John McClane may still be one of the most loved film characters of all time, but his new adventure - A Good Day to Die Hard - is currently tanking with critics like a Die Hard movie never has before. So,what went wrong? It seemed like a solid sell: the film threw John McClane into a fish out of water story by putting him in Moscow and we were even going to be introduced to a new generation of McClane through the introduction of John's grown son, Jack (Jai Courtney). There should have been enough promise there for fans and critics alike. But, critics did not respond well, and the film currently holds a rotten rating of about 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. To compare and contrast that with Live Free Or Die Hard is bemoaned pretty heavily by Die Hard fans but holds an 81% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A Good Day To Die Hard has been attacked for everything from its lousy script to its poor direction to its idea of turning John McClane into a full blown superhero. I personally loved the film for all its horrible glory and cherish any chance I get to see John McClane kicking butt on screen. But, in honor of A Good Day To Die Hard's thrashing, we thought we'd take a moment to contemplate five ways Bruce Willis and 20th Century Fox can save the Die Hard franchise and bring it back to the former glory of films like Die Hard and Die Hard With A Vengeance.
5. We Need Another Gruber
One of the staples of the Die Hard genre has not only been the wise cracking of Detective McClane, but the introduction of legendary villains who just can't seem to help McClane from getting under their skin. The original Die Hard gave us Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who has been by far the best Die Hard villain and the most fun to watch McClane go up against, and even Bruce Willis has admitted they never should have killed the guy off. The only time the Die Hard franchise came close to rivaling the first in terms of quality villain was in Die Hard With A Vengeance, and that's probably only because the villain was none other than Hans Gruber's brother played by Jeremy Irons. The new Die Hard has been justly criticized for ignoring the Die Hard staple and never even settling on whom the villain is, let alone allowing McClane to ruin their day. The proposal is this: for the next Die Hard, give us another Gruber, perhaps a son or nephew (or even a grandson). McClane shouldn't be done with the Grubers quite yet, and we'd be in for another great villain. We just need someone on the level of Jeremy Irons and Alan Rickman to play him, so sound off in the comments about which young actor you think could pull it off.