One of the best action thrillers ever made, Die Hard still rocks like a thunderstorm nearly twenty years after it was first released; often copied and arguably never, ever equalled, this film introduced the set-up of the lone cop/soldier/tough guy against a team of terrorists who have taken over a secured area. We'd get airports, airplanes, ships, buses, trains and many more, all in inferior films, but in Die Hard the action is set in a skyscraper, and director John McTiernan handles the claustrophobic tension with breathtaking skill. Bruce Willis also introduced the action hero as tough but eminently, realistically woundable; by the end he's a bloody, torn, shot and beaten mess. Obviously he survives near-impossible odds, be it falling through lift shafts, jumping off of exploding roofs and such and such, but he's no invincible Schwarzenegger type, and that's what makes him more likable and it's what gives the film real tension. Also, in Alan Rickman, we have the very best example of the refined European master criminal who would become a stereotype very quickly; funny, dangerous, clever and sophisticated, he's a villain you love to hate. The script is a dazzler, the action is brutal, effective and extremely exciting and the final half hour in particular cranks up the adrenaline to maximum effect. A classic.