Rankings Die Hard

Just for fun, let's rank the Die Hard movies.  I think you know what's #1, but let's decide on all the others.

5.  A Good Day to Die Hard:  This fifth and "final" entry was a low-rent production shot in Eastern Europe.  McClane goes to Russia when his son seemingly disappears there.  His son is a CIA operative who's trying to rescue some guy.  In true Die Hard fashion it turns out it's all a double-cross as the guy they rescue wants to steal some money from Chernobyl.  Still, watching it in the theater on a day I had nothing better to do, it never really felt as epic as the other movies.  I think I got this for like $3 on clearance at Big Lots.

4.  Die Hard 2:  This isn't one I've watched in a while because I haven't really seen it on anywhere to watch unless I want to pay, which I don't.  Instead of a skyscraper, McClane was running around an airport so his wife's plane could land before it ran out of fuel.  Maybe if I watched it again I'd like it better, but I really don't remember a whole lot about it.

3.  Live Free and Die Hard:  When this was released in 2007 it was originally PG-13 so McClane couldn't even utter his famous catchphrase:  yippy kai-yay, motherfucker.  If you wanted the MF-word, you had to wait for the unrated DVD release--which I did.  The movie is OK but it winds up feeling long--Justin Long.  Ha!  There were a lot of ridiculous stunts like McClane bringing down a helicopter by crashing a car into it and then later clinging to the back of an F-35 jet that didn't even exist in active service yet.  It wasn't a bad movie and there was the traditional twist where a supposed terrorist winds up really being after money.

2.  Die Hard With a Vengeance:  At the time this was released you had movies like Speed and Blown Away where some sadistic villain makes the good guy have to play some game in order to try to save people.  This movie at first seems like that as the brother of the first movie's villain, Hans Gruber, has some challenges designed to keep McClane busy.  And then Samuel L Jackson winds up getting roped into it when he tries to stop some locals from beating up McClane for wearing a racist sandwich board.  But the brilliant thing is that all of this is just a cover for a scheme to rob the Federal Reserve.  Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson have great chemistry as they first try to solve Simon Gruber's challenges and then try to stop the gold robbery.

1.  Die Hard:  The OG Die Hard movie!  It might not be a perfect film, but it's a great action movie.  If I simply ranked action movies, I'd have to put it in the top 5.  That the action all takes place in a skyscraper creates a claustrophobic setting and yet there's still a wide variety of action.  And it presented challenges to our hero as he had to actually worry about the quantity of bullets and that he had no shoes.  Really this seems like the inspiration for shooter games like Wolfenstein 3D and later Doom, etc. where you start out like McClane with almost nothing and have to find more powerful weapons and keep a careful eye on your ammo.  The movie launched Bruce Willis's career as a movie star and he provides a blue collar charm to keep you rooting for him to the end.  And it introduced us to Alan Rickman, who'd go on to play more great villains and not-villains, though I don't think he really ever got to play heroes, per se.  (The closest is probably the fake Spock-like character he played in Galaxy Quest.)  It's a true classic, whether you consider it a Christmas movie or not.  I can watch it anytime.

So there you go.  I think that was pretty obvious.