Die Hard (R, 1988)

common sense media says

Original Bruce Willis violent actioner.


parents & educators say
  • 43% say violence is an issue
  • 36% say language is an issue

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that the film does include continued acts of violence. The film includes a bloody execution, many onscreen killings, and the holding of many innocent hostages. The film's sexual content is tame, but it does include a moderate amount of swearing.

Positive messages: The film includes extremely violent individuals, both on the sides of good and evil. The German terrorists are clearly marked as the bad guys, but the film does not really interrogate the type of violence used by the film's hero. His role as savior for the innocent rationalizes his killings in the world of the film.
Violence: Multiple onscreen killings, graphic execution, some graphic gunfights.
Sex: Brief female nudity, randy partygoers, and a repeated image of girlie pictures hanging in the building (overall very tame).
Language: Both casual swearing and swearing out of frustration.
Consumerism: Twinkies

More on Die Hard

What to talk about

Talk to your kids

Families can talk about stereotyping and vigilante justice. Are John's actions, blowing things up, killing, etc. warranted by the situation? Should he have taken alternate legal measures to deal with the situation? The film uses a number of stereotypes in the development of its villains. What characteristics unite individuals such as Hans and Karl? Are such generalizations problematic? How do films today approach this subject? All of the film's active characters, John, Al, Hans and his henchmen are men. Can you think of more recent action films that feature women as main characters?

What's the story?

What's the story?

New York police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) hoped to spend a little Christmas celebration with his estranged wife and children in Los Angeles. What he got instead was a bone-crunching, foot-cutting, guns-blaring battle to the death with a band of German terrorists. Set to raid highly secure vaults with a high-tech/high-powered ambush, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his posse hijack his wife's company Christmas party. Despite the "help" of the LAPD and FBI, McClane must scrap his way through the melee, free the hostages, and in the process repair his troubled marriage.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

After the mega-hit-success of this film, Bruce Willis, known mainly at this point for his work on television's Moonlighting was reborn as a bona fide action star. Although the film is quite entertaining, some might find the stereotypes dated and offensive. The cold war film takes full advantage of German stereotypes with its gigantic creepy Aryan villains.

Some excellent supporting actors deserve kudos along with Willis and the film's special effects. Rickman's (Galaxy Quest, Harry Potter) slick evil portrayal of Hans is on the mark, and Reginald VelJohnson (Papa Winslow from television's Family Matters) gives an excellent performance as the only LAPD officer helpful to McLane. Viewers may also recognize traditional baddies Paul Gleason (The Breakfast Club) as the less than helpful Deputy Chief and William Atherton (Ghostbusters, Real Genius) as an opportunist news reporter.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Alan Rickman, Bruce Willis, Reginald VelJohnson
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run time: 132 minutes
Theatrical release: July 15, 1988
DVD release: March 9, 1999
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: strong violence and pervasive strong language

This review was written by Kelly Kessler
 
 

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What parents & educators say

14
Based on 14 parent & educator reviews:
  • 43% say violence is an issue
  • 36% say language is an issue

Most useful reviews by all members

michaelc
teen, 14 years old
 
good flm
it is violent but good action. Suitable for all over 9.

MediaMonkey1999
kid, 13 years old
 
Die Hard-An exellent film I only see at Christmas-older people
As you can see, there are issues with the film that make the film un-suitable for little kids. Vilence, swearing, injuries, death... I excpect you're thinking 'what a lovely film' ( NOT ) but to me and my family, it's just special. We only watch it at Christmas!!! The plot is about a cop battling enimes to save the people taken hostage by the terroists and his wife. It's funny in a twisted way alot of the time! :) :0

Kid Who ...
teen, 14 years old
 
Awesome
This movie is as awesome as it was in 88', and i still love it (I have only seen it once but sticks in my mind). Could of done without the exscessive language.

Tsion
parent of 15 year old
 
Killer Action...But Adults Only!
DIE HARD is described by some as the most entertaining action movie ever made. Though I would be hesitant to heap that much praise on it, I do heartily recommend it to fans of the genre. Though it's plot points have since become conventions of almost every action movie and the social enviornment of the movie is completely outdated, this movie's thrills haven't let up in the twenty three years since it was made. That's the good news. The bad: neither has its inappropriate content. Parents: this movie is probably more graphic than you remember, and I would recommend perusing it yourself first before putting your teens in front of it. Though its tone is adventurous and more like an Indiana Jones film, the movie still contains nudity, harsh profanity, and explicit violence. Teens who see the movie will see numerous people shot and killed graphically (with spurting blood and brain matter). One man has his knees shot through (heaps of blood) before crashing his head through a glass window. Another falls from a skyscraper window with a resounding crunch. Several civilians are executed on-screen. A running joke in the film is a recurring topless poster of a woman, and though the nudity is clear, it is in a humorous context and not a sexual one. In addition, you briefly see a topless woman from a distance being herded away at gunpoint by terrorists (apparently interrupted during a tryst). Lastly, language is constantly severe, with more than 100 "f" words and all variations, including numerous "motherf***er"s. Milder language, like "s**t", "godd**n", and "a*s", is also pervasive. In short, this movie is a lot of fun to watch, and it has the potential to make a great movie night flick. However, its content can readily be described as excessive, and best geared towards adults.

