrowly escape and hijack a taxi to take them to police headquarters.

Jeremy Irons as Simon Gruber in Die Hard with a Vengeance. Everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Back at headquarters, the omnipresent Simon knows of Carver’s Good Samaritan interference with his plan and now demands that both McClaine and Carver go through a series of drills to placate him. Police have already learned that Simon has thousands of pounds of explosives that he’s stolen, so they are anxious to prevent further damage.

The first game involves a payphone. Simon calls and reads them a riddle, which they have to answer within 30 seconds. They end up being 10 seconds late, but Simon says there was no bomb, because he didn’t say “Simon Says.”

Remember payphones?

Their next task is to travel to Wall Street, 90 blocks away, in 30 minutes and find a bomb that has been planted on a Brooklyn-bound subway train. McClaine breaks off and jumps aboard the subway from a grating above, finds the bomb and throws it out the window. Since only Carver makes to the next payphone, Simon says that’s a breach of the rules and explodes the bomb, which was already set to explode anyway when the train passed over a switch in the track. The resulting blast derails the rear of the train, which goes on to smash up many of the station’s support columns. The FBI gets involved and tells McClaine that Simon is Simon “Peter” Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber from the first film. This time it’s personal.

During the debriefing, Simon calls again and this time there is a bomb planted at a school that is sensitive to police radio signals. McClaine and Carver are given a series of riddles to help them figure out which school it is in the city and to diffuse more bombs.

Meanwhile, the police spread out across the city to search schools and also turn off their police band radios. This is in the day before cell phones, so that pretty much wipes out citywide police communications.

The first bomb McClaine and Carver find is in a briefcase in an Elephant fountain. When they open the briefcase, they activate the bomb. They then have to figure out the 5 gallon 3 gallon 4 gallon riddle to disarm the bomb, which they do.

Next, they try to figure out which school has the bomb in it. The clue is 21 of 42. (At the time the film was made there had been only 42 Presidents.) A truck driver tells McClaine that the 21^st President was Chester A. Arthur, the name of the elementary school where Zeus’s nephews Raymond and Dexter attend. (What a coincidence!)

For Future Reference.

As McClaine and Carver are travelling between locations, McClaine scolds a boy for stealing a candy bar. When the boy says that the police are so busy someone could steal City Hall, McClaine realizes that they are being kept away from Wall Street and that Simon is planning a heist. Returning downtown, McClaine finds that Simon’s men disguised as cops, security guards, construction workers, etc. have raided the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and, using the damaged subway station, have made off with $140 billion worth of gold bars in 14 dump trucks. Talk about raising the stakes. Hans was only after $640 million in U.S. bearer bonds. Some kids never outgrow their sibling rivalries I guess.

What the fuss is all about times a bunch.

After killing Simon’s henchmen, McClaine takes chase. He follows the dump trucks to an aqueduct in the New York City Tunnel No. 3. (Tunnel No. 3 happens to be the largest construction project in New York history providing the city with a third connection to upstate water. Authorized in 1954, the project began in 1970 and will not be completed until 2020 at a cost of about $6 billion.) After McClaine manages to capture one of the trucks, Simon floods the tunnel, but water pressure throws McClaine through a man hole.

Simon tries to drown McClaine in Tunnel No. 3

Carver, who has been to Yankee Stadium on a wild goose chase, just happens to be driving by when McClaine comes flying up riding a water spout. Talk about lucky timing. But Carver is followed by two assassins who had been waiting at the Stadium. After a wild shootout on some winding narrow highway, McClaine manages to kill their pursuers. The two take chase after the remaining dump trucks. They follow them to a tanker, but are captured when they board the vessel.

Meanwhile, the police find the bomb at the school, and evacuate the school. With the timer running down to zero, the police get everyone out, except a handful of kids. Including Zeus’s nephews, who have gotten locked in an upstairs room. Detective Joe Lambert (Graham Greene) rushes back into the school. One miraculous escape later, they find out the bomb is just a decoy.

McClaine and Carver find out that the explosives have been put aboard the tanker. Simon, in order to upset the world economy is going to sink the gold to the bottom of the sea. Simon leaves the boat. Unfortunately for them, McClaine and Carver are left tied up next to the bomb. In a last act, Simon gives McClaine a bottle of aspirin for the nagging headache he’s had all day. But don’t fear, our heroes manage to escape before the bomb explodes, sinking the tanker.

