Action

Action films have more cliches than any other films, we expect from most action films a real hard man who is impossible to kill to be the protagonist, and as action films are aimed at men, they are portrayed in an almost flattering light, by this i mean they are always good at pulling and are always good at fighting and killing and are very cool, they are pretty much the definition of maculine.With every hero comes a villain and more often than not the villlain is a effeminate german mastermind or a russian brute that has fought in more wars than the the tank has. Die hard fits the action stereotype and has these cliches in it, John McClane is a macho cop who is witty, has the girl and is extremely hard, hard enough to perform self surgery on himself, this is another cliche of action films, most poeple would struggle to deal with a ripped off finger naill but action heroes deal with all sorts, form pulling glass out of their foot to sterilising a wound with gunpowder action heroes really are a in a different league to normal men. The super villain in Die hard is Hans Gruber a very effeminate and camp chacter who is calm most of the time but is by no means a nice guy, he is the brains behind the whole operation and has no regard for human life. Although the villain is a genius they can never deal with the hero. McClane's hardness is reinforced by all the punch ups he has and whether they are bigger than him or not he will win. With alot of action films the aim is to save the girl, in Die hard this is his wife who is being held hostage with the rest of the civillians in the building, and once Gruber finds out she is Mrs McClane she is put in much more danger and the heroes only weakness is reveled. The sidekick in Die hard is a sterotypical cop called Al Powell, a chubby man who loves eating doghnuts but is a very likeable character.Although it doesnt go into it in much detail Powell is very weary of using his gun anymore as he shot a kid some years back, this is overcome at the end of the film when Powell shoots Gruber when hes is trying to escape. This makes it a double happy ending as not only are the people saved but the likeable sidekick is cured of his fear and we get hints that he has found closure. This show that the Sidekick plays a role in saving the day, although he hasnt done as much as the main hero he has taken down the one person McClane seemingly couldn't.