This series of Die Hard is a representative work of the golden age of Hollywood action films in the 1980s and 1990s. The first three films were shot in that era, while the fourth and fifth films were made in the current era of technology. product. This film is different from Schwarzenegger's action film, different from Stallone's action film, this is a real pure action film, a bible for the totem of tough guys. This series has no dazzling technology, no thought-provoking plot, no brain-racking tricks, just thrilling jumps, explosive explosions, dense rain of bullets, overturned cars and old John's choking energy from time to time. Dead man's joke and the classic "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". And it's all thanks to that grassroots detective, Jon McClain.
Just as Old John's son teased Old John's words at the end of the fifth installment: "Do you like to find trouble, or trouble always finds you?" The most classic plot of this series is that every time John goes to a place, he will encounter hostages. events, and then he would reluctantly get involved in them, become a hero, and even develop claustrophobia because of it. So from a plot point of view, the first and second films are the most classic works in the entire series, while the third film is a bit of a stir-fry, and the fourth film may be to adapt to the tastes and viewing habits of people in the new era. , it doesn't feel like this series anymore, and the fifth is even worse.
The reason why this series is classic, some people say that it is due to the conspiracy, plot, action, performance or scene design, not only has sensory stimulation, but also has many sparks of wisdom, making it difficult to pick out flaws. In fact, the author thinks that this series has no plot. It creates a model, a grassroots hero model. This hero is different from other tough heroes. He is neither muscular nor full of weapons. Bullets can't finish, he is a grassroots hero who is not fierce but vivid. He lives a sloppy life, has a bad temper, is difficult to get along with, talks trash, and has bad luck, and is always reluctantly involved in dangerous events. , and then it was tragically remedied by the enemy. The whole film is like this to design a time and space, design an event, and then try to describe how John dealt with the enemy and defeated the powerful enemy inconceivably. Therefore, when the series began to "work hard" on the plot, the author believes that this has already lost, and has lost the foundation of this series in Hollywood, which is why the fourth part sucks and the fifth part is even worse. .
Time flies, geomancy turns, as sci-fi, fantasy, and superheroes become the audience's new favorites today, old-school pure action movies are far less popular than they used to be, but this adds a respect to the old and tough. The old-fashioned action films like Die Hard and First Blood have long faded out of people's sight, and old-fashioned action stars like Bruce Willis, Schwarzenegger, Stallone are no longer as popular as they used to be, they are only occasionally Gathering together in the same movie and reminiscing about the old, in exchange, only a measly box office and bad reputation, and some people even ridiculed them for not taking good care of their lives and coming out to cheat money. Look at today's so-called heroes, who are handsome and cute, hang in the studio for a while, make a few gestures, there is no danger, and there will be a lot of box office receipts. The era of tough guys is over, and it's not just feelings that have passed away.
Well, let the author lead you to review this classic series again, as a memory of heroes.
Die Hard was the first of its kind in a closed space action movie. Old John had to deal with the inside and outside of the building and the villain. He was almost claustrophobic, so he spared no effort to open up the battlefield in the sequel. In the second episode, he struggled to run around the huge Civil Aviation Airport, the third episode turns the whole city into a huge game board in order to save the people of New York, and the fourth episode even increases the stake to the entire United States. In the fifth volume, the American continent could no longer satisfy Old John's appetite, so the war was brought to Russia.
The narrative rhythm of the film is also becoming more and more mature. The first episode opened for more than ten minutes. Old John was still talking to his wife. The robbers didn't even see a single shadow. The second episode is much tighter. In the third episode, it became even more aggressive, with a big explosion in the street at the beginning, and in the fourth episode of the new century, the subtitles were inexplicably hacked before the government network was finished, and then Old John was inside and outside the apartment building. One, followed by the anthrax virus, the attack on the White House, the stock market crash, the country’s power outages, and the layers of crises left no time for respite. On the other hand, the fifth part seems to be back to what it was before, with only a few minutes of assassination and arrest scenes in the subtitles.