While their wounds are being treated, McClaine theorizes that there wasn’t any gold on the tanker. That proves to be correct, as it was full of scrap metal. John decides to call Holly to try and make amends after his harrowing escape. But he realizes that an aspirin bottle Simon had given him earlier has the address of a Quebec border town.

With the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alongside, McClaine raids the warehouse where Simon and crew are preparing to distribute the gold. Simon once more escapes, but when he tries to shoot McClaine from the air, McClaine shoots a power line which hits the helicopter and destroys it. Carver joins McClaine and tells him he should finish his call to Holly at a nearby pay phone. (Again, this is before the ubiquitousness of cell phones.)

As with these kinds of actioneers, the story seems to have its fair share of plot holes. Simon manages to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He seems to have correctly out guessed the NYPD and knows exactly how they will react to every false clue he leaves. He’s a blueprint for the Joker in Dark Knight as he manages to defy time and space, planting bombs and clues without drawing any suspicion. I mean who would notice a briefcase, a 5 gallon jug and a 3 gallon jug in a fountain next to a busy sidewalk?

One has to wonder about the resources Simon Gruber had at his disposal to pull off such a large scale heist and how many operatives he would have to have to plant all those bombs and to steal 14 dump trucks.

As part of Simon’s gang there is only one woman, Katya (Sam Phillips), a literal cutthroat who never says a word. Her only purpose seems to kill an innocent guard during the heist and to be Simon’s sexual partner at the most inopportune time possible.

Katya (Sam Phillips). Deadly and silent.

But Katya is luckier than Mathias Targo (Nick Wyman). Mathias has been Simon’s right hand man through most of the film and it is he who discovers that Simon has traded the goid bars aboard the ship for scrap metal. When Mathias questions Simon about this, he is killed outright by Katya. There is really no explanation for why Mathias is suddenly left out in the cold. It is not like it’s down to the three of them to share the bounty. Rather it’s like they’re going from sharing the gold with 31 co-conspirators to 30. Why is Mathias left out of the big plans? Well we couldn’t have five minutes go by without someone being shot could we? Someone had to die, it might as well be Mathias.

Just like the previous Die Hard films, the only thing keeping the bad guys from winning in the end is John McClaine. It is McClaine who has the bright idea that Simon is after the world’s gold supply. It is McClaine who also fights back and disrupts Simon’s plans. The police as always are incompetent and the film boils down to a battle of wills between McClaine and the evil mastermind. Spoiler Alert: McClaine always wins.

Bruce Willis is in fine form once again as John McClaine, the wise-cracking tough as nails rogue cop who never knows when to quit. He is, as he describes himself in the movie, the Energizer bunny. Falls and injuries that would have crippled most men or at least sent them to the hospital are walked off. McClaine simply rubs a little dirt on the wounds and continues on. You admire his single-mindedness and wonder about his sanity at the same time.

Complaints aside, Die Hard with a Vengeance is a definite improvement over Die Hard 2. Part of the improvement has to do with casting. A practically new cast, Willis being the only returning actor, gives the series a fresh feel. Samuel L. Jackson, who is usually very good, is no disappointment here. Not only has he proven himself to be an action hero, but he also provides the comedic relief a film like this needs in order not to take itself too seriously. While Jackson can’t make every movie he’s in better, see Star Wars 1 through 3, he does make Die Hard better.

Samuel L. Jackson  as Zeus Carver makes Die Hard 3 better.

These are not films about subtlety. The bigger the action, the more bullets flying, the more dead bad guys the better. We go to see our hero triumph especially against villains with bigger purse strings, bigger brains and bigger armies at their disposal. McClaine is a one man wrecking crew and he never fails to tough it out and to win. He is an everyman hero and we love to hear his cowboy-themed catchphrase when he triumphs over evil. And as long as Willis is able, then there will always be a Die Hard in development. It’s hard to imagine he would walk away from the franchise if he is still able to walk. And as long as he makes them, we will keep watching them.

Next week, we’ll wrap up our reviews of the first four Die Hard films with Live Free or Die Hard. But instead of the Die Hard light PG-13 version that hit the theaters in 2007, we’ll review the unrated version with more blood, gore and the unedited catchphrase.

Stubs – Die Hard

Die Hard (1988) Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Gudonov, Bonnie Bedelia. Directed by John McTiernan. Screenplay by Steve E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart. Based on the novel. Nothing Lasts Forever Produced by Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver. Executive Producer: Charles Gordon. Run Time: 131 minutes. U.S.  Color.  Action.

