It's a lazy Sunday here at the Little Ponderosa...I took a waaaay too long nap & started flipping channels after I got up. I came across "Live Free or Die Hard" on HBO & decided to hang with my main man John McClane.
I've had a huge love affair with the "Die Hard" series ever since I saw the first one at a sneak preview in the summer of 1988 (useless trivia alert: The flick I got to stay & see for free? The Schwarzenagger/Belushi classic "Red Heat".) Watching David Addison spend Christmas at Nakatome Plaza absolutely blew me away. It was the perfect action flick.
"Die Hard 2:Die Harder" also blew my socks off. Bigger explosions, badder villains (although no one has ever topped Alan Rickman as exceptional thief Hans Gruber)and a pre-"NYPD Blue" Dennis Franz joining in the butt kicking.
The less said about "Die Hard With A Vengeance" the better. Seriously, no Holly, no Al, no Dick Thornburg & completely wasting Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Irons as well. A completely missed opportunity.
"Live Free" wasn't a complete return to form, but it was close enough for government work. Tim Olyphant was a credible threat & Justin Long didn't get in the way too much. The ending is kind of average, but Bruce Willis is having fun and stuff gets blown up real good.
"Die Hard" created a whole new subgenre of action film and gave movie goers a new kind of hero...an average guy who was willing to walk over broken glass (literally) to stop the bad guys and save his family. It also made Bruce Willis a star & introduced American audiences to the aforementioned brilliance of Alan Rickman.
So, next time you have a lazy Sunday, make some popcorn, turn out the lights and hang out with the hero of Nakatome plaza...you won't regret it.
Yippi-Ki-Yay Mister Falcon
2 comments:
While I agree that the first Die Hard was a great movie, I don't think the 2nd one was as good. Not bad, just not as good. I thought the 3rd was silly for the exact reasons you stated. 4th was good, but I still would like to have seen some of the old gang back.
Now, let's talk about the ONE problem with L.A. Confidential...:)
You mean the fact that L.A. Confidential was robbed of it's Best Picture Oscar by a CGI spectacle about the glorious Kate Winslet babysitting some teenage muppet? Yeah, that was a problem! :)
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