As Ben Stiller once said in a Die Hard parody featured on his 90’s sketch comedy show, “How can the same thing happen to the same guy so many times?”. If he only knew then how true those words would be. It’s been 25 years since the debut of John McClane with his anti-terrorism ass kicking skills and as the fifth film debuts on Valentine’s Day, the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time has to either be destined to do this or is just pretty damn unlucky. Either way, what culminated is two and a half decades of awesome action that continues to entertain greatly. Yes, I’m even counting the fourth one. If this continues, I’m sure that Die Hard 12: Die Hungry will surely be an inevitability but until that time, here is a personal ranking of the movies from worst to best.
Live Free or Die Hard
Easily not the best in the series but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining. It was the first Die Hard to try to reach a new audience by cutting out the profanity, making the kills cleaner and trimming down the rating to PG-13. Also, they got fresh Hollywood talent to give the movie an edge to younger audiences by casting Justin Long and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the supporting roles.
The film takes place on 4th of July as a former Department of Defense worker, along with his associates attempt to break into the main defense grid of the United States taking the country hostage. They do this for financial gain as well as to prove a point that the U.S. has a virtual Death Star like imperfection that leaves it open for attack. It’s up to McClane and his hacker sidekick to stop them. But things get personal when the villain kidnaps his daughter.
The fourth installment seems like the makers never seen the previous Die Hard films. Still worthwhile, but it falls short for two reasons. The first is it’s lack of a sure fire villain. Timothy Olyphant in an underwhelming performance shows a certain control when things are going his way, but immediately goes into these subtle temper tantrums as his plans slowly get derailed. Former villains in the series have kept their cool and counteracted. Therefore, McClane gets involved in a personal battle of wits as they both try to outplay each other. But it never felt that way in Live Free or Die Hard since it always seemed like McClane was in control of the situation the whole time. Which leads to the next problem. Before this, the films have been about an ordinary guy trying to survive in extraordinary circumstances and never knowing how to deal with them directly, he improvises. He questions himself before taking action. In this installment, McClane has a new swagger of confidence as he handles every threat with expertise. Never showing doubt, he knows what he has to do. This new found assurance can be attributed to the fact that McClane has been in these type of positions too many times so he’s gotten skillful in dealing with them. But in my opinion, this takes away from the very point of seeing a Die Hard movie. To see McClane handle these events by the seat of his pants. Also in the first two Die Hard films, there’s a certain aspect of realism with the action which lends to believability that McClane is human. This made you root for him because you know that something bad might happen. Here, you get to see him do a lot of questionable stuff which even though it looked spectacular, made me scratch my head a bit. Among those include hopping out of a taxi that’s going fast enough to jump a ramp with enough leverage to hit a hovering chopper and vaulting off an exploding jet only to survive unscathed by hitting the highway pavement underneath with a tuck and roll.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
There was a time when Renny Harlin was the go to guy for action films. When hits like Cliffhanger and A Long Kiss Goodnight paved the way for a prominent career before Cutthroat Island. Die Harder was definitely one of his better pictures.
Knowing this was going to be more grandiose because they added an -er to the title, this movie definitely steps it up a notch. It has more gunfights, explosions and one liners. However, the plot was basically a direct copy of the original. McClane is thrown unexpectedly into another occurrence when he arrives at Dulles International Airport. This time, former Army Special Forces Colonel Stuart along with other defecting soldiers, take the place hostage by hijacking their flight controls. With every plane in the surrounding airspace at the whim of a madman, he maintains that if his requests aren’t met he will begin crashing planes. Which happens to be access to a runway and a getaway plane to safely ferry a notorious cocaine smuggling General out of the country. But things get personal because one of the passengers circling overhead is McClane’s wife.
The same premise but in a different location, McClane, once again fights terrorists while local law enforcement gives him grief for not being in his jurisdiction. It also brings back some major characters from the previous film including his wife, the dick reporter who screws anyone over to get a story and a cameo of Sgt. Powell with his twinkies. The people that didn’t return are replaced by similar characters including another egotistical, know it all cop that gets in the way of McClane’s progress. Also the villain, played this time by William Sadler, is just as ruthless even though he lacks the humor of Alan Rickman. However, it was pretty hilarious when they introduce his machismo persona by having him perform martial arts forms nude inside a hotel room.
