Die Hard Scenes 31-32 Summary

Scene 31

  • Richard Thornburg, having looked into this John McClane dude, has shown up at Holly's house.
  • He commands the nanny to let him in, threatening to call the INS if she doesn't.
  • He's a real stand-up guy, Dick Thornburg.

Scene 32

  • On the roof, John discovers the explosives, wired and ready to go. So that's what Hans was doing upstairs.
  • Uh oh.
  • He radios Powell immediately to warn him of the double cross, but he's cut off midsentence by Karl's machine-gun barrel poking his cheek.
  • They tussle. Well, tussle is putting it mildly. It's an all out brawl. A fight to the death.
  • As they exchange blows, helicopters approach in the distance and Hans tells Holly to "gather [her] flock."
  • Just then, Holly sees her kids on TV, and Hans figures it out—Holly is John McClane's wife. Game changer.
  • Hans orders everyone up to the roof (which he intends to blow up with them all on it).
  • Karl and Hans are still fighting and it's getting ugly.
  • Meanwhile, Agents Johnson and Johnson are all set with rifles in a helicopter. They approach ready to take out anyone and everyone who gets in their way. They don't seem to care too much about harming innocent civilians…
  • … who, by the way, are all on the roof by now.
  • Hans, who's got Holly and is loading up all the bearer bonds, tries to radio McClane to tell him he's got his wife.
  • But McClane's a little busy battling Karl, who shoots John in the shoulder.
  • Ah, but a little shoulder wound can't take down John Freaking McClane. While Holly sasses Hans, calling him "nothing but a common thief," her husband defeats Karl by wrapping a chain around his neck and dangling him up against a cinder block wall.
  • He hauls butt to the roof, where he warns the hostages to get down below again—the roof's gonna blow. Holly's secretary tells him that Hans took Holly to the vault.
  • As he fires warning shots to get the hostages off the roof, Agents Johnson and Johnson mistake him for a terrorist and shoot at him.
  • He knows the roof's gonna blow, and he's got no way down. Time to cowboy up.
  • He wraps a fire hose around his waist, and hurls himself off the roof just as the whole thing blows, taking out Agents Johnson and Johnson and their little helicopter, too.
  • John's okay, though. He pulled a superhero move, shot out a window, and swung into a lower floor. What can we say? He's John McClane.