🐱 The Disturbing Message of Die Hard

The Disturbing Message of Die Hard

Every year, fans around the world celebrate the Best Christmas Movie Ever, Die Hard, which of course involves a gang of ‘terrorists’ attacking a Christmas party in an office building. We cheer as Bruce Willis, as John McClain, takes out the bad guys...

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Every year, fans around the world celebrate the Best Christmas Movie Ever, Die Hard, which of course involves a gang of ‘terrorists’ attacking a Christmas party in an office building. We cheer as Bruce Willis, as John McClain, takes out the bad guys one by one in ever more unrealistic scenarios ending up with our hero walking out of the burning building, feet bloodied, supported by his now adoring wife.

I watched it for the first time in years as it came on TV the other night and noticed something I hadn’t remembered. Just when you think the excitement is over, the true climax of the film comes when the last surviving terrorist, inexplicably still alive after we see him strangled on a chain, staggers out of the building looking to kill McClain and avenge his brother’s death. As he lowers his machine gun at our helpless hero, we hear 5 quick shots, the terrorist falls, and the camera cuts to the barrel of a gun.


The gun is held by our other hero, the humble street cop Sergeant Powell, played by Reginald VelJohnson. Earlier in the film, we hear Powell tell McClain how he was haunted by killing a child waving a toy gun in a Tamir-Rice type incident, and now could no longer bring himself to fire his weapon. That’s right, the real victim wasn’t the child or his grieving parents, it was the poor cop who found himself relegated to a desk job because of one little mistake.

Now, the camera lingers heroically on the smoking gun barrel, then pulls back to reveal the amazed face of the policeman- it’s a Christmas miracle- he can kill again! The message of the film couldn’t be more clear: the true hero of the movie isn’t really McClain or Powell, it’s the gun, the gun that solves all of our problems.

One wonders how many policemen, solders, and ‘militia’ members grew up watching that film, and saw themselves in the hero’s role. Did Kyle Rittenhouse watch this film every Christmas, dreaming of the day when he could defend the world from looters, rioters and socialists? How many more people have to die in the name of our national mythology?

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Trying to find a deeper message in Die Hard is like instead of reading Tea leaf in a cup, masturbating in a tissue and trying to read it.

Seriously fuck off with your low-brow observations and cry me a river.

Kill the fucking bad guys. Have some fun. Get the chick. End of story. Rides off into the sunset - by a Limo driven by a black dude nonetheless.

Bruce willis shot, chocked, blew up and threw guys out of windows. But you wanna call the fat donut cop with a photo op the hero. Booooooo!!!!

In real life he would have missed, or been hosed down by the other 100 white cops as a dangerous armed black man.

Putting on my devil's advocate hat, Winslow was a hero as well -- for pushing back against his idiot boss, for talking to McClane to keep him grounded, and for saving McClane's life when Karl came stalking out of the building like a goddamned revenant.

Heroism isn't like a hat that only one person gets to wear. It's a quality and a virtue, which of course is why leftists hate it so much.

 

[Snekposter]

Shoot the glass. And make fists with your feet.

Don't forget to add "The FBI will overreact to your schemes, so integrating their expected actions into your heist planning is a good idea." Hans Gruber never could have made it into the vault if the FBI hadn't cut the power... And indeed, he planned on them doing so from the beginning.

 

[Dysnomia]

The gun is held by our other hero, the humble street cop Sergeant Powell, played by Reginald VelJohnson. Earlier in the film, we hear Powell tell McClain how he was haunted by killing a child waving a toy gun in a Tamir-Rice type incident, and now could no longer bring himself to fire his weapon. That’s right, the real victim wasn’t the child or his grieving parents, it was the poor cop who found himself relegated to a desk job because of one little mistake.

The child killed is not part of the plot but rather part of Sergeant Powell's backstory. If this was a film about Sergeant Powell coming to terms with the guilt from that tragedy then the author could make that point. But he's just grasping at straws and hoping they're #woke enough to get clicks. The film is about John McClain going one man army against a group of terrorists who have seized a skyscraper his estranged wife happens to be in.

The gun is the hero because it solves all the problems? No.

A hell of a lot went on between the beginning and then end. Guns don't fire themselves. That scene was about Powell finally coming to terms with what happened and in no way invalidates the life of the fictional child he shot. Again, it's not a drama about a cop who shot a kid who was playing with a toy gun.

In the summer I watched Passenger 57. I hadn't seen it in a long time. But it's like Die Hard on a plane with the main character in a similar situation to Sergeant Powell. John Cutter is a former cop wracked by guilt because he couldn't save his wife during a robbery. Over the course of the film he has to come to terms with that so he can be the hero he needs to. It's also not a film about guns solving all your problems. They help. but if Cutter just sat there the whole time lamenting his wife's death then nothing would have gotten done.

No fun allowed. Can't even enjoy films without someone moaning about the politics of guns. I don't think that guns in movies really contribute much to gun violence. Cowboy and war films were really popular 50 years ago and kids weren't going around shooting up schools and each other like they do now.

As for looters: Hey, if you care so much about racism in America don't destroy your own communities for some free nikes and PS5's. Every store that never reopens are jobs that are now gone. Black jobs matter.

Not even being ironic or making a joke.

 

[Iceland Heavy]

Don't forget to add "The FBI will overreact to your schemes, so integrating their expected actions into your heist planning is a good idea." Hans Gruber never could have made it into the vault if the FBI hadn't cut the power... And indeed, he planned on them doing so from the beginning.

The FBI shows up and they immediately start arrogantly throwing their weight around the locals and come up with a gung ho hostage rescue plan that they figure will kill a fourth of the hostages while playing into the bad guys' plan the whole time, Die Hard was based and fedpilled years before it was popular.

 

[Snekposter]

The FBI shows up and they immediately start arrogantly throwing their weight around the locals and come up with a gung ho hostage rescue plan that they figure will kill a fourth of the hostages while playing into the bad guys' plan the whole time, Die Hard was based and fedpilled years before it was popular.

AND THE QUARTERBACK IS TOAST!

 

[Iceland Heavy]

AND THE QUARTERBACK IS TOAST!

We're gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess...

 

[kcbbq]

Karl's Steyr AUG isn't a machinegun. The article, and Christmas, is ruined.

 

[anti SJW]

Die Hard is a Harry Potter movie. He runs around the tower hiding from Alan Rickman