A New York police officer who has come to Los Angeles to celebrate Christmas with his wife and children finds himself trapped in a skyscraper under attack by a gang of thieves. John McClane fights alone to free the building’s hostages.
In an age of invincible, body-built heroes, John McTiernan turns a disillusioned, cynical cop into a new symbol of the action movie. Bruce Willis, with all his charm, wins high honours in this superb, standard-setting example of the genre.