‘I watched Die Hard for first time – here’s why it’s definitely not a Christmas movie’

It’s been more than three decades since Die Hard landed in cinemas up and down the country – and it quickly became a staple in some people’s Christmas movie roster.

Every year, the age-old question comes around: Is the famous action movie really a classic Christmas film? Generally, when I think of Christmas films, I think of feel-good movies enveloped in festive cheer with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

As a rule of thumb for me personally, that means lots of Christmas songs, a sighting of Father Christmas or some of his little helpers at least once and sometimes a dash of snow to seal the deal. When I think of my favourite Christmas movies, The Grinch, Love Actually, Home Alone and Elf immediately spring to mind.

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So, after 27 years of avoiding the blockbuster favourite, I finally caved and watched the film to see if it really is as festive as people try and convince me it must be. To get into the festive spirit, me and my boyfriend poured ourselves a glass of mulled wine and put on a pair of matching Christmas pyjamas to get into the festive mood before we snuggled up on the sofa.

The film opens as I would expect of a classic Christmas movie, John McClane travelling to LA to visit his family for the holidays, walking throught the airport as Christmas music plays. It’s from there that the film starts to derail from the cookie-cutter Christmas film narrative.

One of the first things that strikes me about this film is the bold 80s outfits and outdated smoking habits that automatically age the film without needing to Google what year it came out. Bonnie Bedelia looked like the quintessential ball-breaking boss with a classic curly blowout and a bright pink power suit with shoulder pads that could touch the sky.

Another character with a standout sense of style was Alan Rickman’s character Hans Gruber. I never thought that Professor Snape could pull off such distinctive facial hair, but a goatee actually suited him quite well.

His powerful grey trench coat screamed bad boy chic and certainly gave Leo from the matrix a run for his money. He paired the wardrobe must-have with a suave suit that made him look like the perfect British baddie.

I wasn’t, however, as big a fan of John’s outfit and it becomes apparent throughout the movie that the man can get covered in dirt even if there is none to be found in an office block. His signature white vest has quite a wild journey throughout the film.

His now famous white vest gradually becomes more and more grimy throughout the film and somehow turned a putrid shade of beige-green before he tears it off and wraps it around his sliced-up foot. It’s an infection just waiting to happen.

It’s quite a contrast to Hans’ perfect suit – he manages to keep it clean throughout the entire film right up to his infamous death. Their contrasting fashion choices become particularly apparent when they unite at the end of the film for the epic showdown.

It’s certainly not the attire I picture for most Christmas films. There’s not a gaudy Christmas jumper or Christmas hat to be seen.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a big action movie fan, but I did struggle to stay interested throughout the entire two hour and 15 minute movie. The film was quite slow moving during the halfway mark and there was an extreme lack of festivities throughout.

Characters say “Merry Christmas” to each other a total of five times throughout the whole thing and you don’t even see a glimpse of a Santa Claus or an elf outfit. Not only that, but there is also very little Christmas music throughout the whole film.

Apart from the song at the beginning of the film, there are no Christmas tunes in the movie. You only have Sgt Al Powell butchering a few Christmas hits as he walks around a convenience store or late 80s pop music with some jingle bells thrown on top.

However, viewers do get treated to the first three lines of the children’s tale, Twas A Night Before Christmas. But it quickly dissolves in a plan for how the “terrorists” can escape the building with the money.

When looking at the decorations around the Christmas party, you have an enormous Christmas tree in the lobby and a few presents in the mailroom. Other than that, not a single Christmas prop can be seen anywhere else in the film.

In terms of themes throughout the film, there is an argument that the uniting of a divided family coming together for the holidays does fall into the nostalgic feel-good Christmas category. But from a first viewing, I’d argue that it’s mostly about how to stop a gang from robbing an unsuspecting office building.

It has the classic traits of any good blockbuster movie, lots of unnecessary explosions, guns galore and the foul-mouthed cop just trying to get home for Christmas. Returning to my initial guidelines for a classic Christmas film, I’d argue the 1989 hit only ticks off one or two off the list.

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And I’m not alone. Leading man Bruce Willis himself said in 2018 that “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie” and I firmly agree with him.

I would argue this is an action film simply set at Christmas time, but it’s lack of festive cheer throughout to me implies that it is nothing more than that.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk