Die Hard (1988)

Courtesy of Kyle’s movie nights I am finally caught up with this monumental cultural touchstone. It’s every bit as thrilling and satisfying, and surprisingly emotional today as it must have been when it came out almost 40 years ago now? The GOAT status in the action genre is well-earned. 

John and Holly only had one scene together until basically the 95% mark of the movie, and their relationship was fraught at best. But their unwavering faith in each other in the most existential situation felt impressively genuine. John’s speech to Al about his last words to Holly, despite it being the most macho straight man propaganda, had me tearing up. Sometimes all it takes to steal your heart is an earnest himbo isn’t it? 

I was telling my friends Bruce Willis looked tough but very dominatable and I stand by that statement. Also, another interesting observation I made is that McTiernan is the anti-Tarantino. Instead of a copious umber of intimate shots of well-manicured women’s feet, this films had an exorbitant amount of dirty, mangled and gnarly men’s feet. Pretty refreshing honestly even though maybe this was exactly what inspired Quintin in the first place.