Die Hard - One of the - if not the - Best action movie ever made?

[T & P]

I’m not a big fan of GOAT discussions whether regarding films, TV series, sportspeople or anything else, even when I might have someone at the top of my personal list, because such exercises feel to me like a judgement of whoever might be viewed as second or third best as some kind of underachievement.

In this particular case, I tend to think Die Hard, Predator and Aliens are probably tied at the top of any greatest action film lists. I’m sure I there are a few others that might deserve to be mentioned in the same breath (T2 being an obvious candidate), but those three are as fucking brilliant and significant as each other for slightly different reasons.

 

[stdP]

Whilst I don't think it's the best action movie (don't think I could ever pin it down to one), it certainly ranks well. It did well to remake the formula of 80s action films, add even more bombast than most coke-addled producers could put up with, and of course unleash a superlative performance by Alan Rickman (IMHO the best bad guy since Donald Pleasence's Blofeld, who steals the movie with scant seconds of screen time).

It's probably a matter for another thread, but I do wonder what's happened to action movies since but it's probably part of a greater malaise of chasing safer and safer money using more and more CGI that there's so few action films that try to do something a wee bit different. Or perhaps I'm just being an old fart. But even though there's still good ones being made, there do seem to be genuinely few action movies that become the pop-cultural phenomenons that DH and its ilk became.

 

[T & P]

Whilst I don't think it's [ithe[/i] best action movie (don't think I could ever pin it down to one), it certainly ranks well. It did well to remake the formula of 80s action films, add even more bombast than most coke-addled producers could put up with, and of course unleash a superlative performance by Alan Rickman (IMHO the best bad guy since Donald Pleasence's Blofeld, who steals the movie with scant seconds of screen time).

It's probably a matter for another thread, but I do wonder what's happened to action movies since but it's probably part of a greater malaise of chasing safer and safer money using more and more CGI that there's so few action films that try to do something a wee bit different. Or perhaps I'm just being an old fart. But even though there's still good ones being made, there do seem to be genuinely few action movies that become the pop-cultural phenomenons that DH and its ilk became.

There are some, though. John Wick being at the top end quality-wise but relatively niche, and the likes of the Fast and Furious franchise, immensely successful at the box office but frankly shit at the best of times, and turning more absurd with every passing film.

Sadly the ever growing fungus that is the superhero genre has all but killed off the traditional action genre.

 

[AverageJoe]

John Wick 2 is a great action film

 

[stdP]

There are some, though. John Wick being at the top end quality-wise but relatively niche, and the likes of the Fast and Furious franchise, immensely successful at the box office but frankly shit at the best of times, and turning more absurd with every passing film.

Sadly the ever growing fungus that is the superhero genre has all but killed off the traditional action genre.

Yeah, I was wondering if anyone thought the same as me re: superheroes (and I'm not at all ashamed to admit I find the genre boring at the best of times except when it's being demolished a la Watchmen or The Boys). John Wick*, Dredd** and Edge of Tomorrow stick out as following my idea of the hallowed formula in the 2010s but I also feel they're somewhat eclipsed by Flying Dude and the Wibbly Magic Force Waves Or Something VII.

* I still don't know why Keanu gets so much stick TBH
** I guess the modern "Like Die Hard... but in a skyscraper!" film***
*** Additionally, although it's more a fighting action film than an explosions-stylee action film, Dredd was rather inexplicably compared to The Raid (a similarly bare-arsed plot on paper I guess) which, along with its sequel, practically resurrected and rewrote the fight scene rulebook at the same time. Well worth a watch if you need more crunching bones in your life

 

[AverageJoe]

Dredd and The Raid were similar in story but not execution. I enjoyed both in different ways.