I have recently written a lot of articles about a number of
films which explore serious and rather dark themes. This darkness is still
lurking around in more entertaining films like 'Wall E', 'Akira', and 'Full
Metal Jacket'. As the great psychologist Carl Jung has illustrated, the
co-existence of light and shadow is the ultimate reality that governs human
experience. Therefore if I have made you aware of the dark sides of human
nature, I am also committed to show you the positive sides of humanity - our courage,
intelligence, creativity in solving problems and resilience. Since now it is
summer I decide to introduce a number of entertaining films that I enjoyed at a
young age. This time I will start with an action classic I really love - John
McTiernan's 'Die Hard' (1988)!
Though you may have the impression that I have always been
fascinated by art films and more serious films, I am just as much a big fan in commercial
cinema, especially the action and adventure genre (never a big fan in rom-com).
After all, Arnold Schwarzenegger is my favorite actor of all time and I have
tremendous respect for his many work and achievements. I am a really fanatic of
the films from the 1980s and early 1990s, because that is the era I came from.
From that 15 years or so I can find numerous classic films I can come back to
watch again and again without any diminishment in terms of pleasure. There are
loads of action films from around the world, be it John Woo, Ringo Lam, James
Cameron, Paul Verhoeven, John McTiernan and so on, they are all filmmakers I
admire. Speaking of John McTiernan, I would definitely recommend his trio from
1987 to 1990 - 'Predator', 'Die Hard' and 'The Hunt For Red October'. All 3 are
classics in the action genre and you will derive tremendous pleasure from watching
them, yet it is more than simple entertainment. A thing in common for the 3
films is that they are all intelligent films, in terms of the plot and also the
execution of the film sequences. While I do not think Mr. McTiernan will be
seen as being in the same group as Bergman or Tarkovsky, his achievement and
talent as a filmmaker will be remembered for many years to come, and I am sure
his greatest films will be celebrated by both film buffs and common audience
alike. I will deal with the Arnold classic 'Predator' next time; here I will
first talk about the Bruce Willis classic 'Die Hard'.
I believe most of you have definitely heard of 'Die Hard'
before, as it has inspired many sequels over the years. Indeed, the very first
installment of Die Hard came out in 1988, and it has established itself as a
classic in the action and adventure genre. It has become a standard example of
a great action film and also a technically proficient work, which received 4
technical Oscar nominations. 'Die Hard' is cinematic a dynamite loaded with
thrill, suspense, and excitement, and there are quite a number of bumps
throughout the thrill ride! The claustrophobic environment from the skyscraper
only added fuel to the showdown between good and evil. Bruce Willis, who is the
cop John McClane in the film, becomes an iconic character and probably the
actor's most memorable role in cinema.
If you are not enough with the action films, let me give you
some further recommendations. Other than 'Predator' and 'The Hunt for Red
October', another film I quite enjoy is Steven Seagel's ‘Under Siege' (1992),
famously coined as 'Die Hard on a battleship'. Again the claustrophobic
environment coupled with a loose cannon starring Tommy Lee Jones should give
plenty of pleasure for the viewers. I am also a big fan of Paul Verhoeven, and
I love his great film with Arnold, 'Total Recall', which is crazy and violent;
and of course the original 'Robocop' in 1987. For military fans I recommend
Arnold's 'Commando', which has become a cult classic, and 'Rambo' 1 and 2 - the filmmaker George S. Cosmatos was
quite a great director for action films. Rambo 3 is a bit corny really.
The classic film is based on a simple scenario. John McClane
(Bruce Willis) is heading to meet his ex-wife at a party in a skyscraper during
Christmas. Unfortunately, a team of experienced terrorists, led by Hans Gruber
(Alan Rickman's most famous role other than Prof. Snape), took hostage of the
building and demanded a hefty ransom. McClane, who is just in the bathroom at
that point, becomes alone and he is committed to save the day from this evil
guys. All the odds are against him, including the fact that he is barefoot,
wearing a white singlet that the image will become imprinted in the audience's
psyche, and no ammunition, that is exactly the way he likes that! Will this
one-man-team defeat the bad guys?
