Despite being seemingly light-years away from the generic Christmas films that exude coziness and all the miraculous charms of a holiday romance, Die Hard is still a Christmas film, for at the heart of it lies a story of reconciling partners. The arrival of an NYPD cop in LA is not to save his fellow citizens from a European militant but to reconcile with his miffed wife. To this enduring love, the militants, CB radios, and detonators remain but a mere witness.
Die Hard (1988) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
On Christmas Eve, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Detective John McClane flies down to Los Angeles to meet his family. His wife, Holly Gennero, is the Director of Corporate Affairs of the Nakatomi Corporation. Holly is anticipating her husband’s arrival but is not certain of it. What is palpable is the presence of a disconnect between the two. On the other hand, John gets picked up by Argyle, his limo driver, from outside the airport. Argyle drives John to the Nakatomi Plaza, where Holly’s office is located, and promises to wait for him in case he does not find a place to stay. John arrives at Holly’s office when the Christmas party is on. He meets Holly, and the two come closer. It is also revealed that Holly’s decision to stick with her maiden name for her work created a distance between the two.
The party is in full swing. However, the crowd is oblivious to the imminent hijack of the Nakatomi Plaza by Hans Gruber – a member of the radical West German Volksfrei movement – and his gang. The gang puts an end to the party and terrorizes the gathered people. John, who was changing clothes in the washroom, is the only person who escapes the notice of Gruber and his gang by virtue of not being present at the party. He runs away to a different floor and tries to alert the police.
Gruber calls out the name of Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, the Nakatomi Corporation executive, and takes him away to his office. He has only one demand: Takagi should disclose the code key, which would give them access to the $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds that are locked in the vault. After Takagi refuses to disclose the code, Gruber unhesitatingly shoots him in his head. He assigns his gang member, Theo, to break the code.
John’s presence, however, does not remain concealed, and the militants go after him. He sets off the fire alarm, which, instead of alerting the police, tips off the militants of his location. Tony, a gang member, tries to search for McClane but gets killed by him. This gives McClane a chance to secure a more reliable armament, the machine gun over his handgun and a CB radio. Since the CB radio is used by the gang to communicate within themselves, John’s alerts to the police also reach Gruber and the rest.
John tries to alert the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), but they remain mistrustful of his alerts. Finally, after much dilly-dallying, Sergeant AI Powell is ordered to carry out a mere drive-by. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game between John and the militants, finally leading to the death of two more militants. As Powell is about to leave, reporting back no disturbance at the building and a wild goose chase at play, the body of one of the militants crashes through his windscreen.
Powell, now convinced of the hijack, demands backup. The news spreads and makes it to the night headlines. Finally, Argyle, who is immersed in his world hitherto despite being parked at the garage, gets to know of the happenings through the TV in his limo. McClane, on the other hand, manages to seize a bag of C-4 and detonators from one of the dead men, This becomes a cause of concern for Gruber.
Following Powell’s call for backup, a SWAT team sends a Stryker vehicle to the building, but Gruber’s men destroy it. John, who watches all this in horror, goes a step further and assaults the men in return by throwing some C-4 down the elevator shaft, which reaches the men. Holly’s sleazy colleague, Ellis, attempts to negotiate with John on behalf of Hans and asks him to return the detonators. But the negotiation turns awry when John refuses to surrender and return the bag, and eventually, Ellis is killed.
Hans initiates contact with the police and demands that their people, whom he refers to as his revolutionary brothers and sisters, languishing in prisons all over the world, be released. Gruber tries to get a look at the roof to find the missing explosives and encounters John. However, he tricks John into believing he is one of the hostages. John gives him his handgun, but when Hans is about to shoot, he finds it unloaded. The other men arrive, and Hans is saved. John escapes, too. However, noticing that John is barefooted, Hans shoots the glass panes so that John gets injured while trying to escape the floor.
The arrival of the FBI is a miracle to Hans and Theo, who were struggling to get the last vault to open. The FBI orders the building’s power to be cut. Hans explains that the circuits that cannot be cut are cut automatically in response to a terrorist incident. Hans demands a helicopter be sent for them to the FBI officials. However, unbeknownst to either party, both of them have planned to finish off the other upon their arrival. McClane finds out about Hans’ plan of blowing off the roof.
Karl arrives, and a fight ensues between the two. The TV reporters reach the McClane residence and take bytes from the children. This is telecasted on TV, and through this, McClane finds a connection with Holly. The hostages run to the roof. Holly, however, is captured by Gruber. Knowing fully well that Hans and his men can blow the roof at any moment, McClane drives the hostages down by mindlessly shooting in the air. This causes the FBI officials in the helicopters to perceive him as one of the militant men. When they are about to gun him down, Hans coincidentally blows the roof, intending to kill the hostages. Unbeknownst to him, this saves John in turn.
Die Hard (1988) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Gruber die?
The FBI helicopters perish from the blast, and John gets saved by a whisker. Meanwhile, away from the death and destruction, Theo surreptitiously tries to sneak out. But Argyle manages to punch him and knock him out. When John arrives wounded, he finds Holly being held by Hans. John puts down the machine gun to gain Hans’ trust. Nevertheless, the minute Hans tries to retort, he shoots him with his service pistol.
Hans falls through the glass windows of the office but latches on to Holly’s watch, a Rolex that she had earned for her hard work at her workplace. McClane, however, unclasps the watch, leading Gruber to fall to his death. Once they are done with the gang, they are rescued and brought outside, but Karl attacks the pair. However, he is felled by Powell. Holly punches the reporter, who had previously interviewed their kids when he attempts to interview John this time. At last, Argyle arrives and drives the kissing pair away from the debris that is left of the Nakatoma Plaza.
