Die Hard at Stockport Plaza
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
We’re long past the point where Die Hard was judged an ironic alternative Christmas flick. Nowadays it’s considered a festive staple, with John McClane’s mission to reunite his family – even if it means going through a group of well-armed international thieves – happily sitting alongside Elf, The Muppet Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life as a bonafide Christmas classic.
Working in a different register to the big 1980s action stars, Bruce Willis’ McClane is a working class, New York cop on the beat, who just so happens to find himself caught up in the heist of the century at his estranged wife’s Christmas party at Los Angeles’ Nakatomi Plaza. A populist fantasy, perhaps, but one put together with panache, and no shortage of humour, by master action director John McTiernan (Predator).
