The story structure of Die Hard forms a really cool chiasmus, meaning that its first and second halves mirror each other. This is the second film I was sent by a reader named Jay. He mapped it all out for me, so I just wrote the main body of the article, not the framework.

The first film he sent was Ghostbusters, which I published several months ago. I apologize for taking so long to get to this one. I hope to finish his other two shortly after this, if all goes well. On with the Die Hard Cinematic Chiasmus!

The Chiasmus

Keep in mind that these are all Jay’s words, not mine. He is responsible for the brilliance of this chiasmus summary.

A. John McClane lands in L.A. during a sunset
 B. A young couple kiss each other at the airport
  C. Argyle meets John at the airport
   D. John tells Argyle about being a cop
    E. John enters Nakatomi Plaza and is greeted by two cold security guards
     F. John takes the elevator up to the 30th floor
      G. John sees Holly
       H. The Pacific Courier truck rolls up
        I. Karl kills the two Nakatomi security guards
         J. Hans Gruber and his crew enter and lock down Nakatomi Plaza
          K. Karl teases his brother Tony as he cuts the building’s phone lines
           L. The terrorists take over the Christmas party
            M. You can’t fool Hans, Takagi (Hans lays down a pre-LexisNexis dossier about Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, which lets us know how serious Hans is)
             N. Hans tries negotiating the code key from Takagi
              O. Hans sees the vault
               P. John pulls the fire alarm to get help
                Q. John kills Karl’s brother Tony
                 R. Karl wants revenge!
                  S. Shootout
                   T. Karl nearly corners John
                    U. Al surveys Nakatomi Plaza
                     V. Heinrich and Marco drop in on John
                      W. John gets Al’s attention by dropping Marco’s body
                       X. Thornberg hears Al’s distress call
                        Y. John taunts Hans (and the tables turn)…
                       X. Thornberg demands a live truck
                      W. Al talks to John/Roy
                     V. John drops bomb on James and Alexander
                    U. Johnson and Johnson survey Nakatomi Plaza
                   T. John corners Hans/Bill Clay
                  S. Shootout
                 R. Karl gets frustrated
                Q. Al tells John he shot a kid
               P. Johnson and Johnson cut the power to stop Hans
              O. Theo opens the vault
             N. Hans agrees to Special Agent Johnson’s deal
            M. Hans discovers Holly’s married to John after the news broadcast
           L. Uli moves the hostages to the roof
          K. Karl fights John as Uli moves the hostages to the roof
         J. Johnson and Johnson approach Nakatomi Plaza in armored helicopters
        I. John only has two bullets
       H. Theo drives an ambulance out the back of the Pacific Courier truck
      G. John sees Holly
     F. John drops Hans to his death
    E. John leaves Nakatomi Plaza and is greeted warmly by Al
   D. Al, a uniformed cop, kills Karl
  C. Argyle drives up from the parking garage
 B. John and Holly kiss in the back of the limo
A. John and Holly leave as the sun comes up

The rest of the article will be my own take on what Jay gave me. There are a lot more connections to make within each of the brief points above. I hope you enjoy.

A. Landing and Taking Off

As the sun sets on Christmas Eve, a big plane lands in Los Angeles carrying John McClane, who is eager to reunite with his wife and kids.

As the sun rises on Christmas Day, a big limo departs Nakatomi Plaza carrying McClane and his wife, who have been reunited, to be with their kids.

B. Kisses

In the midst of a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza, Joseph Takagi publicly proclaims the magnificent job his company did and his wish for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Holly Gennero doesn’t notice, making plans for her estranged husband to return. At the airport, McClane sees a man and woman embrace in a passionate kiss.

In the midst of the chaos at Nakatomi Plaza, limo driver Argyle privately talks to himself about the magnificent job McClane did on Christmas and his hope to be there for New Year’s. McClane and Holly don’t notice, preparing to go see their kids. In the back of the limo, they share a passionate kiss.

C. Argyle’s Entrances

Argyle makes his entrance at the airport holding a sign, which gets McClane’s attention. He greets McClane awkwardly yet warmly, and McClane puts him at ease by telling him that it’s his first time riding in a limo.

Argyle makes his escape from the Nakatomi parking lot and gets McClane’s attention. A reporter named Dick Thornberg aggressively shoves a microphone in McClane’s face, and his wife puts him in his place before getting into the limo.

