Originally... The great and relatively simple thing about Die Hard (and even Die Hard 2, though it's naff) is its "fish out of water" aspect. That's to say, John McClane is just a regular guy mixed up in a crazy situation. Will he pull through? Gosh, we hope so, but there's a good chance that he won't because... well, John McClane is an ordinary person. So although Die Hard and Die Hard 2 are still action movies generally speaking, they're in a completely different mindset to the ones that came later. So What Changed? Well, John McClane edged ever closer to a character in the supercop vein with the still-good Die Hard With A Vengeance, but in taking out franchise's more claustrophobic aspects, the movies began to feel like action movies of a different genre. "Regular guy trapped somewhere with a dozen bad guys" became "Generic action hero fights bad guys in a generic action movie fashion." Did It Pay Off? Not really, given that switching the action sub-genre from "small-scale" to "large-scale" transformed a franchise with a unique selling point into something far more generic. The fifth installment, due in theatres soon, looks to be emphasizing the larger-scale action extravaganza aspects more than ever. Gulp.