Introduction
The findings that shall be found from the review of the action thriller Die Hard (1998) produced by John McTiernan shall be presented in this paper. The paper will discuss the major issues addressed in the film, technical aspects regarding plot, music, lighting, production, and cast, and how the producer has gone around in the application of the above to achieve his aims and objectives. Die Hard (1998) has been dubbed as one the best masterpiece in the movie genre of action by several movie reviewers and critics this receiving a four-star rating from AMG.
Plot
The plot of the movie truly represents an action thriller. The film begins in Los Angeles where a Christmas party is going on the top floor of the Nakatomi Corporation building. The party comes to an abrupt end when in an instant; the revelers are taken hostage by a group of terrorists who intend to steal $600million from the building in Nakatomi’s high-tech safe. The presence of a New York in the surroundings complicates things in that he happens to be one of the hostages held captive by the terrorists. The plot is indeed one of the most simple to follow by any movie audience but has managed to present the themes of the film in a very fascinating manner. The application of humor has reinforced the plot making it have a seamless flow like different short stories combined into a long story yet achieving coherence in all the different parts.
Technical Aspects of the Movie
Ideology. This movie is a product of an amazing ideology. The combination of ideology gives expertly shot moving pictures in crystal clear three-dimensional. The movement of the camera from one window to the other is expertly combined which presents one long continuous storyline. I believe that this technique applied by John McTiernan in this movie makes it one of the biggest contenders for the top spot in the action thriller genre. According to Pacific Cinémathèque (n.d), “The way they showed the memory transform into a place in pensive was amazing in that the Fox Plaza portrayed in the film as Nakatomi Plaza was shot expertly” this involved the best combination of cinematography in regards to the allocation of the ideology.
According to Charles (1970), “Ideology is a part of the culture and as such acts as the context of, and provides the language and symbols for, social action.” The application of ideology in this movie is that which is aimed at emphasizing the important details while leaving out nonimportant subjects. The plot of this movie coincides with the ideology in that as an action thriller that has fast-moving scenes, the application of ideas is the best (Ross, 1992); and (Kris, 1986). While in the beginning, John McTiernan has made the use of ideology to emphasize love as Bruce Willis flies into the neighborhood to attend to his wife, this transforms with the story and the plot.
Storm. While watching the movie, Beethoven’s 9th storm has widely featured in this movie in many guises and vibrations.
Scenes that are dominated by Gruber and the terrorists have taken the leitmotif vibration to express distress and danger. According to Pacific CinĂ©mathèque (n.d), “John McTiernan said in the Die Hard DVD commentary that he incorporated those themes into the movie’s soundtrack as an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (which featured both pieces of music)”. These can perfectly intertwine with the themes of the movie to give a tantalizing effect on the viewer (David, Staiger & Thomson, 1985).
The application of good storms such as When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Dr. Strangelove all combed to draw the viewers’ attention to the themes of the movie. Due to the Christmas setting of the film, John McTiernan has made use of sleigh storm in some scenes and perfectly blended them with Christmas pop “Winter Wonderland”.
Another notable music that has played a pivotal role in the development of this is Van Monroe’s “Let it, Snow! Let it, Snow! Let it, Snow!” This has added flavor to the Christmas theme portrayed in the movie. According to Pacific Cinémathèque (n.d), the storm is seen in the final scene of the movie when the main character McClane and his assistant in negotiations Powell meet for the first time as they could only hear each other’s voice on a portable radio. This episode resembles the one from the Man of Fire movie of 1987.
Conclusion
The discussions of this paper portray how John McTiernan has made use of cinematography to connect with the viewers of this movie. I believe this movie stands as one of the greatest action thrillers in the history of the movie industry. This has been made possible by the explicit combination of lighting, music, and plot to give it a clean sheet. I would not hesitate to recommend this movie to other viewers based on the facts I have gathered on it so far. I believe this forms the basis for its success in movie charts.
References
- Charles, H. (1970). Hollywood cameramen: Sources of light. Bloomington: University of Illinois Press.
- David, B., Staiger, J. and Thomson, K. (1985). The classical hollywood cinema: Film style and mode of production to 1960. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Kris, M. (1986). Film lighting: Talks with Hollywood’s cinematographers and gaffers. New York: Prenctice-Hall.
- Pacific Cinémathèque (n.d). Lighting in filmmaking.
- Ross, L. (1992). Matters of light and depth: creating memorable images for video, film, and stills through lighting. Philadelphia: Broad Street Press.