In the spirit of Hollywood's "bigger, more, stronger", the movie's scenes are also gorgeously upgraded. The first episode only wandered around the building, without the use of the speeding car chase. The weapons that appeared frequently were MP5, AUG, M16A1 and other common screen rifles, destroying SWAT armored vehicles and roof blasting, which was already the leader of the big scene. But in front of the second episode, this was just a small fight, not to mention the overall increase in the number of bullets, the three spectacular plane explosions alone were enough to amaze the audience at that time. The explosion scene in the third episode is even higher, bombing shopping malls, bombing subways, bombing ships, and bombing helicopters one after another. In addition, there are taxis rushing through the streets, flooding tunnels, bungee jumping on ships, etc. The sensory stimulation surpasses the first two episodes. The fourth part is a network gimmick. Elite hackers use huge resources at will, which provides ample convenience for scene upgrades. The shootout in the apartment and the helicopter air raid are enough to be the finale of the first three episodes, but here it is just a small test, and then the tunnel Cars crashing, police cars crashing into helicopters, gas explosions, and trucks fighting F-35 fighter jets were staged in turn. The sensory stimulation of each field fully demonstrated the imagination of the digital age. Now the Die Hard 5 is once again a big killer, DARTZ's armored car Kombat MRAP rampages on the streets of Moscow, the car blocks the car, and it is quite domineering. Bullets poured into the air, and the Mi-26 halo hit the warehouse, causing a terrifying flame. In the past six years, John has been hardened a lot.
Let's talk about the protagonist's partner.
In the first episode, John McClain was basically a lone hero who was alone in Longtan. When he charged into the battle, there was no one to cover him. He was beaten all over and had to bandage his wounds. The fat black policeman Al Powell had a chat. Most of the time, he could only rely on chattering to himself to ease the psychological tension of fighting a powerful enemy alone. In fact, this Detective Powell deserves a lot of credit. In the first episode, he was the first to get a warning from John, and he recruited a large police force. At the end of the film, the robber wanted to shoot John coldly. Al shot him to death in time and saved John's life. , in the second episode, he helped John find out the identity of a terrorist. It's a pity that this kind-hearted police detective is not a partner because of too few scenes and unable to fight side by side with John. From the third adventure, John has more prospective partners around, not only acting as a gag, but also providing "complementary skills" for the old-fashioned John. The black grocery owner Zeus in the third part is an electrical engineer, and he is a good at defuse bombs; the young man in the fourth part, Matthew Farrell, is proficient in the Internet, helping John to clear the tedious details of the technical links, so that he can concentrate on his skills, Kill the Quartet. In addition, family members are becoming more and more indispensable in John's anti-terrorist battle. Although his wife Holly played a lot in her early years, she only acted as the object of rescue. In Die Hard 4, her daughter was kidnapped by evil forces but she was tenacious and unyielding. He can also seize the opportunity to help John, which proves the creed of a tiger father without a dog daughter. In the fifth episode, John went to Russia to form a tough alliance with the son of the agent. Shocked.
Finally, let's talk about the protagonist.
Old John lived a sloppy, sloppy, alcoholic life on weekdays, and looked like a loser. Only in the face of those crises that made the police helpless, could he instantly transform into the ultimate police detective who couldn't be beaten to death, while chattering and laughing at himself His luck was too bad, and on the one hand, he displayed extraordinary courage and wisdom to turn the crisis around.
However, despite being invincible on the battlefield of anti-terrorism, famed far and wide, and even on the cover of "People" magazine, Old John still had a miserable life as a national hero. He is cynical, does not understand compromise, and even disdains the trick of flattery. Therefore, he has served in the police field for more than 30 years and has never been promoted. He has always been a small patrol officer with the word "senior" before his name. It also sounds ironic. From the first part, his marriage with his wife was always on the verge of falling apart. Despite John's efforts, in Die Hard 4 we still have to face the fact of divorce with regret. Old John's children treated him with indifference, his daughter was rebellious and unruly, and his father's attitude was contemptuous and dismissive. At the beginning of Die Hard 5, the son unceremoniously said that John was the last person he wanted to see. In this way, I would like to thank those terrorists who do not make trouble out of fashion, giving him the opportunity to be a hero to save the beauty and save the marriage, and also allow him to heal the relationship with his children when he is fighting a strong enemy together.
The slogan of Die Hard says "McLean doesn't want to be a hero at all, but he has no choice", which vividly summarizes the most characteristic feature of this Die Hard Detective - a reluctant hero. "Wrong time, wrong place", he mocked himself in the sequel as his "life story". I went to my wife's company to visit relatives, just in time for the money-robbing thugs to start killing, forced to fight a guerrilla war with outnumbered enemies, pick up a station at the airport, and the airport was robbed again, so I had to save thousands of lives twice. Die hard, picking up a little hacker to the capital is always a piece of cake, right? No, terrorists with powerful firepower have already set up ambush along the way, forcing Old John to regain his trump card. John was dragged into the battlefield where he shouted and killed the sky.
