In 1988 off-duty cop John McClane took on international thief and terrorist Hans Gruber and his cold hearted gang at the fictional Nakatomi Plaza (actually the Fox Plaza in Los Angeles). With their own version of dirty dancing Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman gave an entirely new definition to the term, 'mano-a-mano' and audiences loved it. The formula of one guy on his own against overwhelming odds spawned four sequels and while none have been as good as the first, box office receipts for each of these still show an impressive profit. In a town where nothing breeds imitation faster than success, Hollywood took notice of this "trend" and began churning out as many "rip-offs" as they could reasonably do with out anyone calling foul. And while none of these action movie rip offs have the charm factor of Bruce Willis and no one says, "Yippee kai yay, mother******," they have taken the formula and adapted it to try and match the solid entertainment value that is Die Hard. So here is out list of "also rans." Films that imitate but don't replicate the original.
10. Under Siege (1992)
Often referred to as Die Hard on a boat, actually it should be Die Hard on a ship as a 'boat' would be too small, Steven Seagel plays Casey Ryback, a "disgraced" and busted (as in fired) elite badass SEAL who is now a lowly cook. His Hans Gruber is Tommy Lee Jones as William Stranix. Just like Die Hard, Seagel's character is the only person who can stop this team of mercenary madmen who want to take control of the battleship USS Missouri which has been decommissioned by US President George Bush. Stanix plans to steal the Tomahawk missiles on board the ship. Stanix is on the run from the CIA who has tried once before to assassinate him and he plans to cover his tracks by setting some of the Tomahawk missiles onto a tracking base in Honolulu. With a little help from other people on the ship, most comically by Erika Eleniak who was hired to jump out of a giant cake at Captain Adams' (Patrick O'Neal) birthday party, Ryback defeats the mercenary terrorist group and faces the lead man Stanix on his own. Apart from the fact that all the action takes place at sea, the Die Hard formula is followed almost to the letter.