Ranking the Die Hard Films

Since the fifth Die Hard film was released today, I thought it would be fitting to examine the series, which has been around for 25 years.

Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)

On a Christmas Eve visit from New York, Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) plays cat and mouse in a locked-down L.A. skyscraper with a group of terrorists (led by Alan Rickman). Bruce Willis is iconic in one of the best action films ever made. Period.

Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin, 1990)

McClane fights a unit of rogue military officers (led by William Sadler) who have taken over an airport in Washington, D.C. so that they can extract a foreign drug lord from the U.S. It's a step down from the original, but a worthy follow-up to a genre classic.

Die Hard with a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995)

McClane and a man from the neighborhood (Samuel L. Jackson) go head to head with a terrorist (Jeremy Irons) who stages some bombings throughout New York City and robs Wall Street. This is solid entertainment with great chemistry between Willis and Jackson.

Live Free or Die Hard (Len Wiseman, 2007)

With the help of a young computer hacker (Justin Long), McClane must rescue his daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and stop a cyber terrorist (Timothy Olymphant) from accessing important FBI information in the process. It's not on par with the first three, but it's fun seeing an older McClane do what he does best.

A Good Day to Die Hard (John Moore, 2013)

McClane heads to Moscow to find his trouble-making son (Jai Courtney) and becomes entangled in a nuclear weapons conflict, which leads to Chernobyl itself. Despite Willis' lovable on-screen persona, the aging McClane formula seems to have run its course, and the plot is arguably too rushed for its own good.

Ranking & Ratings:

1. Die Hard - ****
2. Die Hard with a Vengeance - ***1/2
3. Die Hard 2 - ***1/2
4. Live Free or Die Hard - ***
5. A Good Day to Die Hard - **

“Live Free or Die Hard” is the most entertaining of the summer 2007 blockbusters I’ve seen so far. Bruce Willis is back for the fourth time as New York City cop John McClane, who stumbles onto a terror plot courtesy of some well-armed cyber terrorists who plan to literally shut down the country. The scenes of the bad guys causing all sorts of mayhem by messing around with traffic signals and utilities are pretty terrifying and very well staged.

Willis is a delight in his signature role. As impressive as the explosions and stunt work is here, they’re not nearly as entertaining as McClane driving his foes to fits of apoplexy as he continually disrupts their plans. McClane, in true Die Hard fashion, gets beat up pretty good, but - no surprise –comes out triumphant. How he does that is all part of the fun.

It’s a marvelously entertaining show, with only a climax involving McClane atop a fighter jet coming off as contrived and frankly, more than a little silly.

I was surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did since it was directed by Len Wiseman, who gave us one of the worst movies ever made, “Underworld”, a werewolves vs. vampires movie that couldn’t have been duller if Alvin and the Chipmunks had starred in it.

The score by Marco Beltrami is so negligible you wonder why they even bothered.

Rating for “Live Free of Die Hard”: Three stars.