Blogmas Day 20: Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

I’ve been waiting over 2 years to write this blog post! So let’s talk about this controversial film question: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

What I Knew About Die Hard

Die Hard was released in 1988, before I was even born. Even though that’s not significant, the fact that it’s remained popular for so long does mean a lot. There’s a ton of references to it in other movies and shows, but I either didn’t get them, or I had no clue it was even a reference.

The first time I can remember hearing that Die Hard is a Christmas movie is in one holiday episode of Arrow. But I’m sure I’d heard it other places. But, in The Office and Friends, there are moments watching the movie during holiday episodes, but I never knew why. I thought it was just a random decision.

Did I mention that up until 2 weeks ago, I had never seen the movie? All I knew was that some people say it’s a Christmas movie. And, that it was an action movie involving a guy named John McClane who was played by Bruce Willis. Oh and I knew the first line of the movie thanks to Pete in The Office.

Watching the Movie

A few weeks ago, Megan and I had a movie night and watched Die Hard for the first time. And we had a great time with it. Neither of us knew anything about the movie, so we were excited when we saw Alan Rickman (R.I.P.) walk in. Even if the movie was boring, that alone would have kept us interested.

We’re also the people that talk and comment throughout whatever we’re watching when we’re together, so of course I had to take notes about our thoughts. We immediately began counting the number of Christmas trees that we saw, but we got distracted from that pretty quickly and probably missed a lot. But within the first few minutes one pops up. And you can hear Christmas music playing in the background throughout the movie.

John McClane

One thing I was not expecting was for John McClane to be so into Christmas. From the beginning of the movie it’s established that he’s arriving in L.A. from N.Y.C. to visit his wife and kids for Christmas. He’s meeting his wife at her office’s Christmas party, and walks in while whistling carols.

I also wasn’t expecting him to be so witty and sarcastic. Megan and I both agree that Die Hard is a comedy first, action movie second. Even during the intense moments there is something to laugh at.

I also wasn’t expecting him to be barefoot for the majority of the movie, either, so there’s that. It was bizarre yet also a strong detail that made you appreciate the character more. If stepping on a lego hurts like hell, I can’t even imagine what all of the glass and debris would feel like on bare feet.

The Wife

And by the way, his wife is a selfish bitch. Yeah she had a ‘great opportunity’ but that shouldn’t have come before her marriage. You can’t convince me otherwise. John’s reasons for staying were not totally unreasonable. But if he truly couldn’t leave right away because of his job as a police officer, he could have put a resignation in for months in to the future so that they could move then.

If his wife was so valuable to the company, they could have handled six months of her not being there. They could have even had her in L.A. for 1 week a month or something. We don’t know the details of their discussions (at least after movie #1 we don’t), but it seems like she was not going to compromise either way.

And the cherry on top is her going by her maiden name. If that doesn’t show where her loyalties and feelings lie, then nothing would. Don’t even try to tell me it’s so she would appear more valuable to her coworkers. If she wanted to be the boss bitch and all about her career as a woman in a male-dominated business, she could have proved that she was valuable regardless of her last name. The fact that she had his photo at her desk is just… sickening.

Other Random Thoughts We Had While Watching…

• Why is there no smog? The sky would not be this clear in ’88.
• Alan Rickman looks like a porn star with the facial hair.
• Which one is Karl? Why are there so many similar looking people in this movie? We literally couldn’t keep track of who was who.
• I’m sorry, but when the guy came down the elevator… that was not expected or appreciated on my part. At least a warning would’ve been nice. But, we had to replay that scene five times trying to understand what Alan Rickman was saying. On the final try we added subtitles – there is no way in hell he was saying verbally what the subtitles said.
• Feet smaller than his sisters… there’s a lot of joke opportunities there.
• Same with the movie’s name. There’s no way there’s not adult movies with that name (don’t feel like you need to prove it, I’m good).
• “Does it sounds like I’m ordering a pizza?” – classic
• “butt f****d on national tv!” – ok, no matter what else happens, I love this movie

The Verdict

So is Die Hard a Christmas movie? My verdict is… yes!

I went into this thinking it would be a ‘no’. But after watching it, it’s hard to deny that this is an Christmas movie. Maybe not a typical cheery holiday movie, but it counts. The Christmas trees, the decor, the Christmas party, and the fact that it takes place on Christmas Eve and ends on Christmas morning all point to a holiday movie.

The one thing that would really have sold it is if at the end of the movie, when they’re driving away, if they asked the kids if they wanted to go open presents or something. But that’s really the only thing I could think of that would have made it more Christmas-y. Unless you had Alan Rickman dressed as Santa Claus. But then it’d be a straight up horror movie.

Do you agree with my verdict? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!