There are thousands of grievances in John's heart that he can't express. The small police officer in New York City has repeatedly met with transnational evil forces. His job is to patrol the streets. Thoughtful, well-equipped, and a gangster who is helpless even for government departments, he can only take responsibility, drenched in blood, and risking his life to deal with it. It's no wonder that in Die Hard 4 he has to complain to the hacker boy with a face of resignation, doing all the dirty work "because there is really no one else doing it". If no one listens, he will talk to himself from time to time, complaining about why fate is so unfair. His words are full of the helplessness of being forced to Liangshan, which makes the audience unable to fail to be impressed by his strong civilian temperament.
John McLean is not a cartoon tough guy who can't get shot, he's not a super agent with ingenious mechanisms, and he's not a kung fu master with stunts. It's not hard to see that he is not a man in marksmanship, agility, fighting, or tactics. He is outstanding, and if he competes head-on, he will be able to pick out opponents that make him shriveled in almost every episode. The reason why he has been able to fight big time and time again is that he relies on those qualities that ordinary people do not have, such as keen intuition, decisive action, street wisdom, and the super endurance that suffers from any setbacks. Without hesitation and without reservation. Although he was always injured by the opponent's repair at the beginning, he was always able to come back to life, using his unique Mai's tactics to turn the situation around, and finally won by surprise.
Old John has a straightforward personality. Even in the face of a strong enemy, he does not play any tricks. No matter his skills or words, he is not sloppy, streamlined and effective, so those villains who show off their IQ, whether they pretend to be hostages, pretend to be commandos, or Those who made fun of him under the guise of revenge, without exception, were self-defeating and shot themselves in the foot. Even in the Internet age of Die Hard 4, Mai's tactics still work. No matter how advanced high-tech is, it is always operated by human beings. No matter how smart the mind is, it is also restricted by the body. Dealing with bad guys is still the same as before. Weaknesses can go straight to Huanglong. It's really unbelievable technical work, and there is a geek boy around to help. Therefore, the configuration of white vests, small pistols, and iron guts and steel bodies can finally overcome the network elite, which is reasonable. . John's victory was a victory for the grassroots over the elite, a victory for arrogance and directness against posturing, and a victory for the simple and rude over the authorities. How could the audience not applaud.
Not to mention his catchphrase and signature victory.
In the first episode, Hans sarcastically calls John a "cowboy" and asks him what he thinks of being outnumbered, to which John responds with a lively "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" in a rather poignant manner. The "cowboy" style slaps back at the opponent. This quick-witted one-liner fully demonstrates the fearlessness and contempt for the enemy, which impressed the audience and became John's signature line, which has been quoted throughout the five films so far, such as the Expendables and many other films, when they spoofed the hard-earned. The lines can be seen to be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It is worth mentioning that due to being classified as PG13, Die Hard 4 John can only shout a catchphrase when shooting, and the foul language "motherfucker" in the second half is covered up by the sound of gunfire, so it can be considered to pass the review smoothly.
However, the mantra is not a casual shout. It usually sounds when John has a victory and is about to end his opponent, so he has the spirit of destroying the dead. It is accompanied by John's always unexpected brilliant victory. Whenever he sees that the defeat is set and he is powerless, he can always make a strange move and turn the situation around in one fell swoop. Shooting to kill the enemy, there are no twists and turns, but after a careful thought, it comes naturally, showing John's grass-roots wisdom vividly. In fact, the mantra at the climax of the first episode was uttered by the villain. He wanted to humiliate John, but he played a soul-soothing song for himself. John magically pulled out a gun from his back and taught him to steal Consequences of the lines. As for the mantra in Die Hard 5, John drove a truck out of the helicopter, so that the bullet that was about to be shot at his son hit the sky, and thus forced the enemy to kill his father by mistake.
All in all, today when pure action movies are no longer popular, and when these veteran action stars are about to fade out and be forgotten by fans, no matter what kind of movie they make, there is nothing to complain about. , maybe when they all can't shoot, what passed away is not just a classic, but a feeling.
Veterans never die, they just fade away.
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