Need a lift?

As Die Hard 4.0appears on DVD, Joe Griffinwrites an appreciation of its most underrated character.

Which inanimate object has shown more versatility than many Hollywood stars, has played crucial roles in romantic comedies, thrillers and war movies, and even has its own action franchise? It's not the phone, the automobile or Keanu Reeves. The humble lift (or, if you're American, elevator) is arguably cinema's most underrated character actor. You could say it's on a level of its own.

Think of your favourite thrillers, both classic ( Mona Lisa)and crass ( True Lies, in which Arnold, possibly inspired by The Commitments, rides a horse into a lift). Recall romantic comedies, in which the small, tranquil room has pushed our heroes together. And let's not forget those stylish sliding doors that add a little flamboyance to everything from The Guns of Navaroneto The Matrix. The elevator embodies many cinematic contradictions: characters travel without moving. It is futuristic yet timeless, public but also private.

Action movie heroes know that a lift is their best friend in a sticky moment. It's certainly more reliable than a car, which is guaranteed not to start when you need a quick getaway. However, as in real life, frantically pressing buttons in a lift doesn't make it go any faster.

Resourceful heroes have, with remarkable ease, hidden on the elevator's roof, delivered explosives in it, climbed out of it between floors and even used it to squash unfortunate heavies. It could be argued that the real pill in the ointment for the terrorists in the Die Hardmovies was a lowly elevator (see panel).

Romance too, has risen in this humble device. Elevators are often a brief respite from a frantic office, an oasis in which even the most work-obsessed of lonely hearts have no choice but to take a moment to stand still. The confined space can give couples an opportunity to finally make eye contact, take tentative steps towards conversation, or if you're Madonna in Body of Evidence, do a whole lot more.

All actors have their limits, of course and some just can't pull off those scenes of an intimate nature. Even the multitalented elevator has often performed badly in sex scenes. 9½ Weeks, Fatal Attractionand the aforementioned Madonna movie have all proved that, while a nice art-deco elevator journey might feel romantic, a 10-foot mechanised hydraulic box is usually not the most erotic of locations.

In its defence, just as Jeremy Irons struggled to act opposite Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven, spicing up a Glenn Close/Michael Douglas dalliance may have been beyond even the legendary lift.