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Last update: 30/01/2017

I loved Hans Gruber. There’s something about a villain you want arrested but not killed; after all, if he ends up on the slab, he’s not going to end up in the sequel.

“I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane – and since I’m moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite.” It’s a beautifully crafted rebuke ; after all, it was every viewer’s mistake to presume some loftier aim behind the Nakatomi Plaza heist. Perhaps it was the German accents that got us all on the wrong track, yet as Hans would have been the first to exclaim – “What’s wrong with stealing a stackload of money?”

It was Alan Rickman’s first screen appearance after a long apprenticeship in the theatre. Endlessly quotable, Gruber’s mind is as sharp as his suit and neat goatee – and the biggest testimony to Rickman’s charismatic performance is that part of you wants him to get away with it.

It’s a joy to behold his finest hour; that moment when, after hours of hard work, the Nakatomi vault opens, and Gruber is bathed in heavenly light as the fruits of his labour appear. Sadly, two hours later, he’s sidewalk squelch, and we’re all consigned to those ever more preposterous ‘Die Hard’ sequels.