As everyone’s thoughts turn to the holidays, it’s good to look back on the old classics that have come to mean so much to so many of us. This holiday season, Trophy Unlocked is going to concentrate on one actor who has made as many films centered around Christmas as Jimmy Stewart: Bruce Willis. Welcome to the first and only installment of A BRUCE WILLIS CHRISTMAS. 

For the next three weeks, we’ll be watching three films that show Christmas would not be the same without Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder or RED . While none of these have the same Christmas spirit as say It’s A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story, the holiday is a setting for all three films. And while it might be a little unorthodox, they are all fun movies, so sit back and try not to worry about it too much.

Back in 1988, Bruce Willis was best known as David Addison, Jr. opposite Cybil Shepherd’s Maddie Hayes on TV’s popular, but bumpy Moonlighting. He had appeared in Blake Edwards Blind Date (1987) opposite Kim Basinger and John Larroquette and the same director’s Sunset (1988). But he didn’t reach star status until Die Hard. The role of John McClane is one that Willis has returned to four more times. Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and the upcoming A Good Day to Die Hard coming Valentine’s Day 2013. Throughout his career, Willis has shown himself to be a solid actor.

It’s easy to see why Willis keeps coming back to the role, even when he might seem past the age of most action heroes, though The Expendables (2010) and The Expendables 2 (2012) has pushed that age out by several decades. Die Hard is both a cash cow for all concerned and it is a part that Willis seemed destined to play. It takes his comedic timing, showcased on Moonlighting and combines it with his affinity for action. While the franchise may have dipped a little over time, Live Free or Die Hard showed that there is still fire in his belly and quick wit on the tip of his tongue.

But it all starts back on a Los Angeles Christmas Eve. McClane, a New York policeman, has flown into town to spend the holiday with his estranged wife Holly Gennaro-McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) and his largely unseen children. John is picked up by Argyle (DeVoreaux White), a limo driver sent by Joseph Yoshimodo Takagi (James Shigeta), Holly’s boss at Nakatomi. John arrives with the company’s Christmas party in full swing (What company has its Christmas party on Christmas Eve?).

But right behind him are a truckload of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Amongst his strong men are Karl (Alexander Godunov) and Theo (Clarence Gilyard), the computer genius. While John has his shoes off, Hans’ crew invade the party. John manages to escape and spends the rest of the movie playing cat and mouse with Hans and doing his best to mess up his plans. When Takagi won’t give up his passwords, he’s killed, no questions asked. Theo will just have to try harder to break the locks on the Nakatomi safe.

John tries to get the police involved by setting off the fire alarm, but the terrorists call in a retraction and the fire trucks make a u-turn. Hans sends Tony (Andreas Wisniewski), Karl’s brother, to find John. But instead John kills Tony in a fist fight. John takes his machine gun and radio, the latter which he uses to call the police. But in what is the beginning of a series of police errors and mistakes, dispatch doesn’t believe him. When he refuses to get off the air and there are gunshots, the police send a black and white, Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) to check. After only a cursory look, Al starts to leave, but John kills two more terrorists, Heinrich (Gary Roberts) and Marco (Lorenzo Cacciatanza), and throws one down on top of Al’s car.

Al gets the hint and calls for back up and soon the streets of Century City are full of police cars. Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason), the Deputy Chief of Police, takes charge and starts to make a mess of things. SWAT attempts an assault, but the terrorists can see them coming and, using anti-tank missiles, obliterate the tank they’re driving and the crew inside. McClane attempts to get some revenge by killing two more terrorists, James (Wilhelm von Hornburg) and Alexander (Joey Piewa), with C-4 he’d taken off of Heinrich.

Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner), a wise-ass company executive, tries to negotiate John’s surrender for Hans. Luckily for McClane, Ellis never says how he knows John, which is barely. But Hans, believing Ellis is an old friend, kills him. Next, Hans sends Karl to get John while he goes upstairs to check on the explosives attached to the roof. John gets curious about what Fritz was doing on the roof and goes up to investigate himself. Hans and John meet for the first and only time. Hans pretends to be a scared Nakatomi employee, Bill Clay, a name he pulls off the directory (that happens to be on the top floor?). While Hans thinks John has played into his hand by giving him a handgun, John has seen through his disguise and given him an empty gun.

