Die Hard – 1988
Wow. The phrase of the day is blowing stuff up! That seemed to be this movie’s main draw. It was pumped full of testosterone and machismo. There were lots of guns, lots of explosions, lots of people getting shot, lots of stunts, and lots of bad guys getting killed off. But what was it about all the fire and carnage that made Die Hard stand out as having superior special effects?
Well, there was more than just explosions. There was some pretty convincing compositing. I’ve noticed that in films from recent years, filmmakers have finally been able to get rid of the dark outlines around blue-screened items and actors. And many of the shots that showed the exterior of the high-rise were composite shots with a miniature model that could safely be blown up, though director John McTiernan has said that a vast majority of the exterior shots of the building showing explosions were real, full scale explosions set off in and around the actual building.
One of the most memorable visual effects shots of the film was when the leader of the bad guys, played by Alan Rickman, fell to his death. First, it was shown in slow motion, giving the audience plenty of time to scrutinize the shot. Second, it was shown from two different angles, each of which was impressive in its own right. The first from the hero’s perspective, looking at Rickman in the face as he falls away from the camera. After that was the wide shot in which we see someone who was clearly not a dummy falling the full length of the high-rise. A brave stuntman, using a hidden decelerator wire rig, fell into one of those giant air-bags.
Then there was the helicopter crash. When the bombs on the roof of the building detonated, the helicopter caught fire, exploded, crashed into the building, exploded some more, and then broke apart. It was pretty impressive! That was right after John McClane tied a fire hose around his waist and jumped off the roof. Then he used his gun to shoot out a window and swing inside to safety.
I think the most memorable explosion was the one in which McClane tapes a huge amount of C4 to an office chair, and pushes it down an open elevator shaft. The resulting explosion was enough to shake the foundations of the building and send a rush of fire back up the shaft. McClane narrowly avoids being burned as flames shoot out of the open elevator door. Incidentally, I also learned that the thirty-story elevator shaft was actually only about twelve feet deep, but they used forced perspective, shaping the shaft like an inverted cone to make it appear full sized.
But that was mostly it, stunts, explosions, and some skillful compositing shots. If you enjoy action movies that have lots of things getting blown up and destroyed, impossible stunts, and a hero that doesn’t know the meaning of the word pain, then this is the movie for you. That’s generally not my kind of film, but I was fully entertained anyway.