9 Awful Characters Who Nearly Ruined Awesome Movies

9. Deputy Chief Robinson - Die Hard

When it comes to high-octane action-packed thrill rides, few films hold a candle to Bruce Willis' first Christmas adventure in Die Hard.

Battling against a team of terrorists trying to takeover Nakatomi Plaza, Willis' police detective John McClane quickly became everyone's favourite everyman hero thanks to his improvised offence and epic one-liners. It also didn't hurt that he was taking on one of the most memorable villains in movie history - Alan Rickman's despicable Hans Gruber.

Throughout the tense thriller, McClane is regularly in contact with LAPD sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) who attempts to aid the lead character in his quest to bring down the terrorists without risking the lives of those taken hostage by Gruber and co. However, this alliance is suddenly disturbed by the deeply unwanted arrival of the LAPD Deputy Chief, Dwayne T. Robinson.

The Deputy quickly commandeers the situation, forcing Powell to take a back seat. Yet, the infuriating Robinson simply acts as a contrived obstacle for McClane, routinely making idiotic decisions and constantly pulling us away from the action we really wanted to see.

Roger Ebert seemed to share these sentiments about Robinson, as he noted in his review:

"As nearly as I can tell, the deputy chief is in the movie for only one purpose: to be consistently wrong at every step of the way and to provide a phony counterpoint to Willis' progress."

The two FBI agents, Agent Johnson and Special Agent Johnson, who takeover from Robinson didn't improve the situation either, only further adding to the all-out nonsense going down away from McClane's pulsating quest.