Die Hard/Piège de cristal

(Crystal Trap)

Aka: Bruce goes to L.A. and blows up a bunch of terrorists.

So John McClane, who is a tough N.Y.C. police guy, goes to Los Angeles for Christmas.

He's going to his wife's Christmas party and ends up being the only person in the whole building who is not held at gunpoint by a dozen terrorists. He thinks it's his job to stop them (who wouldn't?). As an added inconvenience, he has no way of going in and out of the building and he's barefoot.

I like Die Hard. It's a good mix of action and comedy, me thinks. And Bruce has some serious cracking lines. Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!

Did I say that the terrorists were German? That the terrorist boss is played by oh so British Alan Rickman? Oh yes. German terrorists are ok. German people to play the said terrorists are probably a no no.

Most of the action is set in the fictional Nakatomi Plaza. This is the "crystal trap" the French title alludes to.

(Oh, look... A lovely crystal trap. Actually, a couple of the few day time views of the building.  I guess the one on the right is a bit crystal shaped...)

(Well, he can't get out, so he's "trapped" and I guess the building is meant to look like crystal. 90% of the film is set at night, but you get one shot of the building at dusk, so crystal it must look like.)

Poor translation, you think? Well yes. But to be fair to the French title, I have no idea how I would translate "die hard". Futhermore, they probably at that point they had no clue this would become a big franchise.

So I give them a C for effort. At least the title alludes to something obvious.