What makes a movie a Christmas movie? Is it the time of year? Is it the featuring of a jolly St. Nick or other lovable holiday characters? Is it the snow? There’s so many questions when distinguishing a Christmas movie, but today I am diving into another great debate amongst the people (I know the Nightmare before Christmas was a big one as well). Is Die Hard a Christmas movie or not?
The film follows John McClane (Bruce Willis) a cop who’s trying to rekindle the lost spark of his marriage with his estranged wife who took a job in California. He comes to surprise his wife at her company Christmas party (the first evidence of this being a Christmas film). Nakatomi Plaza is putting on an extravaganza for its employees for the holiday season, but it is taken over by German Terrorists (German? Terrorists? I know I’m just as confused as you). Now Hans Gruber and his gang of henchmen are looking to score big, but they weren’t counting on one thing…..The heroic and slightly insane John McClane.
Now I don’t want to dive too deep into the entire movie without exploring all of the Christmas themes that help my point of making this a Christmas movie (It is….believe me it really is, but follow along and I’ll give you more examples). First of all John is bringing a giant stuffed bear with a festive red ribbon wrapped around it’s neck as a Christmas present for his daughter. The man comes bearing gifts like the three wise men (he also brings some other presents for Hans and his men C4, a plethora of guns, and 30 story drop).
The next thing to put us in the holiday spirit is John’s limo driver Argyle (Hell of a name right there) plays Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC which is an all time classic. John responds with don’t you have any Christmas music and Argyle comes back with this is Christmas music, reassuring the audience this is in fact a Christmas movie.
Still not buying it? Well we’ve only touched on about twenty minutes of movie. Back to the Christmas party which takes place on Christmas Eve (The day before Christmas for the non-Christmas celebrators). Everyone is unwinding, having some drinks, letting their hair down all until Hans and the boys show up. How can you say that a movie set during the night before our saviors birth is not a Christmas movie? You have Christmas trees and decorations donning the whole plaza and everyone is in the holiday spirit.
Let’s not forget the villain. Hans Gruber is the Ebenezer Scrooge of the Die Hard cinematic universe. He doesn’t care that it’s Christmas time, he just wants the money and he chose the one night that everyone is celebrating to ruin it with his master plan. It’s up to John McClane to stop him and save (you guessed it) Christmas for the great people of Nakatomi Plaza.
Lastly the movie ends with the Christmas classic Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! as the credits roll. The cast being in California gives no real symbolism for the song other than to represent the Christmas season. That being said the film possess multiple Christmas songs and themes throughout that give us a glimpse into exactly what kind of movie this is (have I persuaded you yet?)
The final verdict is…Die Hard is a Christmas movie…one heck of an action packed movie, but it’s a Christmas movie. All the Christmas themes throughout point to it being on the list of holiday favorites. You can agree or disagree with me, but Die Hard is definitely one that should be on your list to watch this Christmas season. So grab your popcorn and hot cocoa, get a cozy spot on the couch and enjoy John McClane taking down one of the top cinematic villains ever.
Happy Holidays & Yippee Ki Yay!!!
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