Die Hard (film series) reunite with separated wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles at her company's Christmas party. Holly left to pursue her career with their two children, and uses her maiden name. At the fictional Nakatomi Plaza, East German terrorists break in and take the celebrants hostage. McClane escapes detection and hides throughout the building. He kills off the gang and learns their real plan, to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the building's vault. In the finale, McClane shoots the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), out the window to fall thirty stories. It was released on July 15, 1988
Die Hard and feel of how action movies going forward were made, and which further changed with the evolution of CGI effects exemplified by "The Matrix" (1999). Scott Tobias of "The Guardian" observed that none of these following films readily captured the complete effectiveness of the "Die Hard" story. In 2001, "Die Hard" was listed at #39 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Thrills", a list of America's most heart-pounding films. In 2003, Hans Gruber was listed at #46 on "the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list. It was selected by "Empire" magazine as #29 on their "500 Greatest Movies of