Much debate has been had over the years as to whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and embarrassingly – I have taken part in this debate a time or two. However, the reality is, I have never seen the movie. I simply knew that there were A) Christmas references B) It took place during Christmas C) It is a cult-classic action movie. That’s all I knew, and in my opinion that was not enough to qualify Die-Hard as a Christmas movie.

So, in an effort to cross one item off the old movie bucket list this weekend, and to add a layer of credibility to my argument the next time I chose to get into a ‘Is Die-Hard a Christmas movie?!’ debate, I would watch it. Here’s my review:

Simple answer, yes. And to be clear, I went into this experience thinking there was no way I would deem this a Christmas Flick. But it is undeniable. Christmas is a central theme to the movie; from the opening scene, to key lines delivered in the film, and even the music that plays throughout. To drive the point home even further, the movie takes place during a Christmas party! Now, is it your traditional feel good that you watch with the family in their pajamas? No, absolutely not. But that is not the question, the question is- is this a Christmas movie? Not, is this a traditional Christmas movie? And to the first question, the answer is absolutely yes.

Plus, if you don’t want to blow some stuff up after spending the holidays with your family, you’re probably not doing Christmas right.

“Christmas” appears 18 times in the script, which is more than the words “explode” (4), “die” (5),”hard” (11), “shoot” (12), “kill” (13) and “blood” (13),