10 Greatest Christmas Movie Villains Ever
1. Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
Christmas can be pretty tacky - it’s all about gaudy lights, sentimentality, and loud jumpers. So when it comes to festive villainy, it’s refreshing to see someone do it with the style and panache of Alan Rickman as the incomparable Hans Gruber.
Gruber is not only one of the best Christmas baddies but one of the great action villains full stop. He is the blueprint for countless copyists, the suave European terrorist with a deep, multifaceted squad who is forever one step ahead of the hero, but whose arrogance is his ultimate downfall. The late Rickman was an incredibly generous actor, willing to throw himself into even the daftest of roles, but in Gruber he had a doozy. He sparks off Bruce Willis brilliantly, and is utterly believable as a ruthlessly intelligent mastermind.
He’s so gleefully wicked that it’s easy to root for Gruber and the gang throughout Die Hard, but Rickman lays on the smarm enough that it’s still a hoot to see him vanquished at the climax of the film. Die Hard is long established as the greatest action film ever made, but a huge part of this is the expert performance delivered by one of the UK’s most missed performers.