In the end, the old excitement came flooding back.
Re-watchingDie Hardalways feels like revisiting an old friend.
He is the movie villain we wish every movie had.
One of the key reasonsDie Hardis still regarded so highly is its hero John McClane (Bruce Willis).
And not only is McClane an average guy, he is a guy with average problems and weaknesses.
Its worth remembering that at the beginning ofDie Hard, McClane is kind of a dick.
He gets scared, he gets hurt, and hes constantly being outflanked and outsmarted by the villains.
Hans Gruber is the kind of villain that other action movies could only dream of.
Every time McClane tries to take the upper hand, Gruber out-maneuvers himthink about the Bill Clay scene.
Within a split-second of meeting McClane, Gruber has fallen into character as a helpless victim.
Grubers actions force McClane to work harder, and not just as an action hero.
As McClane pulls glass out of his feet, and talks to Sgt.
Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) on his walkie-talkie, he is finally forced to confront his own mortality.
The fact that Gruber is the obstacle he has to overcome is essential to McClanes transformation.
Why is Gruber such an exception in the genre?
The main reason is simple: it is really hard to write a strong bad guy.
You want someone tough, but not too tough.
Too often writers are afraid to make the villain as all-powerful as possible.
Hans Gruber is the catalyst that puts the world of the movie out of balance.
In this capacity, Gruber also acts as the catalyst for John McClanes evolution as a character.
If it were not for Gruber and his scheme, John McClane would never have grown up.
He would have gone to Nakatomi, made no compromises, and he and Holly would have probably divorced.
Alan Rickman
The other component that makes Gruber work is the superlative work ofAlan Rickman.
Rickmans casting was not a case of a casting director thinking outside the box.
Hans Gruber went from being a simple mercenary into the exceptional thief we all know and love.
The celebrated Bill Clay scene is the most prominent example of these changes.
Ironically, it was not a natural development, but the result of serendipitous inspiration.
McTiernan came up with the scene after he heard Rickman do an American accent.
In reciprocal fashion, it also reveals the strength of the films heroic protagonist.
For all these reasons, Hans Gruber remains the undisputed champ of action movie villains.
He is a great character, and epitomises a standard in cinematic knavery that few filmmakers have replicated.