PS3fan
teen, 15 years old
 
Great Action Movie!
I just watched this movie. It is a great action movie! There was pretty cool gun fights, and great one-liners by Bruce Willis! VIOLENCE: This is a violent movie. There is a lot of shooting, and lots of bleeding when people are shot. A character cuts their foot on glass, and their feet are bleeding like crazy.This is very bloody! NUDITY AND SEX: There is no sex in this movie. Jerk-off is said two or three times. You see a girl's breast for about five seconds. There is a poster of a topless girl that is shown three times I think. The first time it is shown for a couple of seconds, then shown again for a second or two, and a third time for a couple of seconds. This is all the nudity. DRUGS: A guy is seen snorting cocaine for about a second. He stops when others enter the room. LANGUAGE: There is a ton of cussing in this movie. They say the F-word at least 60 times, and some other words as well. Overall, this movie contains about twenty seconds total of breast-shots, bloody violence, and cussing. Once a kid knows that girls have breasts, knows the F-word and can handle bloody, but not gory, violence, then they should be able to watch this movie.

Yangy
teen, 15 years old
 
Great suspensful action flick for adult moviegoers. Language is way way explicit eg. Yippee Ki Yay Mother F-cker. Older Kids should be able to handle it.

Madbax21
teen, 14 years old
 
GOOD BUT STRICTLY 11+
GOOD FILM

masterchief117
kid, 12 years old
 
the best action series
great movie. theres a ton of bloody violence and language theres over at least 40 f-bombs. a man is shot in the head blood splats onto a door its seen a few times later in the movie. two men are beaten to death(intense). a man is shot a bunch of time around his legs theres some blood a round the bullet wounds. maclane drags his leg on the floor theres a trail of blood. a man is shot in the head(off screen) his body is later seen beging dragged away (its blurie). a man is shot and falls out of an 88 storie building. a man is shot in the head blood flys out.

dr duck
teen, 15 years old
 
Some really great action sences, best for highschoolers
I loved it and it wasn't extremely violent, but it is a fun terrorism film.

cheese-process
teen, 15 years old
 
My all-time favorite action movie!
Bruce Willis is great in this movie, and so is all the action. Great suspenseful story.

gfdf
kid, 11 years old
 
one of my faveorite movies
a lot of swearing but it is hard to here over gun fire so that is not really a problem John is risking his life to save countless lives.when john runs through the elevater shaft a girl in a swim suit is shown (in a photo very hard to see)

DerrickRose1
teen, 16 years old
 
Definitely a must see
Old movie that shouldn't be rated R. Great role model of John McClain!

Cjog210
teen, 13 years old
 
Best Movie Ever!
Best Movie of all time. It can be bloody at times something kids should wait for but is too awesome you won't be thinking about all the bad stuff. John Mclane is a good guy though. He is a cop who stops terrorist from stealing a lot of money. I know i am young but I have seen many movies that are good. (i.e Rocky, Forrest Gump, First Blood, etc) It was hard to choose though which is the best.

NightWatcher
kid, 12 years old
 
this action movie classic
This is a great movie, great hero great setting, great plot, and most of all, great villain. this movie is incredibly violent, considering all the henchmen aren't you're average easy-to-beat henchmen, he either shoots them or has a bloody fight. there are a few shots of female nudity, and McClain has some good lines, but most of them consist of F**k and S**t.

BKrootz
teen, 17 years old
 
I thought it was decent. Definately too much cussing. We got the point after the 700th F word in the first 15 minutes of the movie. It was kinda violent, but handleable. There were many unreelistic things like a guy who was hung shows up later on alive. There were also several scenes with nude women displayed, and are obvious and easy to see

MovieFan86
teen, 14 years old
 
Not for young kids
Amazing action film. It was very good, but if you don't like letting your kids hear course language than this film is not for your family. The language is VERY harsh but the violence is not as bad as I expected. There is also nudity but all three instances are VERY VERY brief and two of them are pictures on a wall. Good for kids over 11.

Ph0chiz0
teen, 16 years old
 
a great action thriller...
I don't know why, but this is sort of a feel good movie! Great acting by some great stars (yay Alan Rickman!), and non-stop action, make for a great action christmas-hostage-situation-thriller...

Die Hard Rocks
parent of 12 year old
 
Die Hard saga
Brillian movie a bit of gorr but not scary a bit

4Spice
adult
 
all time classic 15 and up
hell of a movie . it won awards for best action movie lots of action killing blood and drama it a real classic truth is it has some nudity and lots of killing i say 15 and up but trust me watch it it might become your most favorite movie

happinessisawa ...
teen, 17 years old
 
Die Hard
A classic fun-flick and although quite violent, it shouldn't be too much for a teen to handle. There is tons of shooting and blood, a woman is seen topless, a pornographic picture is shown and there is quite a bit of swearing (around 60 f-bombs). It is definitlely an R-Rated Movie, but showing it to a teen will have little to no negative effect.

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