8 Movie Heroes You Didn’t Realise Were Actually The Sidekicks
4. A Good Day To Die Hard – John McClane Is The Sidekick To His Son
Bruce Willis is pretty much done with action movies, and has said as much himself in interviews. He turned down The Expendables 3 because he wanted more money, and his lack of enthusiasm in movies like Red 2 and A Good Day To Die Hard radiates off the screen. Where the character of John McClane was once a cocky wisecracking hero, now he’s a terminally bored old man waiting for his check to clear.
The plot of A Good Day To Die Hard is weirdly structured, as it renders McClane useless after the first act. He flies to Russia to help out his estranged son Jack, who is a CIA agent. Once he realises Jack is fine (after taking part in a car chase that must have killed at least twenty innocent people) there’s really nothing stopping him flying home, but he just sort of hangs around. Jack is the real protagonist as he’s determined to stop a terrorist plot, while his dad mumbles his dialogue, shrugs a lot and occasionally shoots some dudes.
It’s unlikely A Good Day To Die Hard would be much better if Willis put actual effort into his performance, but at least it might have been less of a chore to sit through.