Countdown to A Good Day to Die Hard

The countdown to Christmas has begun and with the festive season comes films which belong to this particular time period. There’s the schmaltzy feelgood film where the main protagonist realizes the error of his ways and makes amends by the end, where he’s learned a valuable life lesson about himself and humanity. These films follow the Dickens’ model oft repeated and based on A Christmas Carol, a story which in itself is remade in many ways year after year.

The theme is seen in many popular films that have become unconventional Christmas hits, repeated on television year after year and featured on top ten lists of Christmas movies despite not being obvious choices and having little to do with Christmas or just being set at that time of the year.

Edward Scissorhands, Trading Places, Gremlins and Home Alone are regularly branded this kind of film for having pivotal moments occur at Christmas and depicting a canvas of snow that transcends the screen and overflows into the hearts of filmgoers. All the main characters in these films learn something by the end of the film that they didn’t know at the start – knowledge about themselves or something (e.g. Gremlins!) that makes their life better.

But the most unlikely and popular Christmas movie features a gun-toting, foul mouthed action hero who gatecrashed an office party and left realizing that his job may be to save innocent citizens but it’s also about his family too and he’s got to tow the line. Yes, John McClane in Die Hard is an unsurprising favourite for Christmas and with the promise of new film entry in the franchise arriving round the corner on Valentines Day 2013, it’s the perfect time to revisit Nakatomi Plaza and see where it all began.

Bruce Willis returns in A Good Day to Die Hard and family is still very much a part of the equation and the force that pulls him into the action. John McClane had a bad reunion with his wife, Holly in the original film that turned into an action packed hostage film where our hero beat the odds to walk away with the girl. In Die Hard 2: Die Harder they said lightning couldn’t strike the same place twice but little did they know John McClane was back beating terrorists in a darker take on the series adapted from the novel 58 minutes. Featuring a terrifying scene where an entire plane of innocents is brought down as McClane can only watch, he finally saves his wife in a touching moment where he guides a plane to the ground exclaiming “Here’s your landing light, Holly!” Heartwarming stuff in an action film. Again.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance his wife calls in to check up on McClane while he’s engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a villain avenging the death of his brother in the first Die Hard. Formulaic but with Samuel L Jackson and Jeremy Irons muscling in providing support, the third outing is enjoyable most of the time.

Live Free or Die Hard (also known as Die Hard 4.0 outside the US) took a clever cyberterrorist plot loosely inspired by a Wired article called ‘A Farewell to Arms’ and introduced us to McClane’s estranged daughter. Controversy about the rating aside, the film made money and had some spectacular action sequences proving many wrong that maybe it was time for John McClane to hang up his vest.

A Good Day to Die Hard finds John McClane travelling to Russia to help out his estranged son John “Jack” McClane Jr (Jai Courtney) whose career choice puts him in situations his father has had to deal with on account of the worst bad luck ever. Thinking he’s helping Jack, McClane soon realizes his son’s life is a career choice and messes things up for everyone creating a situation with more international terrorists that he need to fix while bonding with his son and making amends. Bigger in scale from previous outings and taking the action from New York to Moscow, the film has some insane car chases, tanks galore and the biggest helicopter in the world makes its presence felt. Oh and the climax takes place in Chernobyl.

With upped action featuring a double barrel of explosive punches, dialogue and guns in McClane and son, and with an appearance from Lucy, John’s daughter who was introduced in the previous outing, A Good Day to Die Hard is all set to be a family film of a very different kind. Talks of the franchise being prepped for Courtney’s shoulders are premature and the focus is very much on making this entry one with explosions so big you’ll feel the aftershock for weeks after seeing the film.

So Christmas is coming and it’s the perfect time to watch a Die Hard movie, because the McClanes are coming to make hearts bleed on Valentines Day and bleed they shall with bullet-holes, badass action and everyone’s favourite cowboy catchphrase. Forget the 12 days of Christmas, it's now 12 weeks until the new Die Hard movie.

Yippee Ki-yay guys. Peace on Earth until February, then bring on A Good Day to Die Hard.