Die Hard: 5 Ways To Redeem This Once Great Franchise
1. Stop Treating John McClane Like Superman
As mentioned before, Die Hard was special because it gave us a somewhat believable hero to root for, a guy in the right place at the wrong time and has to figure his way out. This was a breath of fresh air after blown out 80s action movies (like Commando and Cobra) treated Stallone and Schwarzenegger like unstoppable murder machines. Bruce seemed like someone we might know, a middle-class worker who isnt perfect by any definition. Unfortunately, that seems to have been lost in the last two movies.
Now, John McClane fights jet planes, slingshots cars into helicopters and can effortlessly take out a room full of goons. He is your standard, boring, typical action hero, making Die Hard feel more like a GI Joe movie (which Bruce was also in). The thing that made this franchise fresh and different in the first place has been exchanged for mediocrity. We get overly complicated, idiotic plots with lots of things that go boom. The most heartbreaking part of it all is, theyve turned John McClane into a person who is hard to truly care about.
Bring it all back down a bit. Yes, keep Bruce Willis and his screen presence front and center (since Bruce Willis pretty much IS the Die Hard franchise) but make him feel like a believable guy again. The wise-cracking detective with a heart who, although may be in over his head, is going to try his hardest to make things right. Fix this and the people may once again be excited about a prospective new Die Hard movie, instead of the collective groan loud enough to cause earthquakes when we see the newest trailer.
Ryan Estabrooks is a film writer/director and photographer. When he is not busy solving mysteries, he can be found working on his feature length film. You can view all of his work at the imaginatively-titled RyanEstabrooks.com