| Actually there are many films like this—The Rock would be another. What distinguishes a ‘caper’ film, is that the guys pulling the heist must be likable. |
I think
Die Hard is set a little bit apart from all the "Die Hard in a" movies that came after for a few reasons. Firstly, the depth of the criminals' heist is different, with twists and turns not present in other siege-type films (like
The Rock, a film I liked). Most of the time, the purpose of the attack/hostage situation is made clear to law enforcement (i.e., pay us and the families of our dead comrades, or we hit San Francisco with a poison gas), but in
Die Hard, the cops never do know the criminals' real intent. The hostage situation is played as political terrorism to keep the law from discovering the true motive, to buy time for the crooks to break into the vault, and to force the FBI to take an action that, unbeknownst to them, gives the crooks exactly what they want. And on top of that, the crooks have a plan for faking their own deaths and sneaking out inside an ambulance, with all the loot.
As to the "likeable" factor, I don't deny that Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber is a detestable character (as are most all of his henchmen), but there is that "Ode to Joy" moment when the vault opens and he and his colleagues are as giddy as schoolchildren while they go through the vault, collecting the bearer bonds and playing with the priceless art. It's a very brief chance for the audience to celebrate a so-far-successful heist, before returning to hating these people and rooting for the good guy. (Not to mention, there are only a couple of good guys to root for, and most of the law-enforcement personnel are as unlikeable as the thieves; jerk cops are a staple of robbery flicks.)
But it's not a traditional heist/con flick (it's generally thought of as an action movie, but it's not quite so easily categorized), so I'll stop hijacking the thread with my
Die Hard love. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