But Karl, Fritz (Hans Buhringer) and Franco (Bruno Doyon) arrive on the scene and while John kills Fritz and Franco, he is forced to flee. Hans and Karl chase him into a glass enclosed office. While John proves elusive, Hans suggests they shoot out the glass, trying to trap our barefooted hero. But John escapes, leaving a bloody trail behind him and the detonators which fall back into Hans’ possession.

The police keep making stupid mistakes until the FBI arrives in the form of two idiotic agents, Johnson (Robert Davi) and Johnson (Grand L. Bush). Once there, the stupidity comes fast and often. First, Johnson and Johnson order the electricity to the building to be cut off. They think they’re taking the upper hand, but in reality, this is what Hans wanted. No power means the electro-magnetic lock on the vault is disarmed. The terrorists now have unfettered access to Nakatomi’s $640 million dollars of U.S. bearer bonds. This is not a terrorist act, despite the demands Hans makes to relieve his imprisoned brethren around the world. This is a robbery.

Gruber demands a helicopter and the FBI bring it, with Johnson and Johnson coming along. But Hans’ intention is to blow the roof with the hostages on it, allowing his gang to escape. But McClane knows the plan and tries to get the hostages off the roof. On the way, he runs into Karl, who wants to settle the score man to man. Even though Karl is bigger than John, McClane manages to wrap a convenient chain around Karl’s neck and hang him. He then rushes to the roof to get the hostages off. But Johnson and Johnson peg him as one of the terrorists and try to kill him.

Meanwhile, Richard Thornburg (Wiliam Atherton), a local newsman, oversteps himself and goes to Holly’s house and puts their children, Lucy and John Jr., on the air. Gruber, who has the TV on, sees Thornburg’s report and takes Holly as a hostage. Hans blows the roof, ironically saving John from the FBI agents, who presumably die when the explosion engulfs their helicopter. This sets up the final confrontation between McClane and Hans. McClane, down to only two bullets, makes them each count, taking out the last terrorist, Eddie (Dennis Hayden), before shooting Hans in the shoulder. Hans falls out the window, but grabs Holly by the arm and tries to pull her out with him. John pries Han’s grip off of Holly’s wrist and he falls to his death.

But while the ordeal seems to be over, Karl is not really dead and comes after John. Al, who had up until then been unable to shoot a gun after accidentally shooting a thirteen year-old armed with a toy gun, shoots Karl until he drops dead. Argyle, who has subdued a disguised Theo, preventing him from escaping, arrives and whisks John and Holly away to a Merry Christmas and a reunion. Do they reconcile? We’ll have to wait and find that out.

Watching this movie, I’m reminded just how long ago 1988 seems now. Back then a policeman could carry a gun on an airplane. You could smoke in public, and buy Hostess Twinkies at a convenience store. Illegal aliens were afraid of being reported to INS (the forerunner to ICE). There were no CDs or iPods, no cell phones. Back then terrorists didn’t have to be Islamic extremists. Japan, not China was our economic rival. Bruce Willis had hair. Essentially the world as we know it didn’t exist way back then.

Besides Willis, the cast features Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, the villain behind the tower heist. Rickman is perhaps better known these days for playing Severus Snape in the eight Harry Potter films. He also has shown himself to be a versatile actor, playing comedy as Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus in the Star Trek send up, Galaxy Quest (1999). Here, he is cold and calculating and wonderfully evil.

Despite the heroics of her cinema-husband, Bonnie Bedelia gets to deliver what might be the most crowd-pleasing punch in the film, when she cold cocks Thornburg immediately after the ordeal and on live TV to boot. Bedelia doesn’t really have that much to do in the movie, except make a few side comments about her husband to the other captors. This is really Bruce Willis’ film.

However, this film seems to endure because John McClane is an everyman hero who fights against long odds to do the right thing. An appealing character who cracks wise and shoots to kill. Willis, who has gone on to appear in over 60 films, will always be remembered for his portrayal of John McClane and for that character’s catch phrase: Yippee Ki-yay Motherf@#!er. It’ll probably be his epitaph.

It should be obvious that this is not a Christmas film for children, but rather one for adults. But it is a fun diversion from the usual holiday fare.

While Die Hard seems to tie things up quite nicely, we had to know then that there would be a sequel. Come back next week for Die Hard 2: Die Harder and more Christmas cheer.

To read reviews of other Christmas films, please see our Christmas Review Hub.