9 Movie Characters That Deserved Better

2. John McClane - Die Hard Franchise

Let's sidestep the Xmas argument for now, as a bigger problem with the Die Hard movies - if you watch them all in a row - is just how much John and Holly McClane's relationship NEVER gets any real payoff for the audience.

In the first Die Hard, John is trying to reconcile his temper and duty with a wife who's more than happy to follow her career and leave him behind. By the time the credits roll he's had a good word with himself, saved her and her colleague's lives, and the pair look to be getting back together.

Roll credits.

In Die Hard 2 everything is mostly hunky-dory, but Bonnie Bedelia's Holly is stuck in a plane circling the airport for the whole movie, only popping up in a short comedy relief scenes, every 20 or so minutes.

Roll credits.

In Die Hard 3, we open on John being an alcoholic, as he and Holly had one argument, and then didn't speak for over a year. The movie closes with him finally picking up the phone, and again, roll credits.

Do you seen the problem?

In Die Hard 4 we discard the former movie's positive ending AGAIN, but at least this time the pair are properly divorced. Holly is only seen on a shot of her driver's license alongside daughter Lucy mentioning her, and then in Die Hard 5, it's the Bruce Willis and Sam Worthington show.

Seriously, watch these movies back. John McClane's real villain was a rotating team of writers.