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The thing I've always liked about Die Hard is the central character, John McClane. He's an everyday, common-man hero; not invincible or overly buff, but self-conflicting in his thoughts, and one of very few men cool enough to pull off wearing a grey vest in full view of the audience.

Great characters tend to be at the forefront of great movies, and John McClane (Bruce Willis) is portrayed as the wrong guy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time in this spectacular action fest. His luck begins to descend downhill when he arrives in Los Angeles to hopefully make up with his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), and meet up with his kids. Soon enough, a bunch of terrorists, led by a ruthless named Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), unexpectedly begin taking control of the building in hope of getting their hands on the millions of dollars in bonds locked away in the security vault. The various office employees at the work's Christmas party are taken hostage, but McClane somehow manages to sneak away barefoot and begins planning his counter attack.

Die Hard has similar tones to the equally-as-thrilling Lethal Weapon, which was released the year before John McTiernan's film: Both are set at Christmas time, but with a cynical and intimidating outlook that deviates from cheery, family-friendly norm that you'd expect. Much like Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson's character in the classic actioner), McClane is isolated, and there's the whole feeling of claustrophobia when he's separated from his enemies and law department; when we get to witness the inevitable triumph of the good over the bad, however, the character's willingness to never say die is what makes the whole film seem ultimately satisfying for the viewer.

Screenwriters Jeb Stuart (The Fugitive) and Steven E. De Souza (Commando) do a great job outlining McClane as the underdog of the story. Die Hard is not the type of run-of-the-mill action film that you'd expect from the '80s considering its willingness to note the flaws of its central character takes priority over him being an invincible, larger-than-life action hero (Steven Seagal, per se). The script remains very sharp throughout, giving McClane the opportunity to mutter his own failings quietly to himself while picking off the terrorists one by one ("Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister.") Credit must also be given to the writers for creating the malistic antagonist, Hans Gruber (without Rickman's villainous performance, however, their concepts would've been worthless).

Another huge part of Die Hard's appeal is its action scenes. There are plenty of frantic shootouts, bare-knuckle fist fights and random things getting blown up here, which have all been directed with a huge amount of adrenaline by Predator Director John McTiernan. The film is ridiculously entertaining and unapologetically violent all the way, and you can't help but love it.

Twenty years after its release, Die Hard is undoubtedly still up there as one of the greatest action movies ever made. The formula may have been intimidated countless times in films since (Under Siege; Broken Arrow), but it is McTiernan's masterpiece that remains the landmark for thrilling heroism in cinema. You'd be hard pressed to find better entertainment in this genre than the average, down-on-his-luck cop taking on the terrorist entrepreneur and his army of goons. Die Hard is a film always guaranteed to arouse excitement no matter how many times you've seen it.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.