Why The Die Hard Scenario Is So Enduring
John McTiernan’s Die Hard is one of the greatest action movies ever made. Bruce Willis’ flawed everyman John McClane is a quintessential hero, Alan Rickman’s chilling terrorist leader Hans Gruber is a quintessential villain, and the story of one off-duty cop fending off an armed siege during an office Christmas party offers plenty of opportunities for both action-packed spectacle and engaging character work. After a decade of invincible musclebound supermen played by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, McClane’s relatable flaws provided ‘80s moviegoers with a refreshing change of pace. Whether it’s technically a Christmas film or not, Die Hard is a masterpiece of the action genre.
Like Night of the Living Dead’s tale of survivors holing up in a zombie apocalypse and Halloween’s tale of a masked serial killer picking off teenagers, Die Hard’s tale of one man thwarting a terrorist siege has become a subgenre of its own. “Die Hard in a...” has become a common way to describe certain action films with their own version of McClane, their own claustrophobic setting, and their own band of armed terrorists.
Die Hard: What Made John McClane A Breath Of Fresh Air
There are countless examples of action movies that copy the Die Hard scenario. Speed is “Die Hard on a bus,” Under Siege is “Die Hard on a boat,” Executive Decision is “Die Hard on a plane,” Air Force One is “Die Hard on the President’s plane,” Olympus Has Fallen is “Die Hard in the White House,” The Rock is “Die Hard on Alcatraz,” Cliffhanger is “Die Hard on a mountain,” Sudden Death is “Die Hard in a hockey stadium” – the list goes on and on and on. Some of Die Hard’s own sequels have followed this formula: Die Hard 2 is “Die Hard in an airport.” By all accounts,
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