Die Hard franchise

Die Hard (1988)
Die Hard 2 (1990)
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Die Hard (1988) - Trailer
Die Hard 2 (1990) - Trailer
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) - Trailer
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) - Trailer

After watching >, I figured it was time to dive into the other massive pillar of the modern action flick... honestly, it’s a pretty cool trip through film history and those slightly more recent decades—so I thought I’d throw this one up as a topic to see where everyone stands on its legacy... You probably know the drill: detective John McClane rolls into Los Angeles to visit his wife and almost immediately gets caught up in a mess with international (German) terrorists inside the Nakatomi Plaza. Director John McTiernan managed to craft this explosive action thriller that became an instant box office smash, and it basically birthed a whole sub-genre—that "trapped in a confined space" vibe—which you can see echoed in solid follow-ups like Under Siege (1992) - Passenger 57 (1992) - and Speed (1994)... I’ll definitely circle back to that last one in a bit...
Now, > puts McClane in a similar boat—terrorists taking over Washington Dull International Airport—but McTiernan isn't at the helm this time. Instead, we get the 90s action heavyweight Renny Harlin, who actually does a decent job... even if some critics argue the sequel is better than the original because of the broader range of action scenes, deeper characters, and just overall tighter filmmaking. McTiernan eventually returns to direct the third installment, but it doesn't quite hit the mark for me... the plot feels a little forced, the editing is kind of messy, and some of the weaker action beats actually make the series feel like it's regressing—even if the idea of ditching the closed-off spaces to turn the entire city into an action playground was a smart move... plus, it didn't hit the box office numbers anyone was expecting. Then, with icons like Indiana Jones and John Rambo being revived, the final adventure for John McClane—the cop who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—arrives nearly 13 years after the last entry and ends up being a huge hit again, both critically and commercially, leaving the door wide open for the series to keep going...

Here's a weird little detail: none of these sequels were originally intended to be "Die Hard" movies. The original was actually supposed to be a sequel to Schwarzenegger's commandos (since General Esperanza from > was going to be moved over from Valer, that fictional country where the commandos movie took place)... but after that fell through, it morphed into what we got. > wasn't meant to be a sequel either, but rather a standalone film based on the Walter Wager novel "58 Minutes"... and > came from an original script by Jonathan Hensleigh titled "Simon Says" (no connection to the Rodmanov stuff from the movie, obviously). A fair amount of critics actually agree that what keeps the series feeling fresh is the fact that the previous material was proven to be good enough to stand alone before being folded into the Die Hard universe. Two scripts were rejected initially, only to become their own separate films later, which were then stitched together into the franchise... specifically, the scripts for > and > were both originally pitched as potential follow-ups to >...

Since I'm basically that one obsessive freak who has to dig through every corner of the internet for any scrap of info on a franchise, I actually had a bit of a "wait, what?" moment when I realized Bruce Willis wasn't the first guy ever to play McClane. Honestly, props to Frank Sinatra 🤣



The Detective (1968)

Roderick Thorp’s novel is actually part of a short two-book series featuring the same character (the first attempt at an adaptation flopped back in the 70s—though apparently, the role was actually offered to Sinatra)... Die Hard made some minor tweaks compared to the book—like the character's name and his age—but pretty much all the action from the movie was ripped straight from the pages (which was considered way too intense even for its time). In case anyone is curious...Joe Leland - Nothing Lasts Forever - Novel - Die Hard- just a little tidbit about the book itself and how it differs from the flick.

A few extra bits to wrap things up...

Bruce Willis Interview

Die Hard - Music Video - the lyrics are inspired by the events of all four (4) movies 🤣

Sorry for the massive wall of text. I'm a fan... what can I say?

Speaking for the first installment, which is absolute perfection—it features one of the best villains ever and that final scene is 🙏

Right on its heels comes the second part, which also boasts an incredible ending, so I’d rank the fourth one next, followed by the third, which isn't bad at all, but still...

Anyway... alongside Lethal Weapon, it's easily the greatest action franchise out there.

