“Yippee-Ki-Yay…” – Our December 2020 Film Club Pick
With 2020 swiftly coming to a close (and thank goodness!) the month of December should be devoted to all the holiday films that give us warm, happy, fuzzy feelings inside, right?! Well… given the chaos of 2020, we, the Team at The Film Rewind, have decided to go in a slightly different direction… Our 2020 December Film Club Pick is the action-packed 1988 Christmas flick, Die Hard (directed by John McTiernan). That’s right, we are going with one of the most debated ‘holiday films’ of all time!
If you were to ask most moviegoers how to define Die Hard, or at the very least, to assign it a genre, first and foremost they might say that Die Hard is a ‘serious’ action film. For a slightly smaller percentage of us movie buffs, who enjoy films with a darker take on the holidays, Die Hard’s setting, taking place on Christmas Eve at an office Christmas party, takes precedence and adds a certain ‘magical’ holiday flair to this otherwise thrilling and edge-of-your-seat flick. In case you didn’t already know, Die Hard revolves around NYPD Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis in one of his breakout movie roles) and his attempt to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly (and they say this isn’t a holiday film…). However, things quickly go awry when a group of German radicals take over the building, where Holly is attending a work event, in an apparent terrorist attack… Needless to say things heat up from there, as McClane gets ensnared in a cat and mouse game with the leader of the terrorists, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman at his villainous best)… We won’t give away any spoilers for those of you who perhaps haven’t seen this film already, but let’s just say that Die Hard is sure to make you stop and think about what is important to you this holiday season, and how far you would go to protect your loved ones and keep them safe…
Whether Die Hard remains firmly relegated to your shelf of action DVDs, or if it is already a staple within your holiday film rotation, we hope that this film will serve as a distraction for you in what has truly been one pretty tumultuous year. What do you think of our December Film Club Pick? How many times have you seen Die Hard before? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to check back soon for more reviews and an ongoing discussion of our holiday favorites!
Copyright © 2020 Sarah Crane
