(Click the links to read Favorite Male Action Hero #5, #4, and Fi’s Five Favorite Female Action Heroes)
Next up, we've got my favorite hero of holiday mayhem.
Next up, we've got my favorite hero of holiday mayhem.
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Well, one of them.
If you haven't seen at least the first Die Hard movie, here's how it goes:
John is in LA to visit his kids for Christmas. He's been kinda-sorta separated from his wife, Holly, ever since she took a promotion that moved her to LA from New York, and John stayed in his position with the NYPD. He's still pissed with her for giving him up in favor of a job and knows she's probably feeling exactly the same way about him, but he wants her back and is hoping the trip will give them the chance to reconcile.
John is in LA to visit his kids for Christmas. He's been kinda-sorta separated from his wife, Holly, ever since she took a promotion that moved her to LA from New York, and John stayed in his position with the NYPD. He's still pissed with her for giving him up in favor of a job and knows she's probably feeling exactly the same way about him, but he wants her back and is hoping the trip will give them the chance to reconcile.
We learn all this from another artfully efficient opening scene, between John and Argyle, the limo driver who's been sent to bring him to Holly's office. Argyle used to be a cab driver, which apparently falls into the same category of jobs with therapists and bartenders (this LA local wouldn't know), and he drags the story out of John one telling answer at a time, without a single improbable expository monologue.
Holly's company is in the middle of their holiday party, and while John is cleaning up from his flight in one of the upstairs bathrooms, a group of extensively prepared and armed terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman with an attempted German accent), storm the building and take the entire party hostage.
Using only his wits and whatever else he can get his hands on, John has to foil the bad guys' plot from inside the building, save the hostages, and win back Holly, who's the acting supervisor among the captive employees, playing liaison to the terrorists and watching with grim amusement as they get progressively angrier and more terrified as John picks them off one at a time.
John eavesdrops on them, finds out that (mini-spoiler) they're actually after the contents company's vault and their political posturing is a cover, signals the local police by throwing a corpse out the window onto the hood of a cop car, and finally stops the super-thieves from escaping in the helicopters included in their demands in a showdown on the roof.
John eavesdrops on them, finds out that (mini-spoiler) they're actually after the contents company's vault and their political posturing is a cover, signals the local police by throwing a corpse out the window onto the hood of a cop car, and finally stops the super-thieves from escaping in the helicopters included in their demands in a showdown on the roof.
Sounds like a pretty basic action movie setup in a lot of ways. You've got a good guy, bad guys, high stakes, and plenty of guns.
What makes John special is how seriously outnumbered and outgunned he is at the beginning of that setup and how creative he has to get to compensate.
Die Hard arrived right on the tail of the '80s action movie equation of more guns + more muscles + more fire = better, and it takes a different technique.
John doesn't get to come into the action fully prepared, guns blazing. When things first go to hell, he doesn’t even have shoes on. There's a scene where the bad guys have him cornered, notice his shoelessness, and nearly catch him by shooting all the glass in the room onto the floor.
What makes John special is how seriously outnumbered and outgunned he is at the beginning of that setup and how creative he has to get to compensate.
Die Hard arrived right on the tail of the '80s action movie equation of more guns + more muscles + more fire = better, and it takes a different technique.
John doesn't get to come into the action fully prepared, guns blazing. When things first go to hell, he doesn’t even have shoes on. There's a scene where the bad guys have him cornered, notice his shoelessness, and nearly catch him by shooting all the glass in the room onto the floor.
No, I didn't mix up this picture with one from Saw.
And of course, there's that beautiful, tide-turning moment when John takes out one of the thieves who wanders off on his own and then announces himself to the rest by sending the body down to them in the elevator,
…with the words, "Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho" written on its chest.
The John vs Hans conflict is a duel of wits that involves guns and explosives, rather than a simple duel of guns and explosives. John spends most of his time hiding from the bad guys until just the right moment, giving him time for radio conversations with both Hans and the police outside that don't happen under fire. In other words, he has time to be a person instead of a walking death machine, and that humanity carries over when the action does happen.
And there's no lack of action or suspense. I point to John trying to navigate between floors through the empty elevator shaft by using his gun as a rappelling anchor, or stealing the bad guys' C4 and tossing it down that same elevator shaft after them. And that's the simple stuff. Just because John doesn't start the game with all the cheat codes on doesn't mean he doesn't end up taking part in some spectacular crazy. The difference is that he's smart and human enough that when we in the audience start to think "no way, come on!", he's thinking it to. And lucky for us, he likes to think out loud.
The John vs Hans conflict is a duel of wits that involves guns and explosives, rather than a simple duel of guns and explosives. John spends most of his time hiding from the bad guys until just the right moment, giving him time for radio conversations with both Hans and the police outside that don't happen under fire. In other words, he has time to be a person instead of a walking death machine, and that humanity carries over when the action does happen.
And there's no lack of action or suspense. I point to John trying to navigate between floors through the empty elevator shaft by using his gun as a rappelling anchor, or stealing the bad guys' C4 and tossing it down that same elevator shaft after them. And that's the simple stuff. Just because John doesn't start the game with all the cheat codes on doesn't mean he doesn't end up taking part in some spectacular crazy. The difference is that he's smart and human enough that when we in the audience start to think "no way, come on!", he's thinking it to. And lucky for us, he likes to think out loud.
Who hasn't dreamed of pulling off a stunt like that and then realized that this is exactly what you'd sound like actually doing it?
Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, on Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!
Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, on Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!
ale is also about Intisar's good friend, Jamie, and the two little boys she and her husband are in the process of trying to adopt. Evan (age 7) and Raymond (age 9) are biological brothers, both born with Saethre-Chotzen Syndrome--a condition that results in brain damage if left untreated. They were each given up at birth, and were unable to receive treatment for their condition. These brothers have lived in an orphanage in Eastern Europe their whole lives. As boys who are older and struggle with developmental disabilities, it's almost impossible to find adoptive families for them. But Jamie has her heart set on bringing them home, and this sale is about helping that happen.