'Die Hard' is such a fun and straight-forward film that no
one needs to be pretentious to philosophize about the deeper meanings of the
film, so I will just randomly share my thoughts and give some cultural
references to it. Other than the simplistic 'good versus evil' theme, I believe
McTiernan wants the audience to explore the dynamics between individual and
group. First off, that is an intelligent show down between McClane and Gruber,
the embodiment of 'good' and 'evil', because both are resourceful and
intelligent characters, and watching them battle it out is a bit witnessing a
game of chess between 2 master players. Both sides want to trap the opponent
into miscalculations, and both can fall down and suffer minor losses at certain
moments throughout the lock up. McClane is obvious - throughout the film he is
the symbol of individualism, because he is forced into a situation. Though we
can argue that a cop from other the building is helping him out a bit in terms
of communication, most of the times he is fighting first hand and alone, and he
has to face 10 or so terrorists who are professional in the use of firearms,
strategy and psychological techniques. McClane is indeed very intelligent and
organized as a fighter for goodness. He sneaks through and observes the
dynamics of the working of the terrorist team, and eliminated them one by one,
also giving taunting remarks to perturb the team spirit of these terrorists. He
did get himself into trouble - for example the famous glass in feet situation,
when Gruber discovered that McClane was barefoot, which is certainly nasty for
the audience to think of (good job, Mr. McTiernan). Yet, what is great about
McClane is his resilience and perseverance to achieve his aim. Despite the pain
and stress all the way, he kept coming back and fought harder against the bad guys.
We don't need a philosopher to convince us that McClane is a hero. McTiernan
has painted the other characters - the head of the corporation, the boyfriend
who wanted to cooperate with the terrorists, the chief police officers, and
media - as incompetent, because I think he wants to celebrate the individualism
one can really find from McClane.
Hans Gruber, beautifully portrayed by Alan Rickman, is the
antithesis of McClane. While being as resourceful and strong-willed as his
nemesis, Gruber represented the face of corporate approach, or like the
corporate business the terrorists are targeting. While no one should endorse the
criminal activities of the terrorists, it is quite obvious that Gruber's team
is very professional, and they work really 'great' in a criminal way. Gruber
believes in a strong organization for his terrorist activities. Indeed, the
memorable scene where the whole team of terrorists arrive in an elevator is a
great representation of that spirit. He knows that all the members in the team
have to co-ordinate well together in order to succeed for their criminal deeds.
Someone to hold up the guests at gun point; someone to intercept the signals of
communication; someone to distract the police; and someone to negotiate for the
ransom. Gruber clearly is experienced and have carefully planned for the whole
hostage-taking situation in detail beforehand. If McClane is not in the
equation, these terrorists would likely succeed. Indeed, I think McTiernan has
portrayed Gruber rather accurately as a terrorist of the 1970s and 1980s, which
the aim is often money-oriented. The terrorists and aircraft hijackers usually
had a clear objective - often a ransom or political aim - and they are less
likely to kill hostages if their demands can be met or delayed through some
form of ongoing negotiation. It is very different from the lone-wolf terrorism
nowadays, because in this case the attacker has already written his ending for
the story - his own death (or 'sacrifice' he would prefer to say) and maximum
carnage to those around him. In a twisted sense of morality and psychology, the
terrorist is ready to give up his life, and he believes this sacrifice will
justify his killing of further hostages. I believe some of the sequels of 'Die
Hard', and the terrorist films in the past 10 years or so are often exploring
this change in the face of terrorism.
In fact, the interaction between McClane and Gruber not only
increases the tension of the narrative, it also further explores the point I
talk about in the last paragraph. It is great to see that McTiernan did not
leave their encounter until the climax, and the director has given the characters
a continuing conversation regarding heroism throughout the film. Gruber, as a
believer for the teamwork of his group, mocked McClane many times regarding his
individualism by referring to Western films, coining McClane 'Mr. Cowboy' and
some sort of security guard who is looking for trouble. McClane retorted and
was quite proud of his gumption against all these terrorists, and often taunted
the terrorists when he has scored points against them (not only the Double Jeopardy,
but also killing them), like writing 'I have got a gun hohoho' over a dead
body. Gruber and McClane did meet once face to face after the final showdown.