D. Cop’s Duty

Argyle confronts McClane about why he and his wife are living on opposite sides of the country. McClane talks about his duty as a police officer coming first, taking aim at various criminals. He admits to some painful facts about his current situation, and he’s not sure if he’s ready to face his issues head-on yet.

Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson confronts McClane about his opposition to proper police protocols. Sgt. Al Powell gets to perform his duty as a police officer when a terrorist named Karl takes aim at McClane with a gun. He overcomes a painful trauma from his past and he’s able to shoot the bad guy and come to terms with his issues.

E. John’s Welcome at Nakatomi Plaza

McClane walks into the Nakatomi building to find his wife. He is greeted by a couple of security guards in a cordial, but not very friendly, manner. He is distressed to find that his wife Holly is going by her maiden name Gennero rather than her married name McClane.

McClane walks out of the Nakatomi building with his wife. He is greeted by Al in a warm, friendly manner, which includes an embrace. He introduces his wife with her maiden name Gennero, but she corrects him, saying that her name is actually Holly McClane.

F. 30th Floor

McClane takes an elevator and arrives safely on the 30th floor where the Christmas party is taking place. He gets a shock when a drunk partygoer kisses him out of nowhere.

Head terrorist Hans Gruber falls to his death from the 30th floor after McClane takes Holly’s Christmas present off. He got a shock when McClane shot him and his henchman with a gun from out of nowhere.

G. Holly Sees John

Takagi escorts McClane to Holly’s office where a slimy business associate named Ellis is almost done snorting cocaine. McClane gives Ellis a figurative gut punch by pointing out he knows what he was doing. Holly walks in and sees her husband for the first time in many months, and he hasn’t changed much. The moment is ruined by Ellis’s mention of the watch on her wrist.

Hans tells a henchman to leave the vault when they’re almost done stealing everything in it. McClane hits him in the face with the butt of his machine gun. McClane then walks in, and his wife sees him for the first time in several hours, and he’s totally transformed into a bloody mess. The moment is ruined by Hans holding a gun to her head.

H. Pacific Courier Truck

A Pacific Courier truck arrives at Nakatomi Plaza and goes down into the underground parking lot. The people in the building are unaware that terrorists are hiding in the truck, and they are about to crash their party.

Theo goes into the Pacific Courier truck in the underground parking lot and drives an ambulance out of it. He is unaware that Argyle is hiding out in the parking lot, and he’s about to crash into the ambulance with a limo.

I. Two Points

Theo talks loudly to Karl, giving him an account of where a basketball was moving during a game as they walk up to the main guard on the ground floor. Karl shoots the guard dead, and Theo proclaims, “Two points!” Karl sneaks around and sees the other guard who Karl surprises with a flash bomb before killing him.

Holly and Hans argue loudly, giving McClane a good idea of exactly where they are inside the building as he approaches their location on the 30th floor. McClane discovers his machine gun is empty, and his service pistol has two bullets. McClane looks around and sees some packing tape he can use to surprise Hans and kill him.

J. Terrorists and FBI

Hans and his fellow terrorists enter the Nakatomi building’s basement from a truck. Theo locks out every elevator except the service elevator, which the terrorists plan to use to move around on. He also closes off every entrance to the parking lot. Then he destroys the computer hardware he was just using to do his job, making sure no one else can use it against him.

FBI agents approach the Nakatomi building’s roof in a helicopter and mistake McClane for a terrorist. Unable to use the stairs, McClane is forced to use a firehose to jump off the roof. He’s unable to get through a window, so he has to shoot through it. Then he unties himself from the firehose he just used to save his life before it can drag him to his death.

K. Karl and His Brother

Karl’s younger brother Tony goes down to the basement to take control of the phone lines. In the meantime, McClane calls Argyle to let him know about possibly going home with his wife. However, the line gets suddenly disconnected when Karl chainsaws through all the phone lines. Karl laughs as he leaves his brother hanging, no longer able to do his job.

McClane taunts Karl about killing Tony as they fight near the roof for control of a pistol. In the meantime, Hans tries to call McClane on the radio to let him know about taking his wife hostage. However, Karl took the radio from McClane earlier, so he can’t receive any messages through it. McClane leaves Karl hanging from a chain, preventing him from getting revenge for his brother.

