How come nobody ever told me that the bad guys are a bunch of American soldiers and CIA stooges simping for their Pinochet stand in?

Yeah, I know, McClane is a bastard. Critical support for blowing up a plane full of fascists at the end though.

  • HarryLime [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    The bad guy is explicitly based on Oliver North.

  • CommCat [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    but but the general looked like Castro, you're talking about a geopolitically illiterate 'Murican audience here. I still like to watch Die Hard 1 and cheer for Hans and his boys, they were RAF cool

    • Southloop [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Mmmm... Hans Gruber? The guy they explicitly state being in an ethnic nationalist group? The ethnic nationalist group that kicked him out for being too extreme? The guy who's East German brother estranged himself from?

      Now Simon? Simon is perhaps a much more sympathetic character.

      • neebay [any,undecided]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I thought Gruber was pretending to have a political motive as misdirection, to make everyone think he's attempting a terrorist attack and not notice he's actually executing a heist.

        • Southloop [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I always felt Volksfrei was a play on the Volkisch movement.

      • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        The guy they explicitly state being in an ethnic nationalist group?

        It was all about the money in the end though, right? Die Hard villains always lead with some grand political speech but are ultimately just out to hit it rich.

        • ZaneWinters [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          Part of the reason I was so pleasantly surprised by the second one, I was waiting for the twist to be Oliver North guy is just in it for the money.

          But what I got instead was the special forces group here to rescue everyone ALSO being fucking fascists who join the bad guys. And Ollie North makes a speech about "stopping the dominoes falling".

      • TheCaconym [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Now Simon? Simon is perhaps a much more sympathetic character.

        If only because it's really hard to hate Jeremy Irons.