Die Hard (1990)

Die Hard is not only one of the best action films ever made, it's also a brilliant film of ideas, the skyscraper the setting for a climactic confrontation, the psyche of one out-of-place, everyday man who against the odds must reconcile with his estranged wife and defeat the evil Hans Gruber, a pretentious, materialistic thief and control freak.  When he invades the Nakatomi skyscraper it's time for John McClane to clean house, which he struggles to do but does so effortlessly in the fashion of the old action films which were less shallow and aesthetic, vulnerability and danger part of the equation rather than dispatching enemies with precision, dodging bullets and being a literal god-man.  There is no room for any of that in this film, John McClane is not a pretentious, insecure show-off like his nemesis Gruber who has to make big speeches and surround himself with a band of strongmen to get by, all that nonsense does is force him to rely on instinct and do what is absolutely necessary even if it means bombing out the building with C4.  He has no time, Gruber believes he has all the time in the world, and this is why Gruber, with his fancy suit and fancy watch, fails.  After rescuing the hostages and killing the terrorists he is forced into confrontation with Gruber who is  holding his wife hostage.  The final confrontation is brilliant, as Gruber is blown back out a window.  McClane's wife tries to save him, and is frantically holding onto the fancy watch, while McClane unbuckles it because Gruber must die.  Finally Gruber, out of time, his watch unfastened, falls, defeated all along by his own sense of himself as an autonomous, all-powerful mastermind with time in his hands, which he never was, and McClane and his wife, the male and female counterparts are reunited as the snow falls and Merry Christmas.  That is why it is not only a great action film, but a great Christmas film, and a great ideas film, and the same can be said for number 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance.  Like many great films it's just another trip into the depths, into the infrastructure.  Blue Thunder is another film that comes to mind that does something similar.