SIDELINES, Wednesday, August 3, 1988, Page 7 Willis flick better than billing, actually has story to tell By DOUG STVLTS first mate. Besides returning Jason-like from a few near- Entertainment Writer death experiences, Godunov spends most of his screen time stalking around. When he's not stalking around, he's In the era of Schwarzenegger and Stallone's competing frowning and crushing things with his Steyr Aug assault bodybag carnivals, "action-thrillers" have fallen into a fre- rifle. And he does it well. netic yet formulaic rut. Just how many ways can Amie and German is a popular language here, spoken by guys Sly kick their victims off a cliff? And how many cameras running about and yelling "Mach schnell!" at each other can be suspended from the sides of a ravine to record while they install plastique, detonators and all that good these touching moments? Not enough, apparently. stuff. Die Hard is one of those films that turned out to be a Every terrorist has a bomb and the one sculpted by the tad better than its production company expected, and Gruber gang is a doozie. Not every terrorist movie has five Twentieth Century Fox's promotion department is doing or six concurrent subplots weaving in and out of the flux. their utmost to correct this mistake. They are advertising the flick as a rollicking adventure that delivers round after Aside from the "Nya! Nya! You can't catch me!" chase round of comforting gunfire and hearseloads of dead scenes carried out in the building's unoccupied upper bodies. floors, there is a plethora of supporting material. For star- All the obligatory murder and mayhem occurs in the ters, juggle an ongoing bid to break Nokatomi's computer context of an actual plot. God forbid, and it is hoped that code, a betrayal by one of the hostages, a hapless rescue the producers will snap to their senses and trim away the attempt by the L.A.P.D. and other nefarious plot thicken- nonviolent sequences when Die Hard premieres in video ing. format. Alan Rickman as Gruber hands in the film's best perfor- A properly condensed action film should contain nothing mance. His range, blending a technocratic managing style but rotating close-ups of wunderkinder filleting each other with a sheer pleasure for doing naughty deeds, places him with H&K MP-5, nine-millimeter sub-machine guns. I above rival antagonists such as the villians found in the could watch that all day. James Bond films. stalks down terrorists in When West German terrorists commandeer the Naka- Much of the interaction among characters happens via the well-crafted action flick Die Hard. toni Building, taking as hostages the only 30 people remain- the airwaves. Die Hard is not an important film, although it may estab- ing on Christmas Eve, they neglect to corral the visiting Willis' prime radio link is the trusting Sergeant Al Powell. lish new technical standards in its genre. If you like a dose Bruce Willis, who as usual, plays the character of Bruce Willis and Powell trade anecdotes and forge an instant Willis. of 007 slapdash mixed in with your Schwarzenegger, Die friendship while Willis takes a breather of ambushing those Hard is recommended. Pistol-packing Bruce overhears group leader Hans nasty krauts. Their relationship bears traces of honesty and Gruber (Alan Rickman) tell a Nakatomi official that his I believability and should therefore be edited ruthlessly if henchmen don't want money, they just want to punish the producers wish to propel Die Hard into the first rank Nakatomi for the corporation's pervasive greed. of macho filmmaking. Walk-ins Welcome More Robin Hood lyrics like that and a few audience Hours Flexible With Fox calls Willis' role as John McClane "a dramatic rum members might have been persuaded to cheer for the $2.00 Off unlike anything he has previously done," and director Regular $10 Haircut villians in this one. BARBER & STYLING SHOP McTieman has said that the film noir lighting makes Alas, all the Big Talk melts to small talk, falling by the "McClane a memorable character, not unlike Bogart in Marcella Allen wayside along with the hundreds of glass partitions that "The African Queen,'." Robbie Kennedy- Dabney pop up everywhere and shatter immediately when Bruce 895-4115 What this means is that Willis sits around in semi-dark- David Chaffin and the bad guys start swapping automatic weapons fire. 604 W. College Street Kathy Sengsawang ness a lot, trying to act less like his Moonlighting self than Murfreesboro. TN 37130 Jennifer Waddell Alexander Gudunov plays the resident heavy, Gruber's normal.

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