L. Hostages

Hans and the other terrorists arrive on the 30th floor and quickly take everyone hostage, except McClane. They get distracted, allowing McClane to escape.

Hans tells Uli to take all the hostages, except McClane’s wife, from the 30th floor to the roof. Uli doesn’t get distracted, and none of the hostages get away.

M. Can’t Hide from Hans

Hans tells the hostages that they are being held because of the Nakatomi Corporation’s legacy of greed. He asks for Takagi to step forward. He starts listing off facts about the man, finishing by stating that he’s the father of five as Takagi comes out of hiding. Hans says it’s a pleasure to meet him before Takagi gets pulled away by Karl.

Hans tells Holly to gather her flock because he wants to send them to die on the roof to satiate his greed. He gets diverted by a TV news segment in which a reporter asks a little girl a question. Hans puts all the clues together, realizing that’s Holly’s daughter, and she’s married to McClane. He says it’s nice to make her acquaintance before grabbing her.

N. Hans Negotiates

Hans talks about men’s fashion and model building to build rapport with Takagi. He doesn’t explicitly state that he’ll kill him if Takagi doesn’t give Hans the code key to a vault, but it’s implied. Theo and Karl have a bet about whether or not Takagi will die. Karl says it’s not over yet. Hans threatens Takagi, saying he’s going to count to three. Takagi refuses to give him the code. Hans shoots him in the head, causing lots of blood to explode all over a glass door behind him. McClane watches this happen, and he’s so shocked, he makes too much noise during his hasty escape. Karl searches but is unable to find him.

FBI Agent Johnson tells Hans they’ve met all his terrorist demands to build rapport. After they stop talking on the radio, they both explicitly state that they plan on killing the other. McClane asks Al to find his wife in case he dies. McClane asks Al not to talk to him for a while. A reporter named Thornberg threatens Holly’s illegal-immigrant housemaid, saying he’s going to call INS. She agrees to let him speak to Holly’s kids. McClane looks overhead, and he finds lots of bombs rigged to explode on the roof above him. He can’t let that happen, so he calls Al and tries to warn him, but in his panic he makes too much noise. Karl finds McClane and holds him at gunpoint.

O. The Vault

Hans follows Theo to the entrance to the vault. Hans stands in awe for a moment of the challenge it poses. Theo tells him that it’s impossible to get through the final lock, but Hans just says to trust him.

Hans meets Theo at the entrance to the vault. Theo realizes that the FBI are going to open the final lock by cutting power to the building. When the vault opens, Hans stands in awe of his achievement.

P. Vain Attempts to Thwart Terrorists

McClane pulls the fire alarm to try to signal the authorities to come to the Nakatomi building, but it doesn’t work. It actually plays right into the terrorists’ hands.

The FBI agents demand that the city shut off power to the Nakatomi building, and it works. But it actually plays right into the terrorists’ hands by giving them exactly what they wanted.

Q. Accidental Deaths

McClane distracts a terrorist named Tony in order to get on his back and disarm him. They fall down a stairway, and McClane accidentally breaks Tony’s neck, killing him. McClane searches Tony to learn about him and his associates.

McClane distracts himself from the glass in his feet by getting on Al’s back about his police record. Disarmed, Al admits he accidentally killed a kid with a toy gun years ago. This gives McClane insights into Al’s character.

R. Karl Wants Blood

McClane surprises the terrorists on the 30th floor by sending an elevator down to them with Tony’s body inside. He wrote on Tony’s shirt that now he has a machine gun. Meanwhile, he’s hiding on top of the elevator, listening to what Hans and the others say. When Karl arrives and learns what happened to his brother, he is enraged and knocks over a desk. He exclaims he wants to kill whoever murdered his brother.

McClane surprises Hans and Karl by disappearing in the midst of a shootout and leaving the detonators behind. Now Hans has his detonators back, so he’s pleased. Meanwhile, Holly watches as Hans and Karl return to the 30th floor and gloat. When Karl passes by a drink table, he becomes enraged and hits it with the butt of his gun. Holly exclaims her relief that he wasn’t able to kill her husband.

