I’ve seen Die Hard about a bajillion times, so I don’t have much to say here. We decided to watch it because we all wanted to watch a Christmas themed movie, and Die Hard is the best.
One thing I noticed more recently that I like about DH is the class tension. I’m not sure if McTiernan was trying to make a point, or if it was just a sort of zeitgeist-y 80s thing, but it’s all over the movie. We have this working class, Irish cop McClane whose wife is a successful business woman, and it clearly a point of contention between them. He goes to her big office party, and it’s a bunch of rich folks, and McClane seems to clearly be out of place.
Then Hans Gruber, the bad guy, is sort of a classy, upper-crust guy himself, only also he’s a criminal mastermind type. The way he politely but firmly talks to Takagi before calmly blowing his head off makes him seem less like a crook and more like the world’s most ruthless business men.
It doesn’t stop there. They add another layer, where some of Hans’ team of mercenaries are more thuggish, lower-class types, and there is some tension between himself and his own men.
Look for it next time you watch Die Hard, which if you’re like me will happen once or twice a year.
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