‘Die Hard’ was released on July 20, 1988, with a budget of $28 million, the movie grossed a whopping $140.8 million worldwide; accounting for inflation in today’s numbers, that is $366 million.
The movie was so popular that it spawned four sequels to continue the franchise with the final installment in the franchise being A Good Day to Die Hard.
The plot follows NYPD Detective John McClane, played by Bruce Willis, who arrives in Los Angeles to reconnect with his wife Holly, played by Bonnie Bedelia, at her job’s holiday party. The plot begins to pick up when the tower where the party is being held is seized by Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman, and his band of terrorists who want to steal $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds.
John had been changing clothes when the tower is seized and is not taken hostage by the terrorists; this causes him to enact more or less guerrilla warfare on the terrorists using tactics such as stealth and taunting his enemies to cause them to be confused on what he will do next.
Die Hard being a Christmas movie is an overall controversial topic. Many people debate on this topic each Christmas, and both sides bring up valid points to the other side. The movie, however, is set on Christmas Eve. It features many Christmas songs and is mainly about coming home for the holidays.
This is what makes the movie unique in the sense that this it is not trying to be your typical lovey-dovey Christmas movie with heartwarming or funny stories for kids to love and share.
The movie tries to have a different take on the genre by incorporating action and a more serious story into the movie. The film is definitely for more mature audiences and pans to that fact. John’s wife’s name is even “Holly” which invokes the Christmas spirit.
Themes and being set during the holidays make this a Christmas movie that can be enjoyed.