<br /><br />this is an action movie that works. i am not a fan of most action movies. you have to believe that the hero is a real person and that he is in real danger... the minute you know a character is getting out okay, the minute the franchise dulls. bruce willis was so perfectly ordinary and so perfectly tough, that this role really worked. only mel gibson really had that quality in the first Lethal Weapon. and not everyone could pull it off (certainly not Sylvester or Arnold). i genuinely believed that john mclane was thinking of these things as he went along. even the ridiculous cliches were pulled off nicely. the wife wasn't a victim, but a clear head. i think the second Die Hard was strong also, but when the wife's character disappeared, a lot of the heart was lost. he was no longer a father and husband like in the first one. he no longer seemed like someone who really wanted to live. but in this one, there's a real sense of pain (as in the bloody feet) and urgency (his wife and kids). 7/10. probably not deserving of the top 250 movies of all time, but great nonetheless.