The PHP Film School discusses how to do an Action film and there are none better than Die Hard. Even if there are films you like more, there are few films that you can learn how to make an Action Film just by watching it as you can with this Bruce Willis classic. Now on this very channel, we at Possessed Hand TV have discussed many times whether this is a Christmas movie or not. In this, we aren't bringing it up, we are merely discussing its attributes as an action flick.....and of course it is the greatest Christmas movie ever.
You start talking about an action movie you need a good hero. If American Culture has given anything to drama, action, the stage, or culture in general it is the lone hero. The hero who may be flawed, he may be in the wrong place at the wrong time, he may not even be the one you bet on, but when the chips are done he/she does what needs to be done. Die Hard did this so well that it created a whole genre, the Die Hard film. Think Passenger 57, Sudden Impact, or Under Siege. They even mention Mr High Noon himself Gary Cooper in a scene.
A little bit of history for this film. It was originally written to take place in the 70's with Frank Sinatra's detective character as the lead character and bounced around Hollywood for years. They didn't want Bruce Willis originally as the lead and there were doubts of his ability to play the part mostly being known as the goofy sidekick on Moonlighting. Now, when they cast action films they look for a 'Bruce Willis' type.
There is very little wasted writing in Die Hard. In filmschool they always teach you that if you can take it out of a script and it doesn't change your story, then you lose it. It teaches you to write with a purpose and not just to fill pages. Just because your mind can think of it, it doesn't mean it is important. If you end up taking everything out, you probably didn't have a story to begin with. From the first five minutes we learn that Jon McClane has issues with his wife, for some reason can take his gun on a plane, and that the guy next to him tells him to take off his shoes to relax since he hates air travel so much.
The most important thing in an action movie is not the hero however, that's the most important thing for a franchise, but it is the villain. If the villain doesn't have some kind of charisma the film seems flat and is just a bunch of people shooting each other. Alan Rickman plays Hans Gruber as the stylish, calm and collected, and cruel villain. Without him the movie never makes it into classic status. This by no means takes away from what Bruce Willis does as the hero who makes it through adversity, bad odds, and basic torture running around destroying his bare feet, but just goes to show that if the villain isn't good, nobody cares what the hero does. He shares his thoughts on suits with a guy who gets his brains blown out five minutes later. He fakes an American accent and has one of the greatest scenes in action history with John McClane where the audience is left to wonder if John knows this is Hans, will Hans kill him, why doesn't John just kill him and is a great piece of suspense in a well paced action feat. Hans also has one of the more iconic death scenes as the real life Rickman gets dropped before he was ready and flashes a true look of fear at the camera in a scene that has gone down in movie history.
Even little things like a watch being referenced early in the film coming back at the end to be what saves Holly's life and finally kills Hans for good.
You have classic lines, great side characters, emotional moments, and of course great action including a building getting the top blown off of it.
Die Hard is the action movie to be watched when learning how to make an action flick.
PHP
Commentaires