The 80's is often considered the best year of blockbuster hits. It's often considered the golden age of... well, everything! Movies, video games, comics! If you were a kid in the 80's, you had it ALL. But one thing you couldn't have is Die hard. It was a rated R movie, and it brought a new sub-genre to the action movie genre.
So, Die hard is based off the novel "Nothing lasts forever" which is actually a sequel to a novel called "The detective" which also had a film adaption by the same name which went well with critics. But the characters and title was changed for the "Nothing lasts forever" adaption, and we got Die hard.
Die Hard is a normal action movie, where any movie critic will walk out satisfied, if your daily medicine is guns, explosions, action, combat & swearing. This movie will give you an overdose!
The first one was often considered the best. If you're new to the series, it would be best to start with Live Free or Die Hard, since it doesn't have as many "Faint-of-heart" scenes... but... Critics these days...
The character development is well done and for people looking for it so they can fully develop the characters more, you learn and infer Character's pasts using their conversations and using clues. It gets your mind pumping and it lets it rest when it cuts to gunshots and explosions.
While today, this is considered cliche' I have to disagree, Die Hard Scenario movies are great, but not as many have been coming out, it started a subgenre, maybe not the most popular, but this movie had a great fan following and it became a cult hit.
And... really... it's Rated R. The language, nudity and violence go up so high in this movie, you could just call it NC-17, but they didn't It lives up to it's standards, but if your underage, this could be offensive... possibly cause heart attacks...
Anyway, all-in-all, it's a great movie, buy it, you'll be satisfied, trust me.