S. Shootout with Karl

McClane calls for help on Tony’s radio, and he inadvertently gets Hans’s attention. Three terrorists arrive on the roof and start shooting at McClane. He’s unable to kill any of them and runs to a strategically disadvantageous location.

McClane turns his back on Hans, who surreptitiously calls for help. Three terrorists arrive and start shooting at McClane. McClane kills two of them and runs to a strategically disadvantageous location.

T. John Turns the Tables

McClane takes refuge in an elevator shaft. He is forced to leave his machine gun behind in order to dangle precariously over the edge. Karl closes in on him but is too late to kill him. McClane pulls out his lighter, crawls through a small air vent, and barely avoids being shot by Karl by pretending the air event is empty.

Hans looks at various wires near the roof. He is forced to leave his handgun behind in order to climb up to a difficult-to-reach spot. McClane finds him, but Hans pretends to be an escaped hostage to avoid being killed. McClane shares his last cigarette with Hans, makes small talk, and avoids being shot by Hans by handing him an empty gun.

U. Scouting Out Nakatomi Plaza

Al surveys the Nakatomi Plaza and then goes in for a closer look. A terrorist feeds him false information to try to throw him off the trail. The terrorists gather and realize that there’s just one police officer. McClane tries to get the officer’s attention, so he smashes the window with a chair. This alerts the terrorists to his position.

FBI Agents Johnson and Johnson survey the Nakatomi Plaza from a distance. Al tells them all the information they’ve been able to obtain from McClane. Earlier, Ellis told Hans that McClane is a police officer. He tried to get McClane’s attention, so he shot Ellis as he sat in a chair. This put McClane in a difficult position.

V. John’s Surprises

Two terrorists named Heinrich and Marco almost get the drop on McClane. But he manages to gun them both down.

Two terrorists named James and Alexander blow up a police RV with a missile launcher. McClane then drops a C4 bomb on them.

W. Al Gets the Message

Al is just about to leave the Nakatomi Plaza in his police car without finding out about the terrorists. But McClane gets his attention by throwing down Marco’s body onto Al’s car. Al gets the message and immediately backs his car up until he falls over an embankment. McClane says, “Welcome to the party, pal.”

Al walks away from his damaged car toward approaching police after realizing there’s a situation at Nakatomi. He calls to McClane on his radio and learns the details about the hostage situation. He gets medical care for the wound he received upon crashing his car. He tells McClane to light ‘em if he’s got ‘em, and McClane, holding a cigarette in his lips, says, “Way ahead of you, partner.”

X. Enter Thornberg

A reporter named Thornberg is on the phone with a woman discussing dinner arrangements when Al’s distress signal comes in on the radio from Nakatomi Plaza. He hears it and immediately springs into action.

Newscasters are getting ready for a live news report on set when Thornberg interrupts them and insults a newscaster as the cameras roll. A producer acquiesces and gives Thornberg permission to take a news van to Nakatomi Plaza.

Y. John Taunts Hans

The turning point comes when McClane calls Hans on the radio. As police sirens blare below, signaling help is on the way, Ellis says he never thought he’d be so happy to hear that sound. Hans tells his men to relax about the police intervention because they’re powerless and are just going to waste time. He receives a surprise call from McClane. McClane talks about the men he just killed, and he shows that he knows a lot about their operation. Hans guesses he’s a security guard, but McClane says he’s wrong.

Hans demands to know who he is, and McClane rebuffs his question once more. Hans tells his men to verify if everything that McClane said is true and find out if anyone else is missing. He talks to McClane once more on the radio. He stalls for time, calling McClane a cowboy, and taunting him that he has no chance against the terrorists. As the elevator bell dings across the room, signaling bad guys are on their way, McClane taunts Hans by saying, “Yippi ki yay, motherf#&!*$.”

Happy Trails

So there you go. Die Hard joins the prestigious ranks of other great films by being an example of Cinematic Chiasmus. Not only is it a masterpiece in the action genre, but it’s told in a complex way that is incredibly satisfying.

Isn’t it great to know that the reason why John McClane’s conversation with Hans Gruber at the midpoint of the movie is so memorable and awesome is because it’s the turning point of the film’s chiasmus? That adds even more weight and importance to it than it already had this whole time.

Jay’s suggestions are far from over. There are still two more to go. I plan on writing them soon, so stay tuned. And happy trails.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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