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Die Hard
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Thirty years ago today, Die Hard premiered in Los Angeles and changed the game for American blockbuster filmmaking. The huge commercial success and longstanding fan devotion turned Bruce Willis into an A-Lister, made a space for Alan Rickman among the greatest villains in film history, and set the template for countless star-driven action movies to follow.
Directed by John McTiernan, Die Hard follows John McClane (Willis), an NYPD officer off-duty in L.A., trying to reconcile with his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) at her office Christmas party. Holly works for the multinational Nakatomi corporation, and before the holiday party can get going, it’s crashed by Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his terrorist group, trying to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. McClane manages to evade the hostage roundup and proceeds to systematically attack Gruber and his men, using his NYPD expertise to act as a one-man rescue squad.
It’s a plot so elegant in its simplicity that they did it twice (with Die Hard 2: Die Harder), and then created a whole franchise around it (with ever-diminishing returns), but Die Hard‘s real legacy lies not in its sequels but in how it shaped so many American action movies for the next several decades. Seemingly in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary, Universal is releasing Skyscraper, starring Dwayne “The Rock,” Johnson, which has brought the proverbial “Die Hard on a ______” template back to where it started: Die Hard on a tower.
When we talk about the wave of movies that followed Die Hard and “copied” its structure, we’re usually talking about a few key elements:
- a lone hero, played by a big movie star, who is placed by circumstance in a situation where he must fight against the sudden onset of terrorists/thieves/insurgents of some kind
- a self-contained setting, like the Nakatomi tower
- the hero possessing skills unique to being able to fight back
- the terrorists have some kind of ulterior motive
- there is usually some kind of character actor playing the main character’s ally on the ground
The sub-genre of Die Hard knockoffs is notable for the fact that, knockoffs or not, a lot of them have been very good, some of them (though certainly not all) rivaling the original Die Hard in quality. We gathered nine of the most representative of the Die Hard knockoffs in celebration of the original’s 30th birthday.
'Speed' (1994)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on a Bus
Directed by: Jan De Bont
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels
Also starring that you forgot: Olivia’s dad from Scandal; the “Sparkle Motion” teacher from Donnie Darko; Cameron from Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
Die Hard Elements Present: The terrorist, an unnamed (for most of the film, at least) villain played by Dennis Hopper, plants a bomb on a pair of Los Angeles busses, partially in retaliation for Officer Jack Traven (Reeves) foiling his previous plan. After one bus is exploded, Traven must board the second one in order to save the day.
The Twist: The big twist on the formula in Speed is obviously that the bus must stay above 50 miles-per-hour in order to keep from exploding, which opens the door for any number of complications and thrilling set-pieces. Though it should also be noted that Reeves boarding the bus rather than being a passenger on the bus (like Sandra Bullock is), is a deviation from the formula.
'Passenger 57' (1992)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on a Plane
Directed by: Kevin Hooks
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Tom Sizemore
Also starring that you forgot: Elizabeth Hurley, Bruce Greenwood
Die Hard Elements Present: Snipes plays a retired Secret Service agent on a passenger airplane that is transporting a psychotic terrorist in FBI custody. When the terrorist and his embedded men hijack the plane, Snipes is in the bathroom, and is thus able to get the jump on them.
The Twist: “Always bet on black” is a much, much, much better tag line than anything john McClane says in Die Hard.
'Air Force One' (1997)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on a Very Important Plane
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close
Also starring that you forgot: William H. Macy, Tom Everett, Dean Stockwell, the library cop from Seinfeld, the guy who flew the nuke into the desert in season 2 of 24
Die Hard Elements Present: The President (Ford) happens to be aboard Air Force One when Oldman’s Russian terrorist hijacks the plane. Also worth noting that the “friend on the ground” in this case is the Vice-President, played by Glenn Close.
The Twist: Honestly, besides the fact that the main character is the President and the setting is the most famous airplane in the world, this one stays very close to the Die Hard formula.
