As we enter the holiday season we start to break out the hot cocoa and watch holiday-themed movies.
Hallmark no longer has to play their Christmas in July selection; they can move straight to Christmas and romance comedies (rom-coms). However, a more controversial and fitting addition to the list of Christmas movies is “Die Hard” featuring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman.
The movie follows John McClane (Willis), a New York City police officer, who arrives in Los Angeles to visit and reconcile with his estranged wife Holly.
Holly is at a Christmas Eve party with her co-workers in Nakatomi Plaza when McClane travels in a limo to the offices to surprise her, with Argyle (the driver) waiting in the parking garage for McClane. However, as he washes himself up before seeing his wife, he happens to discover he is in the middle of a terrorist plot aiming to rob the Nakatomi Corporation. Over the following hour of the movie, McClane combats Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his group of German-communist terrorists covertly through intense action scenes and vigilante wit.
As the final scenes come to a close, McClane and Gruber meet in a scorched office high in the building as they stand off, with Gruber holding Holly hostage. McClane, through his vigilante wit, takes a shot at Gruber knocking him off balance. Gruber falls out the window but grabs Holly in a final effort.
As the two dangle from the window with Gruber holding Holly’s wrist, McClane saves the day by unclasping her watch and leaving Gruber to fall to his death. In the final scene of the movie, papers are flying everywhere like snow, Holly and John McClane reunite and Argyle drives out of the burning parking garage to pick the couple up with the limo. They finally drive away to the song “Let It Snow” by Vaughn Monroe.
If this is not a Christmas movie then I do not know what is; it has all the hallmarks of one (pun intended). There is the couple in tension, usually at the height of the tension. Some sort of bad event happens, more traditionally one of the partners has another love interest or appears to have one. Die Hard just turns the tension up to 11 with an armed heist. As the events and tension finally reach their climax, we get the sweet release. The couple has their resolve and reunites (awww) and in Die Hard’s case they drive away to Christmas music.
Unfortunately, whether Willis likes it or not, he has made one of the most successful non-Christmas, Christmas movies. Instead of following a more traditional rom-com direction, the director made a vigilante romance film. It really takes both angles well. Bros everywhere can sit down with their significant other and feast on an hour of intense action, while they still get choked up at the beauty of an estranged couple reuniting in front of a burning building on Christmas Eve.
To solidify the place Die Hard holds as a Christmas movie, the sequel, Die Hard 2, takes place on Christmas Eve in Dulles International Airport in the middle of a snowstorm. With a plot like that, Hallmark should be playing both of them every winter.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