Donna Gray4 said:Speaking for the first installment, which is absolute perfection—it features one of the best villains ever and that final scene is 🙏

Right on its heels comes the second part, which also boasts an incredible ending, so I’d rank the fourth one next, followed by the third, which isn't bad at all, but still...

Anyway... alongside Lethal Weapon, it's easily the greatest action franchise out there.

Truth is, the villains in the second one feel kinda weak—they just don't have that charisma you get from someone like Hans Gruber (man, I had no clue that was Alan Rickman's big screen debut back then). And yeah... Truth 😍 Even if the Dynamic duo is off the table for future sequels, McClane might still show up in some other installment. Personally, my vote goes to the second one... I dig the more spectacular action, Harlin was really delivering the goods there.

I voted for the first one myself. In my book, it’s the greatest action flick ever made, and honestly, it doesn't even suck as a Christmas movie either.😁 I had no clue about that Sinatra thing.

Die Hard 2

The first 👍

I honestly enjoy all four installments, but let’s be real—the first one is the absolute best. And I don't say that just because it's the original, it genuinely stands head and shoulders above the rest.

briskhound2, briskhound2, you're seriously blocking me from voting again? 🙂 So, I’m basically stuck in this endless loop of indecision, unable to actually make up my mind between... Die Hard It looks like you might have hit send a little early there. I'm standing by whenever you're ready to actually say something. Die Hard with a VengeanceBoth of them are just perfect. 😍

Die Hard

When it first hit theaters, I honestly felt like it was one of the absolute best action flicks of its era. People always point out how it basically breathed new life into the whole action-thriller genre, paving the way for movies like Under Siege, Passenger 57, and Speed. It’s pretty much responsible for creating that specific "action hero" archetype we've seen everywhere since—you know, the flawed anti-hero who looks like he's been through a blender, barely says more than a single word at a time, and maintains a permanent scowl on his face. In terms of the box office, the film pulled in $80,707,729 here in the States.

Critics absolutely loved it, and they ended up churning out three sequels to follow it up. In the June 22, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was actually crowned the greatest action film of all time.

In the last scene, where Karl suddenly resurfaces just to try and take out McClane, you can actually hear the score from the movie Aliens by James Horner playing in the background.
In the German version of the film, they actually swapped out the names of the German theorists for English ones—mostly switching them to British equivalents. For instance, Hans became Jack, Karl turned into Charlie, and Heinrich Henry was changed too. They even reframed the German terrorists as Irish radicals who were more interested in a payday than any actual ideology, which caused a bit of confusion. It turns out they translated the names because terrorism was such a sensitive subject in Germany at the time.
The Nakatomi Tower is actually the headquarters for 20th Century Fox. The company basically rented out its own building just to make their own production possible.

Die Hard with a Vengeance

The film actually started out as a script by Jonathan Hensleigh, originally titled Simon Says, which was initially meant to serve as a blueprint for an action flick starring Brandon Lee. After that fell through, it was being looked at as a potential fourth entry in the Lethal Weapon series. The first half...

Die Hard with a Vengeance is basically just a recycled script, where they tacked on a heist element just to make it feel more like the earlier movies. The original pitch actually involved the robbers breaking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That idea didn't fly with the studio, but you can see its fingerprints all over that other John McTiernan flick, The Thomas Crown Affair.

Die Hard with a Vengeance was actually the first entry in the series where we weren't stuck in the middle of the Christmas holidays—even if they did throw in a few nods to Santa Claus and Christmas just to keep us on our toes. It was also the first time we saw McClane operating as an active cop with an actual badge. Beyond that, it’s pretty interesting that for almost the entire runtime, he finally has a legitimate partner in Zeus Carver. In the original Die Hard, Sergeant Powell tried to lend McClane a hand, but they barely even crossed paths until the very end. Then in Die Hard 2, his "partner" for the first half is just some air traffic controller, only to be replaced by a security guard later on. The third installment basically follows that same pattern, where the partner only gets pulled into the chaos because of the mess McClane's already made following the terrorist threat.

