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John McClane's wife claims to have gone by Holly Gennero in order to avoid people in her conservative company making assumptions about her commitment, but her boss and coworkers all know she's married and know her husband's name. Was this excuse not supposed to pass muster?
(Not that she needs one, obviously, but internally to the narrative, I mean)
Rickman and Willis obviously give the marquee performances here but I actually think Bonnie Bedelia is great in this. Really subtle work in the early scenes with Willis, nails the mix of intimacy and awkwardness, then hits nice tough/sardonic notes as the action unfolds.
I know the movie can't work if McClane has ample willing backup but you'll never convince me the stuff with the police dispatcher, police chief, etc. had to be as dumb as it is.
In the post-John Wick world this would probably once again be R-rated which is an unambiguous good. Studio action really lost something when they started making that calculation.
"What about the body that fell out the window?" "Ah, who knows? Could be some stockbroker who got depressed." Just, like, you could do better than this, guys
McClane's desperation as he's pleading with Ellis not to get his dumb ass shot plays so well. He's frantic, feeling his helplessness and Ellis's stupidity so keenly.
Pretty bleak that Reginald VelJohnson's character arc is "this day needs a hero, and so I shall learn to take lives once more"
See, whereas the unbelievable stupidity of the police chief has always stuck in my craw, my worldview has for some reason never struggled to accommodate the cowboy FBI guys who are fine with killing a quarter of the hostages