Despite the fact that this sequel is redoing a tried and true formula with predictable twists, the director does a great job of still making it look believable by having McClane take a beating and his injuries slowing him down. It shows to a degree that in this installment, he is still human. Even when the action pieces are insanely over the top which have become a staple for Renny Harlin films. Among those sequences include McClane ejecting out of an exploding aircraft parachuting safely to the ground and a great chase scene on snowmobiles. At least the director didn’t have someone inexplicably eaten by a genetically enhanced super shark. He saved that gem for a later movie.
Die Hard with a Vengeance
How do you revive a franchise whose formula has been so overused that it’s become a parody within itself? By taking another known method and incorporating it into your own. At this point in time there have been countless Die Hard knock offs. Under Siege and Sudden Death come to mind, which is why original director John McTiernan jumps on board again to bring some much needed vitality to the franchise. Disregarding the formula set up by the last two films, the director decided to make this episode a dysfunctional buddy film by casting Samuel L. Jackson as the other lead. This was a great idea that granted the picture with hilarious comic relief and allowed the main stars to take comedic pot shots at each other.
In the third installment, McClane is up to his old antics again but this time he has a hangover. On the brink of a downward spiral, his opening scene begins as the police is trying to wake him up from a drunken stupor. Dealing with a separation from his wife and a fresh suspension from the NYPD, McClane has decided to cling to the bottle. But when a German terrorist named Simon plants bombs across New York, he threatens to detonate them unless McClane plays a game of riddles. With every correct answer, Simon gives one of the locations of the explosives and a chance to disarm them. It then becomes a race against time as McClane teams up with Zeus, a bystander who unexpectedly gets caught in the game.
There’s nothing original about Die Hard with a Vengeance as Hollywood has made countless buddy action films. But it felt right because the series needed to head off in another direction. Despite these changes, McClane’s character is still true to the original as he does what he does best which is improvising. Also, he still plays a mental game of wits with the villian who is just as diabolical as ever. Jeremy Irons does a great job as Simon. More devious with the way he messes with McClane’s head, he’s the complete opposite from the all work no play Colonel Stuart from the last film.
The primary Die Hard not to focus on one location, this movie definitely introduced a bunch of firsts for the series. It was the first one to show McClane actually working in his own city and the first not to have a family member in distress. Therefore, McClane concentrates solely on getting the bad guys with the police actually supporting him. Unfortunately, it’s also the first Die Hard where the situations become questionable as we see McClane surfing on top of a big rig in a tunnel overflowing with water. But the twists keep it interesting as the true identity of the villain and his intentions are closely guarded until the later parts of the film.
Die Hard
There’s a great scene in this film where McClane drags his body into a bathroom. Bleeding profusely, he had to dodge gunfire by sprinting across a room full of broken glass in his bare feet. Talking on a police scanner with Sgt. Powell, an officer he never met in person, he tells him to deliver a heartfelt message to his wife as he’s pulling out shards of glass from the bottom of his soles.
Die Hard is one of those rare gems that’s often mimicked but never duplicated. An intellectual and thoughtful action movie starring that guy from Moonlighting, it was well paced, well scripted and incredibly well acted.
It’s plot centers around New York cop John McClane traveling to his wife’s corporate Christmas party in Los Angeles at a luxury office tower called Nakatomi Plaza. While freshening up in one of the suites, he hears gunfire as terrorists seize control of the building. The leader Hans Gruber, meticulously played by Alan Rickman, has started an intricate plan to retrieve millions of dollars in bearer bonds from the company’s vault. With the hostages in the building including his wife cut off from any outside help, McClane takes matters into his own hands and attempts to take down the terrorists.
In a time where most action movies featured a muscle bound super warrior that takes down bad guys with impunity, Die Hard was a great distraction from the norm. Here the protagonist is featured as an everyday man with spousal issues attempting to keep his family together. He just happened to be thrown into chaotic circumstances. A contradiction to the action heroes that dominated cinema at that time. McClane gets scared, frustrated and desperate when trying to survive each situation. He feels every injury received as he goes through the movie being battered and broken. This adds an interesting feeling of suspense for the audience since we never quite know if he’s going to make it. It was an unexpected and welcome change to the genre at the time and it became the formula that all action films have tried to duplicate since.
With 25 years of kicking ass, McClane is surprisingly spry for his age and as A Good Day to Die Hard nears it’s release, it’s been a lot of fun taking a look at the films that preceded it. Next, well get to see him take out terrorists with his son Jack. As this will be the first Die Hard to be shot in a different country, it will give them a chance to introduce Russia to their unique barrage of one liners and over the top stunts. Also, the latest installment brings back the R rating hopefully allowing McClane to finish his “Yippie Ki Yay” line before the final bullet is shot.
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