Just a few interesting tidbits for you guys:

On a DVD commentary, screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh mentioned that the whole concept actually popped into his head while he was thinking about what might happen if one of his childhood friends—whom he’d accidentally hit with a rock—decided to come back for revenge once they grew up.
In the original version of the screenplay for Simon Says written by Jonathan Hensleigh, the lead character was actually an NYPD cop named Alex Bradshaw, while the role that eventually became Zeus Carver was originally written as a woman. Apparently, the studio stepped in and pressured Hensleigh to swap Zeus's race from Black to either White or Asian.
The film was actually shot under the working title Die Hard: New York.
- To avoid any mess during filming in Harlem, the sign McClane carries actually just said "I Hate Everything." That extra racial slur was added later in post-production, though you'll still occasionally catch the uncensored version on certain TV broadcasts or even in some airplane movies.
- In one of his commentaries, director John McTiernan mentioned that the future Vice President, Dick Cheney, actually makes a cameo appearance.
- Most of the movie was shot over in Charleston, South Carolina, which includes those subway scenes (filmed on a set) and the bridge sequences shot on the actual Cooper Bridge.
- There’s that one moment where John McClane quips, "I smoke cigarettes and watch Captain Kangaroo" when Zeus asks him a question. It’s a nod to "Flowers on the Wall" by The Statler Brothers. Fun enough fact, Bruce Willis hums that same tune in Inglourious Basterds, where he and Samuel L. Jackson both had pretty massive roles.
- The whole "Simon Says" game, where McClane and Zeus have to race through the city to hit specific payphones or deal with whatever Simon wants them to pick up, feels very similar to the setup in Lethal Weapon, where Detective Callahan hunts down Scorpion through San Francisco. You know, the whole "get to the phone in time or the hostage dies" vibe.
- In that final scene, while Simon and his crew are getting ready to bail out of the USA with all that gold, someone mentions the trucks will be ready in "...zwanzig Minuten"—which is German for twenty minutes. Interestingly, the English subtitles say "ten minutes," which would only make sense if they had actually said "zehn Minuten."

Alright, fine, out of respect for the poll, I guess I'll vote for the guy, With a Vengeance 😁 There are really two big reasons why: Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus Carver, Willis's unlikely partner, and Jeremy Irons playing the heavy, Peter Krieg. Both were such stellar, unforgettable performances. It's no exaggeration to say I absolutely love Jeremy Irons in this one. 🙏

Die Hard with a Vengeance - Ants Go Marching (COMPLETE)



🙂

A little extra stuff for you guys:

DIE HARD FRANCHISE SCREENPLAYS

Everything is in a formatted .pdf. Just click the images or posters to download the scripts:

So, what happened to this latest installment, Die Hard 4.0? 🤔

briskbison41 said:So, what happened to this latest installment, Die Hard 4.0? 🤔

Live Free or Die Hard, (released as Die Hard 4.0 outside of North America).

Probably just the release date.

Quote: The film's North American release date was June 27, 2007.

🤷

Die Hard is the absolute best.
Coming in just a step below are Die Hard with a Vengeance and Die Hard 2—they're both solid, but I'd say the third one edges out the second by a hair.
Now, Die Hard 4.0 is alright, but it feels a bit too much like it's trying too hard—it lacks that specific charm found in the first three—and honestly, that plane scene is way too over the top for a Die Hard film.

nimblemarlin6 said:Die Hard is the absolute best.
Coming in just a step below are Die Hard with a Vengeance and Die Hard 2—they're both solid, but I'd say the third one edges out the second by a hair.
Now, Die Hard 4.0 is alright, but it feels a bit too much like it's trying too hard—it lacks that specific charm found in the first three—and honestly, that plane scene is way too over the top for a Die Hard film.