'Under Siege' (1992)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on a Battleship
Directed by: Andrew Davis
Starring: Steve Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Erika Eleniak
Also starring that you forgot: Colm Meany from Star Trek: TNG, Landry’s dad from Friday Night Lights
Die Hard Elements Present: Steven Seagal plays a Naval officer (a former SEAL) currently serving as Chief Petty Officer and personal cook for the captain, aboard the USS Missouri, which is on its way to California to be decommissioned. On the way, it comes under attack by a group of terrorists, led by a rogue ex-CIA agent played by Tommy Lee Jones.
The Twist: Instead of a wife he wants to reconcile with, Seagal’s character ends up paired up with a Playboy playmate, played by Baywatch star Erika Eleniak.
'Cliffhanger' (1993)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on a Mountain
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker
Also starring that you forgot: Janine Turner from Northern Exposure, Paul Winfield from The Wrath of Khan, Whistler from Buffy, Sheriff Farley from My Cousin Vinny
Die Hard Elements Present: Sylvester Stallone plays a mountain-climbing rescue ranger, wracked with guilt over the death of his best friend’s wife, who he failed to save. Atop the mountain, they encounter a gang of thieves led by a pair of former government and military officials whose escape plane crashed, and now they need hostages to get away with their $100 million that they stole from the treasury.
The Twist: The open setting of the mountains runs counter to the traditional Die Hard formula of the enclosed space, though there aren’t exactly that many routes of escape atop that mountain, so functionally, it’s still pretty similar. Stallone is a great stand-in for a Bruce Willis style character.
'Olympus Has Fallen' (2013)
A.K.A.: Die Hard in the White House
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett
Also starring that you forgot: Dylan McDermott (not Dermot Mulroney), Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd, Robert Forster
Die Hard Elements Present: A team of North Korean terrorists stage an attack on the White House, while former Secret Service agent Gerard Butler (now working at the Treasury) operates from inside the “fallen” White House to save the day.
The Twist: The White House standing in for Natatomi tower is a pretty big twist, as is the fact that instead of trying to reconcile with his wife, Butler’s character is trying to make it up to the President (Eckhart) for failing to save the First Lady (Judd) from a car accident.
'White House Down' (2013)
A.K.A.: Die Hard in the White House with Channing Tatum
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins
Also starring that you forgot: the girl from The Kissing Booth, Jason Clarke, young William from Westworld, the first Victoria from Twilight
Die Hard Elements Present: Tatum plays a Capitol Police officer who’s been passed over multiple times for Secret Service. He and his daughter are on a tour of the White House when it’s overtaken by a band of terrorists, working in secret for the head of Secret Service (Woods).
The Twist: Once again: it’s the White House! Also Jamie Foxx as POTUS gets to be an action star as well.
'The Rock' (1996)
A.K.A.: Die Hard on Alcatraz
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris
Also starring that you forgot: Leo from The West Wing, Kyle Reese fromThe Terminator, the Candyman, Dr. Cox from Scrubs, Leo’s friend Fabrizio from Titanic, Bokeem Woodbine, Vanessa Marcil, David Morse, literally everybody
Die Hard Elements Present: When a group of rogue Special Forces soldiers (led by Ed Harris) seize control of the now-a-museum Alcatraz island, taking the tourists hostage and threatening a chemical weapons attack, it’s up to Nicolas Cage as an FBI chemical-weapons expert (a.k.a. nerd) to save the day. In order to gain access to Alcatraz, he must partner up with the only man to ever escape the island, played by Sean Connery.
The Twist: This time, instead of trying to get out of a self-contained space, the heroes are trying to get in. Also instead of a lone her, it’s a pair.
'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' (2009)
A.K.A.: Die Hard in a Mall
Directed by: Steve Carr
Starring: Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Keir O’Donnell
Also starring that you forgot: Bobby Cannavale, the mom from As Good As It Gets, Needles from Rescue Me
Die Hard Elements Present: A down-on-his-luck mall cop ends up unwittingly at the center of a major heist happening inside the mall on Black Friday (a nice nod to Die Hard‘s Christmas setting).
The Twist: Instead of Nakatomi tower, it’s … a mall. Also Paul Blart is no John McClane. Or is he??? Also, Blart’s girlfriend (Mays) is estranged from him because of events that pretty much exactly mirror what happened to Homer Simpson in that one chili cook-off episode.
