Ben Oliver

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Die Hard

Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…
10 December 2019

They put this on at the cinema this year, and it was a joy to see it blown up (fnar fnar) on the big screen. Last time1 I was surprised at how festive the film is, when it is usually considered as a joke inclusion to Christmas film lists.

I stand by that, in fact this time around I noticed even more stuff. Little motifs in the score. Little lines of dialogue here and there. Die Hard isn’t a film about Christmas, but it makes a significant effort to remind us that it is Christmas Eve as everything unfolds. It has Christmas woven throughout every scene.

I love coming back to this one. The dialogue over the radio between the two cops is cheesy, but it somehow rings true. They way they are trying to be all manly while quietly sharing their hopes and aspirations with each other hits me every time.

Add to that Alan Rickman unashamedly leveraging a sinister German accent to its full potential and you’ve got a Christmas treat for all the family.