It’s a bit much, honestly—kind of over the top—but man, it still gave me flashbacks to that roof scene at Nakatomi Tower... specifically that part where he’s sliding through the debris with all that fire trailing right behind him. Up until that point, the movie was actually surprisingly fun, packed with those "die-laughing" lines that just land perfectly...
"You just took out a helicopter with a police cruiser..." 🤣

Christian Taylor3 said:briskhound2, briskhound2, you're seriously blocking me from voting again? 🙂 So, I’m basically stuck in this endless loop of indecision, unable to actually make up my mind between... Die Hard It looks like you might have hit send a little early there. I'm standing by whenever you're ready to actually say something. Die Hard with a VengeanceBoth of them are just perfect. 😍

Die Hard

When it first hit theaters, I honestly felt like it was one of the absolute best action flicks of its era. People always point out how it basically breathed new life into the whole action-thriller genre, paving the way for movies like Under Siege, Passenger 57, and Speed. It’s pretty much responsible for creating that specific "action hero" archetype we've seen everywhere since—you know, the flawed anti-hero who looks like he's been through a blender, barely says more than a single word at a time, and maintains a permanent scowl on his face. In terms of the box office, the film pulled in $80,707,729 here in the States.

Critics absolutely loved it, and they ended up churning out three sequels to follow it up. In the June 22, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was actually crowned the greatest action film of all time.

In the last scene, where Karl suddenly resurfaces just to try and take out McClane, you can actually hear the score from the movie Aliens by James Horner playing in the background.
In the German version of the film, they actually swapped out the names of the German theorists for English ones—mostly switching them to British equivalents. For instance, Hans became Jack, Karl turned into Charlie, and Heinrich Henry was changed too. They even reframed the German terrorists as Irish radicals who were more interested in a payday than any actual ideology, which caused a bit of confusion. It turns out they translated the names because terrorism was such a sensitive subject in Germany at the time.
The Nakatomi Tower is actually the headquarters for 20th Century Fox. The company basically rented out its own building just to make their own production possible.

Die Hard with a Vengeance

The film actually started out as a script by Jonathan Hensleigh, originally titled Simon Says, which was initially meant to serve as a blueprint for an action flick starring Brandon Lee. After that fell through, it was being looked at as a potential fourth entry in the Lethal Weapon series. The first half...

Die Hard with a Vengeance is basically just a recycled script, where they tacked on a heist element just to make it feel more like the earlier movies. The original pitch actually involved the robbers breaking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That idea didn't fly with the studio, but you can see its fingerprints all over that other John McTiernan flick, The Thomas Crown Affair.

Die Hard with a Vengeance was actually the first entry in the series where we weren't stuck in the middle of the Christmas holidays—even if they did throw in a few nods to Santa Claus and Christmas just to keep us on our toes. It was also the first time we saw McClane operating as an active cop with an actual badge. Beyond that, it’s pretty interesting that for almost the entire runtime, he finally has a legitimate partner in Zeus Carver. In the original Die Hard, Sergeant Powell tried to lend McClane a hand, but they barely even crossed paths until the very end. Then in Die Hard 2, his "partner" for the first half is just some air traffic controller, only to be replaced by a security guard later on. The third installment basically follows that same pattern, where the partner only gets pulled into the chaos because of the mess McClane's already made following the terrorist threat.

Just a few interesting tidbits for you guys:

On a DVD commentary, screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh mentioned that the whole concept actually popped into his head while he was thinking about what might happen if one of his childhood friends—whom he’d accidentally hit with a rock—decided to come back for revenge once they grew up.
In the original version of the screenplay for Simon Says written by Jonathan Hensleigh, the lead character was actually an NYPD cop named Alex Bradshaw, while the role that eventually became Zeus Carver was originally written as a woman. Apparently, the studio stepped in and pressured Hensleigh to swap Zeus's race from Black to either White or Asian.
The film was actually shot under the working title Die Hard: New York.
- To avoid any mess during filming in Harlem, the sign McClane carries actually just said "I Hate Everything." That extra racial slur was added later in post-production, though you'll still occasionally catch the uncensored version on certain TV broadcasts or even in some airplane movies.
- In one of his commentaries, director John McTiernan mentioned that the future Vice President, Dick Cheney, actually makes a cameo appearance.
- Most of the movie was shot over in Charleston, South Carolina, which includes those subway scenes (filmed on a set) and the bridge sequences shot on the actual Cooper Bridge.
- There’s that one moment where John McClane quips, "I smoke cigarettes and watch Captain Kangaroo" when Zeus asks him a question. It’s a nod to "Flowers on the Wall" by The Statler Brothers. Fun enough fact, Bruce Willis hums that same tune in Inglourious Basterds, where he and Samuel L. Jackson both had pretty massive roles.
- The whole "Simon Says" game, where McClane and Zeus have to race through the city to hit specific payphones or deal with whatever Simon wants them to pick up, feels very similar to the setup in Lethal Weapon, where Detective Callahan hunts down Scorpion through San Francisco. You know, the whole "get to the phone in time or the hostage dies" vibe.
- In that final scene, while Simon and his crew are getting ready to bail out of the USA with all that gold, someone mentions the trucks will be ready in "...zwanzig Minuten"—which is German for twenty minutes. Interestingly, the English subtitles say "ten minutes," which would only make sense if they had actually said "zehn Minuten."

Alright, fine, out of respect for the poll, I guess I'll vote for the guy, With a Vengeance 😁 There are really two big reasons why: Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus Carver, Willis's unlikely partner, and Jeremy Irons playing the heavy, Peter Krieg. Both were such stellar, unforgettable performances. It's no exaggeration to say I absolutely love Jeremy Irons in this one. 🙏

Die Hard with a Vengeance - Ants Go Marching (COMPLETE)



🙂

A little extra stuff for you guys:

DIE HARD FRANCHISE SCREENPLAYS

Everything is in a formatted .pdf. Just click the images or posters to download the scripts:

Just a few more scripts to add to my collection... 🙂 big thanks!

Christian Taylor3 said:

Live Free or Die Hard, (released as Die Hard 4.0 outside of North America).

Probably just the release date.

Quote: The film's North American release date was June 27, 2007.

🤷

I know, I didn't put those two together until later.🤦

Honestly... this is one of those rare franchises where almost every single movie hits the mark for me... there are only tiny differences in quality.
Alright then... gotta cast a vote haha😂..so I'm going with "Die Hard with a Vengeance"

Truthfully... that one's my favorite because it’s such an outlier, just super engaging and intense from the first Minute to the last... the order should be the first one, then the fourth, then the second...

The first installment is an absolute masterpiece, while the sequels serve more as varying interpretations of the same core theme.

wiredbison82 said:The first installment is an absolute masterpiece, while the sequels serve more as varying interpretations of the same core theme.

That first movie just has an incredible vibe...plus that whole holiday feel...it was the first real "Jingle Bells" action flick ever...
Just pure action without all those cheesy, over-the-top cliches and nonsensical crap...it’s a genius action movie...🙏

The first one is hands down the strongest—it’s Willis versus Rickman. 🙏 It’s just such a blast, that "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" energy, plus the fact that this remains one of my absolute favorite action flicks of all time.
The third one follows right behind it. That chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson was incredible, those unforgettable scenes in Harlem with the signage, and of course:

🙏 🙏
Then you’ve got the second one, and finally, that last one which—honestly?—was a total letdown.

The fourth one is my favorite, though the first one is right up there with it. Actually, looking back, they’re all great—except maybe the second one, which is just a tiny bit weaker for me.

The first one is probably the absolute best, but my personal favorite has to be Die Hard with a Vengeance just because of Samuel L. Jackson. That... Zeus.

The Die Hard franchise—oh my god... one movie is already way too many

All the sequels are fine, even the fourth one, which is just a fun little tribute to the earlier films. The biggest letdown for me was the third part; it started off strong—absolutely phenomenal during those explosions under Fort Knox—but then it just became exhausting and unwatchable. The first film is an action classic and easily one of the best Christmas movies ever made.