Is Die Hard A Christmas Movie? I Don’t Care.
Die Hard is, first and foremost, a masterpiece. An iconic action movie that created it's own sub genre. "Die Hard" on a bus. "Die Hard" on a boat. "Die Hard" on a plane. The movie even gave birth to Bruce Willis: Action Star. Die Hard is one of the most popular movies of all time, and with good reason.
Do I think it's a Christmas movie?
Truthfully, I really don't care. I'd rather just talk about how good Die Hard is. The "Is it a Christmas movie?" argument just seems to be an excuse to watch Die Hard during the holidays when in reality you don't ever need an excuse to watch Die Hard. Just watch Die Hard.
So this is my plea. Let's just make it the norm that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Let's all accept it and move on. And while we're at it, lets start talking about other great Christmas Action Movies.
Spoilers for The Long Kiss Goodnight, Die Hard 2 and Lethal Weapon to follow.
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a god damn delight of a film. Written by Shane Black (famous for setting most of his movies at Christmas, as he does here) and directed by Renny Harlin, the movie stars Geena Davis as an amnesiac who washed up on a beach two months pregnant with no memories. 8 years later, she starts to reclaim some of her memory after a car accident. Samuel L. Jackson is the private eye by her side as she discovers she used to be a covert government assassin. The rest is, as they say, *Chefs Kiss*. This movie is the perfect example of 90s action movie excess. Squibs, explosions, car wrecks, the works. Harlin is a very efficient action director, and he imbues all his movies with a small sense of audacity. It makes for a great pairing with writer Black, whose love for pulp shines here. Davis also proves she was an undervalued action star and Jackson gives one of his funniest performances. Do yourself a favor and give this flick a visit if you haven't, (or a revisit if you have).
DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER
Ah, yes, Die Hard 2. I feel like people forget that it also takes place on Christmas. I personally think this sequel does a better job of capturing the holiday spirit than the first movie. Airports, In-laws, trying to talk your way out of a ticket with a disgruntled traffic cop and failing miserably. All of these perfectly capture a typical American Christmas, and that's just the opening scene.
Of course, the first movie is better in every way, but Die Hard 2 is still a gem on its own. The film is a perfectly cliched action sequel, firmly following the motto of "more action, more violence and more one liners" from star Bruce Willis. In fact, Willis is still completely engaged, and probably the main reason why the movie works as well as it does. The movie gets absurd and overblown pretty quickly (a sharp left turn from the first films somewhat grounded, more character driven nature) but thanks to the goodwill from Die Hard, and Willis' game performance, you can't help but still root for the guy.
Renny Harlin also directed this action sequel, a full 6 years before The Long Kiss Goodnight. Harlin is the perfect fit for this kind of perfectly absurd and entertaining action and between this, TLKG, and Cliffhanger, the director cemented his status as a 90s action king.
LETHAL WEAPON
Thanks to an absolutely insane and committed performance by Mel Gibson, the chemistry with his co-lead Danny Glover (who is equally good) and the pairing of writer Shane Black and director Richard Donner (Superman '78, The Goonies), Lethal Weapon is second only to Die Hard in regards to Christmas Action Movies, at least in my humble opinion.
Gibson and Glover star as Riggs and Murtaugh. a pair of mismatched cops working their way through a high profile drug case. I know that doesn't sound like anything special plot wise, but Black and Donner make up for it with plenty of character development for both leads.
Riggs is a former special forces hotshot who now has a serious death wish ever since his wife was killed in a car accident a few months prior. One scene where Riggs contemplates suicide is a legit gut punch, as he comes *this close* to shooting himself in the head. It's a startlingly real moment, and Gibson manages to make the titular lethal weapon seem human in one fell swoop.
The filmmakers also go out of there way to give us plenty of time with Murtaugh's family, especially in an extended sequence where Riggs joins his partner's family for dinner. Not only is the scene perfectly funny and endearing (we get to see Murtaugh as the excellent father and husband that he is), but it also helps the stakes feel real and urgent when Murtaugh's oldest daughter is kidnapped by the bad guys later in the film.
Lethal Weapon is one of the absolute best action movies of the 80s (the rest of the franchise is also ridiculously entertaining), and you would be doing yourself a favor to put this into your annual viewing schedule.
Now, these are only three of the many, many other Christmas Action Movies you could watch/talk about this year. There is also Batman Returns, Enemy of the State, and if you're sick you'll put on Reindeer Games (I kid, you know I love my boy Affleck). And hell, you could put on just about any movie that Shane Black has written and/or directed and you'd be enjoying a perfectly appropriate holiday classic.
So go now, be free of your burden and watch whatever Christmas Action Movie that you hold dear, and for the love of all that is Holy, please stop asking "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?". The world will be better for it.