“Suspense, excitement, adventure - on every level!” December 23, 2006
Posted by jackal in : Films , trackbackI watched two of my favourite movies the other night. Gunga Din was first up, that wonderful, rip-roaring Hawksian adventure with Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in top form. I thought maybe I’d pen some thoughts on the film today. That was until I sat down to my second film.
For the first time in a few years, I watched Die Hard, a film that has been a Christmas tradition since I was perhaps 10 or 11. I’d given it a rest recently because, quite honestly, overfamiliarity breeds boredom. You can only watch even your favourite films so many times before you start to know the lines off by heart and think Christ, why bother watching it again? I could perform it as a one-man show by now.
Coming at Die Hard with a fresh mind was sheer joy from beginning to end: the utter brilliance of its construction and execution actually surprised me. Every little thing just frakking clicks. To quote from the Bible of Movie Truisms, Die Hard - the film that spawned a whole sub-genre - remains unquestionably the greatest action movie ever made.
Bruce - remember when he had hair? - gets the best-fitting role of his career as John McClane, and nails it perfectly; he’s completely convincing as the off-duty cop thrust into action at a moment’s notice, and the wry one-liners never threaten to break the realism of the action. Alan Rickman steals the show as Hans Gruber, the goddamn coolest bad guy ever. Rickman plays it beautifully, with Gruber an impeccably tailored oasis of calm, while around him events escalate from mayhem into utter chaos. It doesn’t hurt that he gets all the best lines, too: “Alas, your Mr Takagi did not see it that way, so he won’t be joining us for the rest of his life …”
The story itself is beautifully simple and impeccably paced, balancing McClane’s tense battle within the building against the comic ineptitude of the cops and FBI outside. The action is fierce, bloody and believable. Remember the days when stunts were done without CGI? When fight scenes weren’t chopped up with a thousand frantic edits? When Hollywood had real action guys doing the business? Hey, they were good days. 
Bruce’s return for a fourth outing next year, Live Free or Die Hard, will be interesting to see. Will it be a long overdue return for The Proper Goddamn Action Movie, or merely a CGI-infested, watered-down popcorn movie for today’s teenage boys? Time will tell. One things for sure, though: with Sly Stallone riding a remarkable comeback with Rocky Balboa and the upcoming Rambo IV, there’s life in the old action heroes yet.
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