At that point, Gruber pretended to be a guest who has been lost somehow, yet
McClane certainly knew better than that from his experience as a cop. Acting in
an absent-mindedly manner, McClane handed Gruber a gun for protection, and when
Gruber attempted to gun McClane down from the back, there are no bullets
inside. That shows McClane's cunningness, and clearly his act of handing the
gun is deliberate. It is a test to see if his own hypothesis regarding Gruber's
identity is true or not. Gruber was lucky at that point, because one of his
henchman, Karl, rushed in and engaged a shootout with McClane, where Gruber
could escape and soon after detonate a bomb, leading to the famous scene of
McClane jumping down the exploding building in a bungee jump style - simply the
most wonderful moment in the whole film!
Speaking of Karl, he is also an interesting character in his
own right, because he also challenged the notion of team-playing for the
terrorists. As a great marksman, he was very good at the firearms and it was
very clear that he was capable to work alone. He seemed to be a bit of a loose
cannon, because he had a strong hatred for cops and he also wanted revenge and
hence took the situation very personal. Karl's lone warrior persona has
generated some tension between himself and Gruber, because Gruber has the
feelings this hot head might go out of control and screwed up the master plan.
In a rather dark way, I think McTiernan also 'celebrated' Karl's individualism,
because not only he was probably the only character who could cause some damage
to McClane, the director also gave him the last laugh (spoilers). In a twist,
he survived even after the Gruber the big boss has died, and shot his way out
of the building, only to be gunned down by McClane and his comrade.
I would like to comment on the final showdown between
McClane and Gruber, as that is an interesting cultural reference that enhances
the theme of the film. Award of the fact that McClane's ex-wife was among the hostages,
Gruber knows that the only way to lead to a checkmate is by holding her at
gunpoint and lure McClane to come out. In the trash-talking phase of this
encounter (this is a Hollywood film after all), Gruber surmised that, 'Looks
like John Wayne will not ride into the sunset with Grace Kelly'. As if getting
pissed by Gruber’s lapse in cinematic facts, McClane angrily pointed out that
the guy is ‘Gary Cooper’, not John Wayne. It is an interesting cultural
reference that I think is more than a mere tribute, and interestingly, Kubrick
also used ‘John Wayne’ as a satirical term a lot in ‘Full Metal Jacket’, which
was released a year before ‘Die Hard’. The reference to the old cowboy scenario
is fascinating because that reminds us of Fred Zinnemann’s ‘High Noon’, which
starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. ‘High Noon’ and ‘Die Hard’ shared a
similar theme of individualism against adversity. In ‘High Noon’, the sheriff
starred by Cooper is fighting alone against a group of professional bandits,
who are coming back in town to exact revenge on him. No one was willing to help
because they did not want to get involved in any dirty business, which at that
time was a critique on the indifference towards McCarthyism and the conformist
attitude advocated by the Eisenhower presidency. Some will even go further to
celebrate Cooper’s sheriff as an existential hero, which kind of remind us of
Sartre’s ideas, for example. The way John Wayne came into the picture was that
he and his filmmaker friend, Howard Hawks, were never a big fan of ‘High Noon’,
though the Zinnemann film has won a number of Academy Awards. The duo did not
agree to the fact that the hero was so incompatible and could not find any kind
of assistance around the place, because they firmly believed in the importance
of team work and professionalism. That was why they made ‘Rio Bravo’ as a
response to ‘High Noon’. Anyway, McClane’s situation was very similar to the
cowboy film, because McTiernan was celebrating the courage and individualistic
will from this protagonist. John McClane’s wife was also very clever because
she was brave enough to distract Gruber, giving enough time for McClane to kill
him with a concealed gun. In ‘High Noon’, that was also Grace Kelly’s ‘Quaker
wife’ character who turned out to be the most helpful character to help the
sheriff to defeat the bandits. Well, that runs in the family, right?
So, channel out a bit of your gumption, get yourself a few
cheesy one-linear, have your ‘yippie-ki-yay’ moment and go for it!
Die Hard - 30th Anniversary
Film Analysis
