Die Hard (1988) - #39

Empire top 301: #38
IMDb top 250: #104

Rating 9/10

Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Jeb Stuart & Steven E. de Souza
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Paul Gleason, Reginald VelJohnson & Bonnie Bedelia

"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker"

Bruce Willis is John McClane an NYC cop visiting his family for Christmas in Los Angeles. He arrives at the Nakatomi Plaza building to reconcile with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) who is at the company's christmas party. The party is disrupted by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his group of armed men intent on stealing $640million in bearer bonds held in the vault. McClane manages to escape capture from Hans and his men and sets about stopping the terrorists. 

Die Hard is quite simply a brilliant action film and the prototype for many movies that followed which featured a lone hero taking on a number of terrorists in a confined space. It's the movie that made Bruce Willis a star and gave the world the now iconic line "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". The film is full of great dialogue and has so many twists and turns to keep you entertained. 

The character of John McClane has become a bit of a caricature now, diluted after 5 movies, 2 of which are pretty bad, IMO, but in Die Hard the character is brilliant. He's not some kick fighting, muscle bound, superhero killer he's an everyman with family problems who just so happens to be a cop. He's not a genius who manages to thwart the terrorists at every turn most of the time it's sheer luck, and/or craziness that gets him out of situations. Willis is great in the role delivering his comic lines with just the right amount of sarcasm and at this age he made for the perfect action hero. 

Rickman makes for a good villain, however the accent is a bit all over the place at times, part German part English part American but this is just a small thing. No complaints with the rest of the cast they all do a pretty good job. 

The action scenes are brilliantly executed with some epic explosions and shoot outs and having it set in a sealed off building with no escape just adds to the tension. After viewing all the other Die Hard movies it is easy to forget how awesome this one is but I assure you it is definitely worth its place on both Empire and IMDb greatest lists and the 9 out of 10 I have scored. 

Predator (1987) - #108

Empire top 301: #108
IMDb top 250: -

Rating 8/10

Director: John McTiernan
Writers: John Thomas & Jim Thomas
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura & Shane Black

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

A team of commandos led by "Dutch" (Schwarzenegger) are dispatched into the Jungle on a mission to rescue a presidential cabinet minister who has been abducted by guerrilla forces. Unbeknownst to the group they are being hunted by an extraterrestrial killer, the Predator, who was jettisoned to earth by a space craft to hunt man for sport and collect their skulls as trophies. 

Had the Empire 500 list been compiled of movies based on critics choice only, this movie would never had made the cut. A lot of movies on the list wouldn't have made the cut. But I would say Predator is a bit of a Sci-Fi classic. I think it's a really well made action film and it's definitely stood the test of time. The movie is so quotable and features one of my favourite lines and delivery of a line ever...."you're one ugly motherfucker!"

I love the Jungle setting and think it's shot extremely well, some great cinematography. The score from Alan Silvestri is great and fits the tone of the movie perfectly. I still love the now iconic Predator costume, designed by Stan Winston and think it to be one the greatest movie monster creations ever. There are some excellent action scenes in the movie, complete with lots of explosions and gore and full of suspense. 

The whole cast does a pretty good job; it's not the kind of movie that calls for Oscar worthy scenery chewing. Arnold is perfectly cast as "Dutch" and he and Carl Weathers have some great scenes together. I love how macho the guys are and they all work well together and the dialogue they're given is really funny 

I like the pacing of the film and the fact the movie doesn't stop to explain anything, it's just all out action from the start. The tense final showdown between Dutch and The Predator is why the movie gets an 8 out of 10 for me. A definite classic.