This comes up every year.
The great debate.
The story takes place at Christmas. There are Christmas things in it, a Christmas party, a Christmas tree. there is Christmas cheer with "Yippee-ki-yay" replacing placing "Oh, oh, oh" I don't know. John McClane works his way through the duct work, a modern retelling of Santa coming down the chimney. Actually, there is a note that reads, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho." See? It might as well say, "Good will to all people."
When Hans Gruber "bows out" at the end of the film, they have the ghost of Christmas past, and present. I think Christmas future would have been redundant. It's only seconds away. They are there though, but in reverse of what we normally see. Well, we don't see them, but that's because they are ghosts. When Hans is falling, I know he sees his Christmas present the first few milliseconds as his present takes a downward turn in. Then his life is flashing before his eyes. The footage was all probably lost on the cutting room floor. It's all very Charles Dickens.
And in the end, evil loses, goodness wins, and John McClane is reunited with his failing family. It's a new modern realist Christmas movie.
Those are a few musings. I think the ghost of Christmas past would have been more apparent if when Hans meets his end, it was in slow motion and the sound track "The Way We Were."
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Acronym Legend
OS = Older Son, YS = Younger Son
The most important two acronyms I know.
2/22/2026 - I will be offline for the next month or so.