The Movie Project: Die Hard

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

John McClane, a New York cop, goes to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to visit his estranged wife at a company Christmas party in a skyscraper. During the party, German terrorists infiltrate the building and take the partygoers hostage, with their goal being the theft of six hundred million dollars from the company vault. McClane gets loose in the building and takes on the terrorists and their leader, Hans Gruber.

Memorable Quote:
Yippee-ki-yay, mother@#$%$.  ~McClane

Highlight:

Karl is a great henchman and the heir apparent to another blond German, Stamper from Tomorrow Never Dies. The actor, Alexander Godunov, was a world-class ballet dancer and appeared as an Amish farmer in Witness.

Lowlight:

The very end where Karl comes back from the dead and runs into the street for one last shot at McClane. The whole thing is silly: first, that he wasn't dead after seemingly getting his neck broken in the big chain; second, that he made it out of the building without anyone noticing him and got as close to McClane as he did; third, that Al was the only one with the presence of mind to shoot him even though there were 700 other cops around.

Most interesting piece of IMDB trivia:

Don Johnson and Richard Dean Anderson, both established action stars in television, were considered for the role of John McClane.

Hard to imagine RDA as McClane -- glad he stayed focused on MacGyver.

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• Time to Die Hard! I thought it would be fun to revisit this series -- I'm very familiar with 3 and pretty familiar with 2, but I didn't remember 1 that well. And 4 and 5 I've only seen once (for good reason). 
• Die Hard was based on a book called Nothing Lasts Forever. According to wikipedia, the studio was contractually obligated to offer the McClane role to 73 year-old Frank Sinatra (!) due to his part in a 1968 film based on a previous book in the series. I don't think this movie would have worked as well with Frank. 
• I noticed a goof at the 9:57 mark: McClane touches "Gennaro" on the touch-screen locator map computer, and the name changes to "Gennero."
• One of my favorite Die Hard tropes -- the sight of 10+ big menacing Euros walking silently and with purpose.
• Alan Rickman (who we saw in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) excels as Gruber, and his performance is especially impressive considering that this was his first feature film. Also a good performance from Reginald VelJohnson (later seen in ABC's Family Matters) as Al.
• On the flip side, Argyle the limo driver didn't add anything to the story, and why was he partying with a teddy bear in the back seat for hours before deciding to do something? Even worse was Ellis, the smug company man who inexplicably approaches Gruber with plenty of swagger but no plan and no leverage.
• The walkie-talkie conversations confused me, like why sometimes it seemed like McClane and Al are talking in private, but other times the terrorists could hear everything. 
• Another Die Hard trope -- making McClane looking more than a little battered and bruised by the end of the movie. The bloody feet from stepping on glass looks painful. 
• I recognized Robert Davi, who plays FBI Agent "Big" Johnson, as the lead villain from License to Kill.  The FBI and police, by the way, do a terrible job of negotiating -- they just agree to release the guys that Gruber demands them to without asking to speak to any of the hostages or asking for any of them to be freed.

Final Analysis:

Good movie -- I'll put it in the Entertaining category. It's pretty even-keeled in that there's not much that jumped out to me as a highlight or part that I love to watch, but there's also not much in the way of lowlights either. Willis, Rickman, Godunov, and VelJohnson are all outstanding, and the plot makes for a great formula (good guy trapped in a place with a ton of bad guys). We'll get to Die Hard 2 next on the Movie Project.